Tag: work

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What’s the Dale, Yo?

It rained all day today, so we had to trailer the TVs we were mounting. Dale had us load up four for the high school, but when we got there we decided not to do two of those because they had newer projectors already. Then the two we did hang were in rooms that seemed not to use them at all, so I’m not even sure it was necessary. All of this was really out of the ordinary for Dale, so it really threw us out of whack the rest of the morning.

I offered up a couple places at the junior high where we could mount the last two, and after Zach spent about half an hour trying to back the trailer up to the pad, we got one TV hung. They left the last one in my office, and we met the gang at the shop to go to lunch at Popeye’s.

Way too much food later, I was left to go to the junior high and take care of a few things by myself. I spent a while trying to get sound out of the TV we hung, and then went through a few rooms to check on the quality of some projectors to decide on more replacements. The teachers were all there for SSP night, so I found all of them to discuss the replacements. About half of them were all for TVs, and the other half didn’t want to give up their touch panels. It’s all well enough, I suppose, because I hate getting rid of stuff that still works.

Summer had to stay late for her conferences, so I headed home and played some Rocket League and Overwatch with Johnny and Aaron when they came on. I missed having friends to play with, but I didn’t miss all the whining about why things are the way that they are in the games. I guess you just have to take the good with the bad.

My body is finely tuned, like a microchip.

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Domo Arigato Mister Conky 2000, Ha Ha!

I had to wake up this morning to meet at the robotics tournament around 8, and the place was already pretty packed. Everything went pretty smoothly, and I only worked for about an hour before they cut me loose. I went up to Summer’s to see what they were doing, and she left Eaddie and me there while she went to the gym. I ate the last of the leftover noodles and then played on the Switch for a little bit while Eaddie took a shower. Just after Summer got back, I got a call about some trouble at the tournament, so I had to head back there.

I couldn’t find anything wrong with the wireless other than a slightly higher number of users in the area. I would think the access points could have handled the 30-40 users per device without too much trouble though. I spent a little while fiddling with it to see if I could narrow down the trouble, but in the end the only advice I could offer was to restart their tablets.

When I left, I met Summer and Eaddie at Sumo for lunch. They were super busy and our cook was unusually quiet for the venue. What made it even worse was that our noodles were basically completely inedible due to the amount of salt in them. They burned my mouth as I ate them, so I had to mix them with the rice to make them palatable. Then he forgot Summer’s vegetables and had to scrape enough from the scraps on the table for her. Overall I just felt like they were trying to hide poor quality with tons of sauce and seasoning.

From there, the girls went home so they could go with their father. I ran home to clean up some oil or grease stains on my shirt, and then made it back to the robotics tournament just as they were cleaning up. It went well for the most part, so hopefully the payment situation will be fairly straightforward. If I’m lucky they’ll contribute my extra to retirement as well. I left once most everyone was gone and headed back home to meet Summer.

On the way home, Zach texted and invited us to come play games with him, Sara, Gary, Bryan, and Daspri. We got there just in time to see that it was actually a dinner party they were having. We were still so full from lunch that we just awkwardly stood there and chatted with them while they ate. Apparently that’s a pretty regular thing for them to do though, which was kind of a bummer to learn. I thought we were getting in on something new there, but I ended up feeling like extras. It was still a fun time though once we started playing Unstable Unicorns. We even played by the proper rules this time so we didn’t get stuck in a stalemate for four hours. We wrapped up the evening with a learning game of Bears vs Babies. It went okay.

Enough with the grumblies!

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School Discount

Dale, Zach, and I spent most of the morning helping Brice hang two touch panels at Sequoyah. I assume they weren’t of bad quality. I’m still for saving money. Resist change for change’s sake.

We all went, along with Gary, to Brangus for lunch. It wasn’t bad. I was stuffed halfway through my beef spud even after being hungry all morning. Then I spent most of the afternoon trying to hammer out emails about esports. The lunch meeting has been pushed to Thursday now, and I think we’ll only start out as a local club, and then look to compete next year. Once I got that sorted, I headed to the junior high to help set up for the robotics tournament.

