Tag: work

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MATTE BLACK EVERYTHING

I took Zach with me to the high school this morning so we could try and move some laptops from the library back to my office, but the custodians had the whole hallway taped off so they could strip the floors. I’m going to have to get in there to do some work sooner than later, but I really haven’t been too ambitious about anything anyway.

For lunch, we went by Tropical Smoothie for a couple free smoothies. Then I picked at a few things at the office until Gary mentioned something about doing some network equipment changes at London. I volunteered to go out with him even though it would extend a couple hours past my quitting time.

We drove out, got two switches replaced and set up two existing ones that just weren’t configured yet. I was mostly just another set of hands, but it was nice to get out and do something else for a bit.

After work, I went by to see Summer at the shop before heading home and starting laundry. Some of the guys started showing up online and I just sort of passively listened to them while they played something. As my last bit of laundry finished up in the dryer, I played a few rounds of Overwatch. Then it was off to bed.

THE GAME

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Quarantine Schwarantine

Everyone was back to the office today, though the only new face I actually saw was Allen. I guess Heather was either out or staying away from the shop. I went in and planted my flag to officially commandeer Jason’s old office, and started picking at little things to do. I really needed to go to the high school to clean up some more laptops, but I just never made it over there.

Zach, Gary, Greg, and I went to Wendy’s and started in line by the road. It took us quite a while to get around, I’m guessing because everyone ahead had multiple orders like we did. Ours seemed to come out pretty quickly, and the fries were cold and soggy for all the time we waited, but otherwise it was good. Everyone got spicy chicken sandwiches, which I’ll bet was what Wendy wanted since beef seems to be super expensive now.

After lunch was mostly more of the same, just picking at old work orders and closing out what I could. I tried updating one of the LanSchool servers, but couldn’t even successfully log into it. On the way out for the day, I tried convincing Ben to just spend the extra money on Impero because it’s better anyway, and administration won’t let us actually have any of the money that we’ve been saving the district. I think it’s time we try a new strategy of running out of money and making them come up with more for us to spend.

When I got home, I spend a good amount of time in Overwatch just trying to get my wins in for the week. It just felt like children everywhere though, and I kept getting the dumbest teammates. Eventually Summer showed up and we went to my parents’ house for dinner.

At the end of the evening, I did my chores in Animal Crossing, then researched some more gaming laptops before bed.

At a dollar a day, can I really afford not to invest in a new computer to last me the next decade?

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Zoom Breakup

I had to get up this morning for a conference call with a vendor. We were supposed to be demoing their classroom management software, but the guys at Impero came back after knocking the price down by about 70%, and their software is the best I’ve seen so far. I tried to just send an email, but then the time for the meeting arrived and I felt bad not showing up at all, so I joined and let them down “face to face.”

A bit more work came to me throughout the morning, and then Summer came home for lunch. I stir fried up some veggies and heated up the leftover barbecue from the Ridgewood Brothers. Not long after that, I had to take Autumn to physical therapy. I went home for a little bit to clean up after the cat, but then had to pick Autumn back up before I could go back home to take a shower.

She wanted to make dinner, so we stopped by Walmart and got two and a quarter pounds of hamburger meet for fifteen Trump Bucks before heading back up to the house. Summer beat us home, and Autumn made some “Hamburger Helper” while we worked on a budget.

Everyone was pretty tired after dinner, so we all just called it an early night.

Marry someone who looks sexy while disappointed.
-Phil Dunphy

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Sun Dried and Rain Soaked

Today was our “last” day to collect laptops from high school students. We had over 200 returned, but we have even more than that still out in circulation. They’ll just have to collect them in the office though, because I’m not hunting them all down.

At least it was overcast and breezy in the morning, so it didn’t feel bad. We were busier than we had been all week, but still pretty slow. Lunchtime arrived quicker than any of us expected, and it wasn’t long before some rain arrived as well. I didn’t even really get a chance to eat until we had to pack everything up and move into the entryway at the Center for the Arts. I just stayed inside from that point on, and continued to inspect and scan laptops as they were brought in.

