Tag: work

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MacNuggies With Bae

Ben emailed us early this morning to say that Melinda tested positive for COVID. We were all pretty sure she had it the other day when I was at the shop, but evidently she refused to go home. Surprisingly, I don’t think anyone else chose to quarantine. Even Zach, who I think jokingly hugged on her that day, was at work today. Josh apparently took COVID days, but refused to test because if it comes back positive, his breadwinner wife would have to quarantine as well. The level of selfishness kind of astounds me.

I stuck to my office for most of the day, but was mostly aimless. I left for a late lunch and got a big bag of McNuggets to share with Summer, and we ate on the bench outside her shop. Then I went to our office for some parts and to talk to Ben for a bit before going back to the high school.

I wrapped up the day at the Center, getting their new box office ticket printer working. There wasn’t a lot of useful troubleshooting I could do, but through enough tinkering, I finally got it to work.

I stopped to see Summer again on the way home, then spent a quiet evening alone at the house. I got some more laundry done while Inception played, then went to bed.

You’re waiting for a train.

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On the Subject of Customer Service

I had a few new things come in this morning, so I spent all day working on those. The kids were back, which meant I had to work around the bell schedule again. I also kept getting phone calls instead of work orders, but fortunately it wasn’t anything too serious.

Summer got a lunch break, so I picked her up and we went to Brangus. A big group of the guys were there with Dale, and it hurt my feelers that not one of them said a word to me about it. I knew it was Gary’s birthday, so I guess it was my fault for not finding my way back to the shop before lunch, but a text doesn’t seem like too much trouble if they wanted me there. On the plus side, our waitress was my favorite, and remembered my order.

I spent all afternoon fighting my way around a switch configuration, which really ended up being due to port security and forgetting that there was another network device in line that kept breaking things as I fixed them. I won in the end, except for some lag in how often PaperCut updates printer IPs.

After work, Julie brought me some leftover donuts from work. Then Summer came over and took a bath while I finished up some leftovers. Autumn called for a ride because Nick’s car quit on them on the drive over, so we picked them up.

While the girls were inside watching TV, I called Belkin WeMo support for help with my new light switch that won’t update firmware. The support was surprisingly really great in spite of having to call back when the line went dead the first time. The guy I got the second time could tell I knew my stuff, so we sped through the troubleshooting stuff really quickly and he escalated the issue with an expected callback in a day or two. Best of all, they’re open 24/7, so I really can take care of it when it’s convenient for me.

Once off the phone, I had to play catch-up on a conversation with emotion that the girls were having. We de-escalated pretty easily, and set some expectations. With that, the leash will get just a little bit shorter, and the behavior will have to show marked improvement.

Finally, just before bed, I ordered a new Shorai battery for the Shadow. I had to email the manufacturer this afternoon for the correct part number, and they responded in like an hour. Of course I went back to MotoMummy for the battery, since they’ve always been spectacular on top of having the best price by a long shot. This time we’ll see if they can draw my namesake on the shipping box.

“Like hugging a giant rotisserie chicken.”
Sometimes you just have to take the compliments as they come.

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Where Yeezy At?

Today was the second virtual day to account for conferences, so I quietly closed a few work orders at the high school before taking a lunch. This time it was Burger King that had a free Whopper, so I picked that up and then ate at home.

It was a gorgeous day at that point, so I tried starting the Shadow. It didn’t even grumble, so I put it on the charger and took the R1 back to work.

I spent the afternoon at the shop with Gary, troubleshooting the terrible performance in Cognos. We drilled it down to something likely in Group Policy, so it’s anybody’s guess what the difference between our laptops and desktops is. I broke off of that project and got a software deployment made, and then it was time to go.

I only stopped at home long enough to change, then took the girls to karate. I still had a $5 off coupon for Ace Hardware, so I went by Leonard’s and just perused the kitchen wares for nearly an hour. I ended up getting a tea infuser that immediately broke as soon as I unpackaged it, and a tire patch kit for my mountain bike, all for like 40 cents.

I ended the night with some laundry and an early bedtime. I couldn’t bear to stay awake knowing Kanye was relegated to the “Other Candidates” heading.

You may be talented, but you’re not Kanye West.

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On the Subject of Furnishing

The whole district scheduled virtual learning days today and tomorrow, so it was super quiet all day. I kept myself slowly busy, but didn’t ever feel very accomplished. I took a late lunch and picked up another free Big Mac, then went by the shop to find a spare desktop I could use to replace one in the front office.

After work, I changed and went to get Autumn to an Explorers meeting. Then I mostly played some Rocket League on the Switch until Summer got home. Eaddie came out so we could watch an episode of Glee, and then I picked Autumn up after her meeting.

When we got back to the house, we stopped by the neighbor’s trash pile to scavenge a couple lamps. I half joked with Autumn, telling her that’s how we would furnish her college dorm room. That’s when she threw a tantrum about not going to college and hating school and not having to tell us what she likes or doesn’t like.