I probably spent more time there than I intended, but I wanted to figure out a good way to stream two computer monitors’ worth of information to a single television screen. Two screens would have been better, but we only had the one VTEL stand on campus, and splitting it between that and a giant projector screen would have looked ridiculous. Gary came by to help and keep me company, which was much appreciated. We both got to laugh about Brad’s concern with my overtime hourly rate with the district, because he certainly wouldn’t have preferred a $100/hr “private contractor” rate. In any case, we got things sorted well enough and headed out in the cold.

Back home, I spent some time winding down with the cats and then called it a night. Tomorrow should be easier and less work than I expected, so I’m shooting more for having fun than anything else.

Layer 7 Networking Dip!

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Coach Cow

It was storming pretty hard this morning, but we got just enough of a break and cared just little enough that we still managed to truck a touch panel to Oakland first thing in the morning. Together, Zach, Gary, and I got the panel hung with only a little unnecessary help from John. It would have helped if we had started with the correct size drill bit, but the important thing is that we got it done.

Afterward, we got the rumor mill going pretty hard, and there were a lot of things left up in the air. Jason’s still going to be out for a while, and apparently they’re letting him use sick bank days for what any reasonable person would feel are seriously inappropriate reasons. I was going to get 50 cent corn dogs with Summer and Ronda, but Ronda backed out, and then Zach wanted to continue our conversation over lunch. The three of us went to Zona K-tracha for lunch, and all ended up getting the same mixed lunch fajitas. The waitress seemed to be new at literally everything she did for us, down to asking if we wanted ice in our waters. The food was good, but inconsistent with our previous experiences. Overall good, but not worth the difference over a closer restaurant to the shop. Previously it had been pretty amazing.

I took care of work orders after lunch, and spent some time setting up an account with PlayVS. Matt and Ben officially gave me the go-ahead to be the coach for the district’s first Esports league team. PlayVS tripled the number of games to three: League of Legends, Rocket League, and Smite. None of us had any real idea how we would start the whole process, so I started by firing off an email to Gabriel, who I had helped pitch Esports to Matt in the first place. My main concern right now is how we will pay to enter the league, and whether we even should for this season with so little time to prepare.

As the day ended, Summer and I were going to meet at my place over some corn dogs while the girls were in karate. Kevin was still in his office working super late, so I thought I’d swing by and bring him a couple, but he had disappeared by the time I got there. I headed home and ate with Summer, then finally ran by the junior high basketball game to feed him there. He was super duper appreciative of that, and we chatted for a while before I headed out. I talked to Ronda and Jennifer at the concession stand for a little bit and ran into Charlie there because his daughter wanted to watch the game. I guess it’s something social to do. I didn’t used to see the appeal, but at least it looked better than an outdoor sport.

When I got back home, I spent some time in the living room with Grey. I think her tumors are getting worse pretty quickly, but she’s not acting totally worthless, so it’s going to be hard deciding when to end it. We’ll just have to take it day by day. Johnny and Aaron got online after a little while and I chatted with Johnny until bedtime.

Blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol.

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Feeling Flushed

It was a dreary second day of testing at Oakland this morning. Someone brought some toppings to the cafeteria and made some fantastic cinnamon rolls. I had a brown sugar and pecan one at first, and then one of the teachers gave me her fig one that was tasty, though not even half as good as my first. I decided to leave for a regular lunch this time, and I met some of the guys at CJ’s for an overpriced burger. At least the fries were super hot and a little crispy.

After lunch, I took care of some things at the junior high before going back to the shop to deliver a touch panel to Oakland. Just after I got the panel and toolbox out and pulled the truck up, it started to pour down rain, so I had to move the stuff under the awning. Just about then, I saw Crystal pulling the mail van in, so I abandoned all hope and ran the truck back to the lot before she locked the gate. I figured we would just deal with being a little late tomorrow, since Zach, Gary, and I should be able to hang it super fast anyway.

