Tag: work

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SUPERSONIC RAGE

Every step I took this morning landed me a little further behind. Split evidently had trouble keeping solid food down last night, so that was a fun surprise this morning. We ended up at work just a hair late, but we jumped right to work. Autumn basically imaged laptops all day long while I ran around the building closing work orders.

We still had leftover Subway in the fridge, so Autumn worked through lunch while I ran to the shop for some supplies. I stopped by Sonic for some drinks on the way back, then continued on through the afternoon. It was nice to get so much closed out, especially considering how old some of those work orders had gotten.

Most of my new Patriot Supersonic Rage USB drives had arrived, so I got them loaded with the student image in record time, and swapped them out for Autumn. I still have a few rooms that I know I have to visit this week, but for the most part I’m sort of just waiting for everything to fall apart once teachers come back on Monday.

We went home after work, and I got the carpet cleaner out to finish what I had started in the morning. Then we went to get Eaddie and dropped her and Autumn off at karate. I cleaned the cat box again to try and eliminate my gnat problem, then met the girls at my parents’ house for dinner.

Dad grilled some great pork chops and shrimp, and Mom put together noodles and veggies for us. Then we headed back up the hill for the evening. Just after we got there, a college kid knocked on the door trying to sell educational books. It kind of spooked us since it was so dark, but I talked to him for a little bit. The books looked similar to the ones my parents bought me when I was young, and I never once touched them.

Eaddie, Summer, and I finished the evening with an episode of Glee, and then it was off to bed a little early.

This is why they’re called “bored meetings.”

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Work Orders

Autumn came in today and crunched through imaging student laptops while I started running around the building taking care of things I’d been putting off. It won’t take long for the workload to explode, so I’ve got to make time for those things now.

We went to the shop to get Allen, then met Josh at Subway for lunch. Then we went back to the high school for more of the same. Kyle came by to help out later in the afternoon, which was great because Summer had to take Autumn to physical therapy. I finally wrapped up the docking station deployment, so that’s a huge load off my back.

After work, I got Autumn and went by Walgreens to ship some packages for work and get my blood pressure meds. Then we stopped by Superfast to see what Summer and Eaddie were up to. Eaddie had gone to work with her in the morning, and was looking a bit bored when we got there, so she came home with us.

Autumn landed in front of the TV. Eaddie really wanted to ride her bike but couldn’t get Autumn to go with her. I let her ride around the neighborhood by herself while I worked on the garage a little bit. I ended up slicing my thumb open on a piece of metal hanging out of the back of an old computer.

Summer hit the gym after work, so I took the girls to Walmart for more wet cat food and some stuff to make barbecue nachos. The girls ordered pizza courtesy of their father, so Summer and I had some killer nachos instead. I completely forgot to put barbecue sauce on them because of how good the white cheese dip was.

Autumn mowed just a little bit of the lawn before she ate. Then Eaddie and I watched the first episode of the last season of Jessica Jones before everyone wandered off to bed.

It’s reality. I accept it and proceed accordingly.

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Model Whee!

Today was our makeup holiday for Independence Day falling on a weekend, so I had the day off with the girls. They slept in pretty late, so I played a little Overwatch before getting ready to leave the house.

Ethan finished training a bit early and came to town to show me around his Model 3. We didn’t waste any time getting to the ride along, and I was kind of surprised how quiet the car wasn’t. Everyone always goes on about how electric cars are so silent, but I think the wet roads made everything quite a bit louder than usual. The road noise, some low music, and the air conditioning made for a pretty normal sounding ride.

He demoed the self driving for me, and I was surprised to see that it worked in town except for lane changing and braking for lights. I don’t know if that has changed for current models, but if it hasn’t, then I don’t really see much need to drop another $8k for the full self driving package yet. We made a pretty big loop around town, and then he said I could drive.

Holy torqueamole.

I expected the driving to be a bit different, but it didn’t take long to get used to the regenerative braking. In fact, I really liked how sensitive and tight the controls felt, and single-pedal driving was pretty awesome. I didn’t wind it up too high, but he let me floor it a couple times and the instantaneous torque was just incredible. It really was like nothing else, and it didn’t even matter what speed I was already going. It just went.