Summer had a talk with her once inside, and eventually they included me, but by that time I felt like my part had been mostly diminished. I think it’s going to take a firmer hand to produce better results from her than Summer is willing to give.

Eaddie came around and I showed her how to set up filters in Gmail, and then everyone wandered off to bed.

‘Cause you’re his cheeseburger; his yummy cheeseburger!

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Becoming a Spooky Ghost

I crawled out of bed after a few hours of sleep, and got things rolling for my big, spooky ghost show at work. I got there nearly an hour early and started setting up. Melissa was already there fogging the area for Coronavirus, but I didn’t get in her way. Allen showed up about half an hour before work, and I had to hide all of my laptops in a hurry and then sneak out the back door before he saw me. Unfortunately, once I got set up in the graveyard, I realized that two of the laptops weren’t set up right, so I made the decision to go back downstairs and fix it, even though it would give up the joke to him.

Everyone else started trickling in, but Greg and Josh were both gone. It ended up being Allen, Zach, Gary, Kyle, Ben, and Melinda in the shop. To my surprise, some guy from Hector schools showed up to pick up some of our scrap. That was all fine and dandy until nearly the entire crew showed up at the door to the graveyard. Ben was giving the guy a walk around the whole area to pick through any scrap he wanted. I didn’t have anywhere to go, but luckily both Ben and the guy from Hector didn’t say a word when they caught glances of me, and Zach took the others back downstairs.

Once they got the meeting started, I had Zach turn the lights off and I began my Spooky Ghost performance. Melinda seemed to have a lot of fun running around the room trying to find where I was actually hiding. They didn’t realize I could actually hear them at first, so when I started responding directly to them, it got even more exciting.

After the meeting, I went with Ben, Allen, and Kyle to the junior high to repair student laptops all day. We got several of them done, but at the expense of getting none done at the high school since the start of the year. That’ll be fun later.

We took a break to go to Sam’s for lunch, and then Ben and I went back to the junior high to finish up. I was supposed to get to go home early for dressing up, but since Ben was my ride, we ended up staying a while after four. They can see if I ever dress up again.

The girls all came over in the evening, and we watched some Glee until bedtime. Hopefully I’ll wake up well rested tomorrow, and can get some stuff done.

I’m obviously in the Great Beyond.

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The Conjuring of Spirits

I woke up with an ocular migraine today, and it took me most of the morning to get over it. My systolic blood pressure was also the lowest it’s ever been, and I felt pretty sluggish all day long.

Summer took Eaddie to work, and Autumn slept most of the day at the house, until I made Summer wake her up to do school work. I picked her up for lunch, and met Summer and Eaddie aet Morelos. Then I took her back to the house so I could go back to work.

The power went out in the afternoon, which interrupted Autumn’s TV watching. It took her a while after that to realize it also took out the internet that she was supposed to be using to complete her school work.

After work, I ran by Allen’s to try and help him lower his spare tire off of his truck. It looked like he had a locking lug nut on it, so we didn’t accomplish anything. Then I got the girls to karate before going back by the shop to set up my spooky ghost prank for tomorrow morning.

I spent over six hours getting everything ready, so hopefully it works out. The hard part is going to be getting to work before everyone else just so I can watch them trickle in while I wait out in the cold.

When Native Australians die, do they become apparitinals?

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Witches Get Stitches

My days are very quiet right now. It was cold and rainy all day, but luckily I think my thermostat actually works to some degree. I cranked the temperature up to like 75, and it actually got up to 68 or so. I’ve always just assumed it was a wall mounted placebo, but maybe it will surprise me.

I came home for lunch and made a mess of a burrito, but at least I cleaned up the last of the ingredients. I didn’t accomplish a whole lot in the afternoon either, since I was still fighting SMART Notebook downgrades. Summer had to run home to check on Autumn because she sliced her hand open while slicing some bread. We decided it would probably be alright if she just wrapped it up though.

After work, I went to the Election Commission Headquarters and voted for the first time in my life. Driving up, it looked like there was a crowd that I didn’t want to suffer, but once I walked in, it was about as painless as I could imagine. Old people that volunteer for stuff like that are always so nice, and I guess they don’t let the senile ones help, so it was a good experience. They were all so happy I was there. I even got a free stylus and a sticker, so I guess that was worth the price of admission right there.

On the way up to her house, I stopped to see Summer for a bit. Then I continued up to get the girls. We went to Little Caesar’s for dinner, since I didn’t want to bother dragging Summer’s meal prep stuff across town in the rain. They were doing something at the church on that side of town that had traffic backed all the way back to the train tracks, and around the corner on Parkway. It just aggravated me that they would even let that happen.

When Summer finally got home from the gym, Autumn undressed her cut again and they decided to go to MedExpress for some stitches. Unfortunately they didn’t take ARKids, so they ended up at the emergency room for four hours again. I figure at this rate, they’re going to start remembering Summer by name before the end of the year.

Is the ballot box supposed to make that grinding sound when I feed my paper into it?