I went home for a bit before heading up to Summer’s for dinner. She picked up a couple buckets of KFC that the three kids destroyed. Autumn originally tried eating leftover buffalo chicken strips instead, but when they turned out dry and rubbery she gnawed on about a quarter of a breast before leaving it to be thrown away. Luckily I spotted it and Summer finished it off, but it’s that kind of wasteful spirit that infuriates me to the point that I want to physically harm her. There’s just no reason someone that age shouldn’t be more thoughtful about those things. They have too many outs when they don’t get their way.

As I finished the last little bit of gravy with a biscuit, I somehow managed to punch a tiny hole into the styrofoam and dripped gravy across the entire house and myself. I just felt so defeated, and ended up taking my shirt off to wash it in the sink. I didn’t stay long, and left after about three episodes of Parks and Recreaetion. I headed toward home to get gas, then clean the cat box and shrimp bowl. I pulled some of the stringy algae out, and thought for a while that I had accidentally pulled out the ghost shrimp as well, just before heading to bed I checked again and found him.

Triumph of the day.

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I don’t wanna be in this family any more!

I spent the morning at the junior high after being away all day yesterday. It was supposed to be another warmer day, but the cloud cover and moisture in the air made it a pretty cold ride in. I worked there until lunch and met the guys at the shop before riding with Zach to Popeye’s. After lunch, he helped me take a little mini Chromebook cart to Oakland before we got sidetracked with a call over to Sequoyah. Apparently they’re adding on to the cafetorium there, and there’s some cabling that runs across the outside of the building that will have to be relocated or removed. There were a couple kids there from Tracer that didn’t seem to be much help, and we ended up waiting for Ben to get there and make the final decision. I think ultimately we’re just going to end up cutting it and seeing what goes down.

When we finally finished there, I worked a bit late on a computer at the front desk of the junior high to try and figure out why it would only work with a static IP address, and the best I could come up with was flaky termination on a patch cable in the switch closet. The computer was a bit janky when I set it back up, but it eventually worked itself out and restarted without issue several times, so I left.

I ran by the bank to see if they had $2 bills for lucky money and ran into Aaron there. I didn’t realize that was his branch, so we chatted for a little bit before we both left. I went to my parents’ house for some red envelopes and then had to run home to get the car to pick up Eaddie from karate. We ran back by my house so I could change and check on the pets, and then headed on to her house.

We watched an episode of Parks and Rec over leftover dinner, and Summer and Autumn put some more work into her National History Day project. Meanwhile, I racked my brain over trying to promote Summer’s Google account to family manager status, and was basically left with account deletion as an only resolution. Unfortunately since Summer was already a parent on Autumn’s family group, removing herself meant that she couldn’t even create a new family group with a brand new Google account for Eaddie until waiting out the 12-month cooldown period between families. Eaddie basically doesn’t have a way to create a new account without lying about her age. Google chat support was worthless and just plain bad, which was a huge surprise.

0/10 with rice.

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Model Citizens

Jason was out again, so we didn’t have any projects today. I spent most of the morning at the junior high helping Ronda update student pictures for the library. Then I met the guys at the shop to head to Western Sizzlin for lunch. While we were there, somehow we got onto the subject of district policy, and Brice made a comment about how it shouldn’t apply to some people and not others. I was quick to call him out on his step 9 salary.

After lunch, I got to do Jason’s inventory job when we got some projector lamps in. While I was there, I modified some of the descriptions and models so they would be easier to find later. Then I went to Oakland for a bit before ending the day at the junior high. It slowed down pretty quickly for a Friday, and I headed home to watch the aquarium for survivors. Mom was visiting with Bác Vân when I got there, so I chatted with them first. Then after nearly an hour of watching the fish tank, I finally found both shrimp had survived, but it looked like all three fish had been eaten. I’ll have to find another home for the final remaining one.