Ben came by near the end of the day to relieve Gary and Zach, and then helped me pack up at the end of the day. I made sure to remove the laptop pickup slide from the sign, and snuck in a quick The Office reference for Memorial Day. I went home for a little while before Autumn called for a ride from physical therapy.

Once I got Autumn, we went up to their house and munched on some leftovers until Summer got home with Noah. Then the kids wanted me to take them to the store for snacks, so we loaded up and went to Walmart. It was pretty busy there, and we ended up shutting the place down.

When we got back to the house, I laid around with the bunny for a bit while Summer watched TV, and one by one, everyone else crashed as well. Poor Eaddie was left as the last one up as always.

All the troops. Both sides.

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Done in the Sun

Today was day two, or three if you count the seniors a couple weeks ago, of sitting out in the sun collecting student laptops. Yesterday was slow, but today was slower most of the day. We did get a couple rushes that made up for it, but there are still a ton of devices left to be returned.

I started the morning with Gary, then got Zach, and Ben for a little bit in the afternoon. We had Stoby’s again for lunch since evidently it was convenient and easy. I had the same Cajun pasta with broccoli, but this time I remembered to ask for cheese dip.

We stayed pretty busy at the end, so it took me another half hour to get packed up and get out of there. I went home for just a little bit to take a cool shower, and then Autumn called asking if I could take her shopping for stuff to make dinner. It wasn’t until I actually got up to their house that she said their father was coming to dinner.

Walmart was pretty busy, but we got what we needed and got out. She made burgers while I made fresh-cut fries. She wanted to make fried pickles and onion rings, but I was afraid to fry the pickles before anything else because I wasn’t sure if the flavor would linger.

Summer got home and came in with another tiny baby bunny, but this time it was younger with closed eyes and some flesh wounds. She didn’t want to take care of it or end it, so she took it to a coworker that might have better lunch.

Dinner turned out really great in spite of how exhausted I was. Then Autumn fed the bunny we kept, and it actually took to the bottle really well. I laid with it for a little while as I finished up my chores in Animal Crossing, and then we all went to bed.

At least they breed like rabbits.

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Food Delivery

I got up extra early today for laptop pickup at the high school. Gary and Zach met me there, but didn’t seem to want to be much help. Zach was the most fussy. My laptop was dead, so I had to run to the shop to get my charger. I also brought a big Bluetooth speaker from Summer’s so we could have some music. To my surprise, they were doing teacher interviews right inside the PAC, but I didn’t let that stop me from jamming out. I think it was a hit overall.

Ben eventually showed up with some Stoby’s, and then ultimately let Zach and Gary leave for the afternoon while he stayed to help. We never got busy, and took fewer laptops than our senior day. Tomorrow and Friday will be hell. I got a pretty good sunburn, but I think next time we’ll start in the shade.

After work, I went home to lotion up and just rested in the cool air. My Stalk Market crashed, so I went onto an Animal Crossing subreddit and found someone with a store that was buying them for a bit over five times what I paid. I was surprised I got in so quickly with all the activity in the comments. After all that worry, I ended up a bellionaire.

Eventually Summer got home and I headed up to her place for the evening. Just as we sat down to eat, one of the cats showed up with a tiny baby bunny just squeaking away. I ran outside to fetch it, and it seemed unharmed. Autumn quickly took over and held onto it for the evening. She just reminds me of myself the way she always wants to keep all of the animals. In the end, that’s no good for anybody. It was cute though, and too young to release back into the wild for at least a little while.

I thanked the cat for dinner, and we crashed relatively early.

You’re going to get hare all over the place.

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Back in the Office

I went straight to the high school this morning to try and clean up in preparation for picking up 1,000 more laptops through the rest of the week. It really was like I had to re-learn my own processes just because it’s been so long. I felt pretty lost most of the morning, but at least I had my speakers.

I ended up taking a late lunch with Summer, where we went through the Arby’s drive-through, then ate in her office. Every time I go to lunch late, I forget how awful and busy it is. I feel like I’ve kind of lost some of my taste for fast food too, but we haven’t been very adventurous at home in a while either. It’s just that nothing sounds good any more.