We stopped to say “hi” to Summer, then chatted for a while longer after the drive. We ended up getting rained out by a sudden and slightly heavy shower, so we both dove into our cars and I headed to Mark’s office to do some more work.

We wrapped up pretty quickly, and I got a check made out to the description I wrote for the job. Then I stopped across the street to chat with Robert for a bit. He seemed excited for company, and eventually Felix showed up as well. He gave me a tamale, and then I went back across town to check in with Summer before going home.

The girls were still laying around watching TV. Eventually I started the oven to warm up a loaf of bread for an Everything Sandwich. Summer got home after work, and they watched TV and ate. I poked around at a few things for a bit, and it wasn’t long before everyone filtered off to bed.

BYE401K

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Say, “No” to “No!”

I decided to go in for a half day today since I had a few things I wanted to take care of before the three-day weekend. Everyone started at the shop, but then I was off to the high school. I stopped at Casey’s for a free slice, then got to work on testing printer deployment to users instead of computers. It took me way longer than I expected, and I think the point of failure was initially drivers. By the afternoon, I had it working on at least one computer.

I left a while after lunch time once I reached a stopping point. I cleaned up some leftovers at home before trying to earn some loot boxes in Overwatch. It was pretty frustrating to work so hard for them, only to get almost exclusively duplicate items. Eventually I started working on cleaning up a bit around the house before Summer was ready to get gas.

I met her at Shell to use my 30¢ discount, then came home again to continue cleaning until she brought the girls over for the evening. We had planned to go to Harbor Freight, but I think picking up dinner took a bit longer than expected. On top of that, the girls had gotten a bit too comfortable in their disobedience and needed some firm direction. You know you’re off track when they start suggesting their own punishments. It will only get more strict from here.

We ate our Popeye’s and put off Harbor Freight for the following morning. I got a little distracted while the girls watched some TV, and then we called it a night.

Go ahead and add the number to Child Protective Services to your contact list, because you’re gonna need them if you act like that again.

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Captaining 101

We skipped the shop this morning and got Autumn straight into imaging laptops. It took me a little bit to get any traction with any particular task, but I got a few miscellaneous things accomplished throughout the day.

Allen called for lunch, so Autumn and I picked up some Arby’s and took it back to the shop for him. The fast food deals have been pretty rockin’ since Coronavirus came to town. As long as it’s only a looming fear and doesn’t kill anyone I particularly care about, it can stay around as long as it dadgum wants, man.

It was a short afternoon with more of the same. Then I had to take Autumn to physical therapy again. While she was there, I stopped in to Mark’s office to take care of a failed email import task. That didn’t take long, then I got Autumn and we went to see Summer at work.

I needed an oil change, so we made Autumn pull my car into the bay under much duress. We couldn’t figure out why she was so adamant that she wasn’t going do what we told her, but Summer didn’t take any guff. She did slightly run over an employee, but he lived.

From there, we spent a little time at my house with the cat, then went up the hill to start making dinner. I cleaned the grill and cooked some chicken breasts for salads. Autumn, always having to be different, made a little wrap instead. While I was grilling, I made her come outside so I could talk at her about her feelings earlier in the day, and I think she ultimately appreciated the gesture. The chicken also turned out great, and the salads were awesome. Afterward, Summer watched a little bit of Moana with Autumn, then went to bed. I wasn’t terribly far behind.

At least someone accomplished something today.

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Docked Out Till We Clocked Out

I woke up this morning with a knot on my head, and no idea how it got there. I didn’t remember hitting my head last night, but I did hit it pretty hard a couple weeks ago when we were unpacking student laptops. I couldn’t imagine why it would start throbbing and grow into a lump again today after all that time, but there it was.

Autumn tried to stay home today, but I refused to let her. We went by the shop first thing to see if we could take Kyle with us again. Then we let him image student devices while we swapped docking stations. We left him just before lunch to meet the others at the shop. Then Allen joined us for Cici’s.