When Summer got home with Autumn, I headed up for the night. Autumn was made to work on her history day project over the Challenger disaster. I tried helping just a little, but tried to take special care that I didn’t put more effort into it than she did. For someone that wanted so badly to model something out of clay, she didn’t seem to have much interest in shaping her rocket. I don’t even remember what my history day project was about, but I know I hated it. Finally, Summer and I ended the night on a couple episodes of Parks and Rec.

That’s enough belly aching for one night.

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Pretzel Thief

Somehow I managed to get out of the house just a few minutes early today, so I stopped by Burger King for some breakfast for Summer and myself. The junior high had more testing, so I spent all morning smartly working on things there. Kevin came over for a little while and got on a rant about Chicago gang bangers and how Obama had empowered them. Then I met Allen at Wind Taste for lunch.

I stopped by Oakland for a little bit after lunch, but then spent the rest of the afternoon at the junior high cleaning up a few things. During last period, Jaiden the library aide tried to look me up on the school website. He scrolled down and, completely out of the blue said, “who’s Jason Williams? He looks like a butthole.” I lost it.

When I finally left, I stopped by the house for a few things before getting Autumn to pick up a couple pizzas. She, Summer, and I split up and ordered three of them from Little Caesar’s so we could all get promo 2-liters. When I told the guy my name, he gave me one for Mitchell and made a comment about not being able to spell. I told him it was an online order so my name shouldn’t have been misspelled, and he suggested that maybe I had misspelled it. It took me until I got to the car to check and see that I had failed to press the button to complete my order, so I ran back inside to explain myself and then completed the order on my phone so they could get paid for what I took. The guy seemed really cool about it, but then afterward I just kind of lost him staring into space.

Everyone loved the pretzel pizzas except Autumn, because it was different and she didn’t want to try it. I lost count of how many slices I ate, which was a very bad thing. When the kids went to bed, I played a little Breath of the Wild, then put on a couple episodes of Parks and Recreation before bed.

Well he’s not wrong.

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Six Months

I had ELPA testing all day at the junior high, so I spent all morning over there just in case something happened. Nothing did. I got a few other things cleaned up while I was there, then met Allen at Ruby Tuesday for $5 salads. I spent the rest of the afternoon at the shop and then visited Oakland for a bit on my way home.

I took off a couple hours early to take Grey to the vet since she’s been a little shyer than usual. It was a quick visit. One look to find three mammary tumors. She said cats don’t survive them 90% of the time, so surgery wouldn’t be a realistic option, and all we can do is watch her quality of life. She guessed it might give her six more months.

With that news, I took her back home and gave them both some wet food. Then we sat on the couch together for a couple hours until I had to pick Eaddie up from karate. She wanted to stay and hang out with her friend, but I had to get her home to shower.

Summer and Autumn showed up shortly thereafter, and Summer warmed up some leftover pasta for us before the girls shuffled off to bed. I played Breath of the Wild the rest of the evening while Summer nursed some gnarly shoulder pain.

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Pet the Kitty

I stayed pretty busy today, and just kept things going. It was a good mix of cleaning up loose ends and taking care of newer things that came in late last week. Zach and I went to Morelos for lunch, and for the first time in a long time I took about half of mine with me in a box. If he hadn’t been feeling sick and not eating much, I’m sure I would have finished my fajitas. They won’t be nearly as good later, but it was a nice change of pace.

The afternoon went by pretty quickly, just as the morning did. I went home for a while before going to my parents’ to pick up the cat carrier, and then to Summer’s for dinner. She improved upon the flavors of the barbecue and potatoes we had left over, and I left with a new catch tray for my oven.

I ended the night watching the weird TV streaming app built into my LG TV while brushing Grey’s hair out. I keep hoping it will prevent her from shedding so much at her appointment tomorrow, but in reality there’s probably no stopping it.

I wish I had more friends, but people are such jerks.
If you can just get most people to leave you alone, you’re doing good.
If you can find even one person you really like, you’re lucky.
And if that person can also stand you, you’re really lucky.