After lunch, I went to the shop to see if anyone could help me haul a bunch of fiber equipment out of my office. Ben had the new HP demo units in, so I disassembled one of them as well as one of the Lenovos just to compare. It’s all integrated and solid state now, so not at all like traditional computers. I told him they were mostly not repairable, and he basically just accepted that I won’t be doing many repairs any more. That’s a good thing.

We ended the day hauling the equipment out of my office and taking it back to the graveyard. Tomorrow is the big day, but I’ll have an extra set of hands and a better idea of what I need to do to keep organized. I went home and nearly fell asleep from exhaustion.

When Summer got home, I headed up and started warming up some dinner. Amanda called and asked if I could come help her into her house because she forgot her keys, so I ran across town to help, then went back to dinner. Summer crashed super early, and I tried not to lag too far behind. Tomorrow’s a big day.

“To beat the bureaucracy, make your problem their problem.”
-Marshall L. Smith

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Feudal Review

I felt a little sour this morning, so I went in to work a bit late. I wasn’t really supposed to be staffing the office anyway, so nobody really cared. I was surprised to learn that it was review time, but we really didn’t have much to talk about since we have a pretty communicative relationship. I would have liked higher marks for being one of the top performers, but we don’t reward good behavior here.

I had a really pointless conference call to try and set up a live demo of Linewize Classwize, and they seemed a little confused that all I really needed to see was the big-brother capabilities of their classroom management software. Since that call lasted through lunch, Ben and I ran to get BOGO Subway afterward, and chatted in the conference room.

Summer came by to eat my leftovers, but mostly to visit with me. Then I tinkered until quitting time. Autumn needed a ride home from physical therapy, so I got her and we stopped by my house to pick up my freshly delivered black flags. Then we went to Julie’s so I could try my hand at arts and crafts. She cut some vinyl and showed me how to screen print, and I made a handful of little desk pirate flags for my future conquests.

The screen printing process was tedious, but fun once I understood some of the different variables to control. It didn’t take long to become proficient with the tools I had, but to make all 36 flags I purchased, I started to really think of some ways to increase efficiency.

By the time I got a few done, Summer was home and ready to eat, so Autumn and I headed on up and had some leftover pulled pork sandwiches. We ended the evening with another thrilling episode of Game of Thrones, and stopped on a bit of a cliffhanger – probably the biggest we’ve had so far.

When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.

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Rapping Up Before the Weekend

Ben was out this morning, so with Melinda working from home, Greg and I just hung out at the shop all day. I kept pretty busy, and even successfully helped someone remotely. The morning went by pretty quickly, and then Greg gave me some leftover pulled pork he brought.

Ben came around in the afternoon and did some work in his office, and then came back to the shop and chatted with me for a while. We got my virtual machine working for the Watchfire sign software, which was my biggest success of the day. Then I went home for the weekend.

Summer came over right after work, and I ran to Taco Villa to get her some nachos before we eventually sat down to watch Captain Fantastic. I thought it was a pretty great story, but I couldn’t remember how it ever made its way to my watch list in the first place. It was nice getting to mark out something completely new.

If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that there are opportunities to change things, then there is a possibility that you can contribute to making a better world.

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Secretariat

I was supposed to do some experiment work with Ben today, but he and Greg were mostly out of the office this morning. I just assumed I should stick around to answer the phone, so I spent the whole day in the office just picking at random things.

Gary came by in the afternoon and chatted for a little while until Ben showed up, and then we finally upgraded LanSchool to see if the changes improved anything. They didn’t appear to make a difference.

When I finally left, I ran by Taco Bell since I assumed Summer hadn’t had lunch either. We ate in the office, and then I went home to wait for her. The girls spent the night with a friend, so I did a little work on the aquariums until Summer showed up.

My poison ivy worked up a pretty decent infection in my right leg, so it was a pretty uneventful evening from there. I spent a really long time looking at modern lighting fixtures from China. Everything seems to just be rebranded cheap stuff from China. It’s not even worth buying things at the store.

No assembly this year. No matter, we have another retiree that would have gotten the employee of the year award anyway.