After lunch, we got some additional new-hire paperwork signed for Autumn, then went back to the high school to continue with docks. Kyle needed a break from that monotony, so I traded him for Autumn and let her image laptops while Kyle and I finished docking stations.

We got almost all of them finished, but had a couple that were checked out to inverted room numbers, and I think a couple that I will have to swap out tomorrow. We got a little bit lost in some of the older parts of the building, and even locked ourselves out once, so we had to walk around the safe room to get back in.

Autumn and I finished up with one last dock at the indoor practice facility, then went to my house for a while so I could put some ice on my head. The knot just sort of swelled up and hurt worse throughout the course of the evening. We stopped by Walmart so she could get some bath stuff and some chicken to cook for dinner, and then we headed up to their house for the evening.

Summer got home in the middle of Autumn making her chicken pasta. It didn’t take too long for us to eat and split up again. Summer and I chatted for a while and watched some more car reviews before bed.

Ahoy hoy, Captain!

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Work Permitted

Autumn and I got up to go to work this morning, and did our best to find a groove. She started imaging student laptops while I put out a few fires. There was a power transformer issue over the weekend that left our main switch closet downstairs without power, but that was an easy fix by the time I got there. Kayla was in and out to bring me returned teacher laptops.

We met at the shop for lunch, and went with Zach and Greg to Las Palmas to eat. Afterward, we stopped by central office so Autumn could sign her tax paperwork, but Cindy had just stepped out for lunch. Instead, we shipped back off to high school to accomplish as much as we could. Autumn replaced a couple laptop LCD panels, which I thought was a good break from imaging laptops, and wasn’t as scary for her as it might have seemed without any prior experience.

Kyle was supposed to come by to help, but only showed up just as Autumn and I were leaving for her physical therapy appointment. It was nice to be able to give a quick 20-second rundown of how to image devices and then leave without having to explain things in more detail. I dropped Autumn off and went back to the shop to get Autumn’s paperwork, but she’ll still have to sign it in the morning.

I went back to the high school so Kyle wouldn’t be sitting there without any other direction, but we didn’t have long left in the day. He took off shortly after quitting time, and I wasn’t terribly far behind. I ran home to change, then met up with Mark again to take care of a few issues they had uncovered.

We finished up right about the time that Summer and the girls were done, so I met them at my parents’ house for bún thang. Summer was pretty bad off with nerve pain again, so we didn’t stick around terribly long. I stayed to chat for just a little longer, then met the girls at their house for the evening.

Time to over-analyze for maximum-output decision making.

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Is This What White People Sound Like?

I went to the shop first thing this morning to try and recruit some help moving all of the old laptops from my office to The UPS Store. Josh and Kyle drew the short straws, so I got the truck and we headed out. We managed to get it all into the back of the truck, except for a half box of laptops that we forgot to grab.

Once that was done, I dropped Josh and the truck off, and then Kyle and I went back to the high school to replace some docking stations. It got me a little out of my groove I was in, but we got a lot accomplished and I appreciated the help. He was only working the half day, so he cut out at lunch and I went back to my office for the afternoon.

I still had a leftover sandwich in the fridge, so I ate that while I worked. All of my flash drives accepted the new laptop image, so hopefully I can start on that next week. I got a couple huge boxes of parts in, but it was all for Heather’s new laptops, so I’ll have her come take them away eventually.

After work, took the last few laptops to The UPS Store and encountered a loud, ignorant couple that was just hellbent against wearing masks. It seemed like they were just out for an argument, because he was wearing a completely open mesh mask that I guess was intended to comply with the most generic definition of the word. The girl at the counter asked them to step away, and they both immediately started spouting off about how the CDC said surgical masks didn’t protect against COVID-19, and asked on whose authority was his mask deemed unworthy. I’m sure if they had done a little more digging on that same internet where they found their information, they would have learned that idiots and assholes are not protected classes of people, and that private establishments like The UPS Store aren’t infringing on their rights by not serving them. I spent the rest of my evening winning arguments and delivering sick burns to them in my mind.