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#UnexpectedCrucifix

I went by the shop this morning to pick up a couple TVs for Athletics, and dropped them off at their office. After that, I stayed quietly busy in my office for most of the day. Allen invited me out to lunch, so we decided to try The Gunslingin’ Burger.

The staff was friendly, and the menu was quaint. They had a TV up with a special Murder Burger that looked pretty good, so I just got that without even bothering to look at anything else. Loaded Beer Cheese Fries on the side brought my total to just under $15, which set the bar pretty high.

After we ordered, we noticed the rest of the decor, which consisted of a giant, life-sized, floor-standing cross, and a jail cell. We took a photo op with the more interesting of the two, and then were relatively quickly served our meals. I was more than a little put off by the overall presentation, but it was cool that Allen could get a side of chili with his. My fries were pretty good, and the burger was tasty, but the price was all I could think about. The burgers were disappointingly flat, at about half the thickness of the photo. More vegetables would have given it the thickness I craved, but the sliced celery was an interesting addition that I enjoyed.

The cook came out a couple times, once to check on another couple of guys that were there, and again to check on us. The approach was a little bit awkward, but I could appreciate his desire to connect with his patrons. I hadn’t fully made up my mind by the time he came to us, so we just responded that everything tasted good, which wasn’t a lie. It just wasn’t worth $15.

I actually left hungry, so I ran home and cut up another peach for my afternoon at work. I did a bit of running around, had a sit down political conversation in the library, and then left work to meet up at Summer’s for dinner. She grilled a bunch of meats to eat for the whole week, so tonight was rice, chicken, broccoli, and cheese. I threw all of mine into a bowl and just sort of mixed it up, and it was great. She didn’t take the girls to karate, and Autumn decided she didn’t need to go to the high school for whatever band fitting they were having, so I ended up leaving them there for the night so I could come back home.

I wanted to clean up a bit more, but most of my evening was spent getting distracted by different problems everywhere, and I was never satisfied with any fixes. My new WEMO switch still isn’t working, my WiFi is a mess because of it, and I’m overall just super frustrated with the whole process.

And for some reason, I’m still freakin’ hungry.

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Cold and Rainy, but Not Complainy

It took all night for my new battery to charge, but hopefully doing that first thing will help it to last longer. I think I’ll try charging it every three to four months just to top it off and see if that helps with the premature wear I’ve always seen.

I got in to work just as it started to sprinkle a tiny bit, and it was cold and lightly rainy all day long. The whole day went by super fast, which was more disorienting than anything else. I took a late lunch and was going to just go home and make a burrito, but McDonald’s had a free Big Mac with purchase. They ended up giving me a medium fry when I ordered a large, so I had to make a loop and come back through to get the right size. Then I went and ate at home before going back to work.

The afternoon went by just as quickly, but I got a few things done that had been sitting around a while. Then I went home for the evening and spent most of my time researching and testing video editors for Librado. I did get a cabinet cleaned out a bit, but now I don’t know what to do with the old pots and pans I removed. Surely I’ll need some of it to make a batch of thermite for a weekend experiment.

Damned WEMO.

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Don’t Carve

Summer got a portion of her loans forgiven today, which was a great start to the day. I made it to work just in time to squeeze in for our morning training, and then Kyle and I were sent to the junior high to do work orders. Virtual Fridays at the high school actually give me a pretty good break anyway, so it at least seems possible to keep work orders under control.

I left Kyle to service laptops while I visited a couple rooms and closed out individual work orders. I spent the majority of my time in the library just so I had some office space to use. Then when lunch time rolled around, we headed back to the shop to meet up with most everyone. The high school had burgers grilled by First State Bank, so we headed that direction.

When we got to the high school, we rode all around trying to find a grill outside, but after fist-bumping the superintendent from my Shadow, we found the food inside. He actually came and sat near us, which could have gone either way, but it wasn’t long before Mary Beth came to occupy his attention.

I spent most of the afternoon there at the high school, but ended up back at the shop just in time to see Ben’s email that we could leave early to go vote. I ended up sticking around until after four just chatting with him about life, politics, and everything anyway. When we did finally leave, I just missed him in finding out my battery had gotten too weak to start the bike. Luckily I had access to the tools, could strip the bike, and then get a jump from Jared, who happened to be right there chatting with someone else.

On the way home, I stopped by the shop to see Summer, and then we went to my house to get the car before getting gas and picking up the kids to go to my parents’ house. We already had the pumpkins there, so as soon as Julie showed up, the kids got to carving. Mom was the only one that refused to participate, and I was honestly really surprised at how well every single one of us did. Even after Autumn’s broke and was left looking like an upside down helmet, I could make it resemble a tiny house at the right angle.

I tried, for the first time, doing some shading by not carving all the way through the pumpkin. I hand-sketched a shadow monster from the game Don’t Starve, then used an Xacto carving knife to slowly dig deeper and deeper into the pumpkin until there was just a thin layer of flesh inside.

We took a bunch of pictures and then picked at some leftovers before heading home for the evening. Hopefully the slugs won’t devour our pumpkins overnight, so we can have some to eat later.

Have fun, damnit!