I stopped by to see Summer on the way home, and then finally broke out my new carpet cleaner to make my living room a little less gross. It seemed to do a really great job, and really made me want to continue on cleaning the rest of the house. It did pull up a lot of carpet lint, but I figured at its age, that wasn’t enough of a reason to stop cleaning. I felt like the room looked a lot better when I was done.

Summer headed over after work while I ran to Walmart to pick up some wet cat food. Split has lost a ton of weight from his formerly fat and floppy self, so I imagine he’s finally on his way out after 15 years. He really took to the canned food when I got home though, so maybe he was just having trouble with the dry stuff.

I warmed up the leftover nachos with some extra salad stuff and watched Forged in Fire with Summer until she started to fall asleep on the couch. I think even I was more tired than I realized.

The lady asked you to leave….

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One, Two, Three O’Clock, Four O’Clock, Dock

I went in this morning and scrapped the flash drives I made yesterday in favor of making new ones with current Windows Updates. While that processed, I got a cart together and started replacing docking stations. I just kept chugging along, well into lunch. I missed the email that Ben sent out offering to buy everyone lunch to welcome Kyle to the team. He called me just after I found it, and I ran to Linh to meet them.

After lunch, I chugged away at more docks until I finished the bottom floor. That left me just enough time to start copying more flash drives before heading home to change. Then I went by Mark’s office again to help his other staff with their questions.

When I got back home, the house was a balmy 85 degrees, and it was clear that my air conditioner was doing nothing but pushing hot air around. Summer went home, and I picked up some Taco Villa for dinner on the way.

Summer had Forged in Fire on, but otherwise it was an uneventful night. At least it was cool in her house.

Start a dockin’ round the clock again…

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Commendearing Cow

I did it. I got up nearly an hour and a half early this morning in commitment to a joke that only served to entertain myself. I had the time, so I stopped in to Casey’s for a free breakfast slice on the way to work. When I got there, the new guy was already standing awkwardly downstairs outside the basement doors. I guess nobody told him we’ve been starting at 9am, so he showed up at 7:45am.

We went inside, and I invited him into Ben’s my office, where I planted my pirate flag and sat down in his my chair. We chatted for a few minutes while I opened up my laptop to check some email, until Ben and Greg walked in together. Ben came in and without any hesitation just knocked my pirate flag off his desk and pushed me out of his chair. I was really hoping we’d have an hour to chat alone, but with Kyle starting his first day and others trickling in, it just didn’t happen. We all sort of openly groaned about how disappointed we were in his response to the board last night, but I guess that’s just what we get for trying.

I made my way to the high school and started on a few things there. Most of it blurred together into a haze of meaningless work, but I know I got a couple docking stations swapped. It was uncharacteristically quiet for my hallway, but I wasn’t going to complain. I made my way back to the shop in case anyone wanted to have lunch, and Allen suggested Cici’s. He got Greg and Josh to go, and even Kyle and Melinda decided to join us. Summer took the day off from work and met us there to eat.

Kyle was kind of super awkward, though seemingly familiar. He kept making jokes about all the cops and Army fellows coming in because they heard about my act of piracy this morning, but I never saw anyone from the Navy.

After lunch, I started to go back to the high school but got roped into helping Allen get the bus yard gate open. I thought it would be an easy task, but then we both got trapped and had to call on Gary to let us out. I guess our garage door opener was failing, so he had to borrow one from maintenance to let us out.

Once I finally got back to the high school, the afternoon went by pretty quickly. I started pumping out flash drives for the student devices, and it was time to go before I knew it. I headed home to meet Richard from Dependable, and he poked around my air units to check for leaks. I’m not even sure he checked whether it was low, but he ended up adding some dye before he left, and said he would be back in a few weeks.

Summer came back shortly after, and I started picking up a tiny bit while she watched TV. I washed my comforter, warmed up some egg rolls, and made myself a salad with what she brought over. We spent the evening shopping and dreaming about cars, and it just made me sad to know how poor I am.

You know it’s going to be a long day when you start by commandeering the whole department.