Tag: work

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Mazel Tov Cocktails

I thought I was a little further behind today, but I still beat everyone but Gary to the office. I-40 was backed up from the McCain exit back to the I-30 split for much of the morning, and the slow traffic caused multiple other accidents because people love their jobs so much that they’re willing to risk it all. I had forgotten we were supposed to go to the annex to clean out the rest of the junk there, but everyone started at the office anyway, and they chatted about the school board passing the reorganization plan at the meeting the night before.

We eventually did head toward the annex, but Randy and Maggie had to go to central office and everyone else drove separately. I took the back roads and got there long before Gary, who left the office just after I did. Jim and Kyle were there first, then Jay, Brian, Jimmy, and Gary eventually showed up. Just before Gary got there, Randy called and needed me to get a virtual machine set up for remote HVAC access. I started back, but took JFK down to McCain rather than taking the Interstate.

As I got to my intersection, I was reminded that there existed a Hardee’s, so I stopped for breakfast. I had a deal for a sausage and egg biscuit, and I wanted to try their Nashville Hot chicken biscuit as well. The hash rounds were the best I’d ever had from a Hardee’s before, in spite of how much the employees appeared to be struggling. I ate those on the way back to the office.

It took me a while to get Hyper-V to do what I wanted, but I did get it done by the end of the day. People eventually filtered back into the office, and then Maggie and I met Randy and Kyle at Texas Roadhouse for lunch. The afternoon was pretty quiet, and Randy sent everyone home at three after he and I took pictures of the car accessories I got for him off of Amazon Vine.

I had no choice but to stop and charge on the way home, and Summer was on her way to Conway, so I charged up to my 80% limit and met her at the wash. They only had one working bay in the manual wash, but I eventually got in and washed. While I was there, a guy rode up to wash his motorcycle. I talked to him very briefly as I was working, and he complimented the Model 3 and asked if I’d seen all the stuff about the “mazel tov cocktails.”

The soap in the wash did an absolutely horrible job, but the paint looked better. I made it home through dumb, slow traffic, and tried to get the kids to ride bikes while I rode around with Muad’Dib. Eaddie fussed at first but said she’d text me after a bathroom break, so Muad’Dib and I set out to “find Stilgar.” I kept coaching him and let him lead, and he walked me straight to my parents’ house where Dad met us in the driveway.

We left there and went through the basin trail, and he took me down to Phoenix where we passed Mom on her way home. He walked me all the way to Ridgewood Brothers, so I tied him up and went inside for some pulled pork. Grant had his butcher hook me up with some scraps gratis, which was very touching since I’d been having a hard time with the nice weather and thinking about Stilgar. I absolutely love the new relationship I have with Muad’Dib, but I hate that this is how I got it. Our walks are a completely different experience now, and I miss Stilgar’s energy so much.

Muad’Dib went absolutely nuts when he smelled the food, so it was a struggle to get him calm enough to eat any. Then when we started to leave, he took off after some guests and I had to zap him a couple times before he’d leave with me. We lollygagged back toward my parents’ house, stopping for another dip in the creek. He did a lot of walking, a lot of marking, and a bit of running too. It was a good seven-mile trek in total.

I let Muad’Dib hang out inside while I unboxed my newest Vine haul. Summer got home from work late and ate before bed. Eaddie had left with Eli but came home a little earlier to go to bed. My legs and feet had been staying swollen for the past couple weeks even after sleeping all night, so I guess I should report that to someone, but I’m afraid of what it would cost to talk to someone again at the risk of receiving zero feedback.

What’s the point?

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Breakfast Kidnapping

I got out the door a little earlier again today, and considered stopping for breakfast. Things only got worse as Kyle and Randy came in and started talking about all kinds of food. Randy ended up wanting to go get breakfast, so I rode with him to #1 Donuts for some egg rolls, a kolache, and an apple fritter. Then he wanted to go to Dark Side Coffee across town. I did not expect it to be Star Wars themed, but I don’t really know what I was expecting. I was going to get the largest size of what he got, but the barista warned that it came with six shots of espresso and I downsized for safety.

We got back to the office and I stayed super busy all day. I kept juggling phone calls between Randy and Jim, but didn’t have great answers for either of them. I worked on into the afternoon trying to figure out our KMS situation for Windows authentication, and some things seem to authenticate, but not others. I ran to Arby’s for some chicken “nuggets” and potato cakes for a quick lunch that I ate at my desk.

I was excited to get home to run with Muad’Dib since the weather was still pretty nice. It was super windy again, and a great temperature for a hoodie. He did great off-leash again, and we never really got close enough to anyone for me to worry about stopping to hold him. We did spot some buzzards in the field at the basin trail, and I got worried for a moment that they had found Stilgar. I just wish I knew what happened to him, because I hate the idea that he crawled into a drainage ditch and died. I don’t know if that’s better or worse than being dumped in somebody’s garbage.

We visited Dad for a while and I brought his new brush over so he can get some grooming when he’s over there. Then we got home and the girls were out back waiting for us. We played for a while before I came in to get some food and look at some old Vine stuff from the other day. Then it was off to bed early.

The Candidate

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Inside Out Dog

I was exhausted on the way in this morning, but the car was a champ. Something misted all over me on the way in, so it was impossible to tell that I had just washed it. I got there reasonably early to no acclaim. Nobody seemed to be in a big rush to do anything, which was funny because Randy got fired up when the new coach made a comment to Jim about how we were so inefficient.

I spent most of the day tinkering with Mosyle and trying to clean up old work orders, but didn’t really accomplish anything of merit. I took lunch by myself and got a Big Mac, then made it back in time for a conference call with Fortinet about their cybersecurity training program for our staff.

I left just a couple minutes early and charged quite a bit, then made it home to an excited dog. Eaddie had played with Muad’Dib when she got home, so he was in a good mood after lying around all day. I ate first, with him by my feet, then took him on a good run through the neighborhood. The wind was howling and it got super cold, but we had a great time. We went to see my parents, then made it home to see Summer.

Muad’Dib spent a bunch of time inside with me while I unboxed some more Vine stuff, and then Eaddie played with him some more when he got back home. I built a little bookshelf I got for the game room, and then it was off to bed.

Six hours later….

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Free Running

I got out of the house a little earlier today and had a sleepy drive in to work. I didn’t get into anything at all really, and just did a deep clean of my inbox that had gotten out of control. I checked in on Muad’Dib, and he was just sleeping on the porch, so I messaged Dad to see if he might want to take him out for a walk sometime, and he ended up taking him home while he worked in the yard.

I met Randy and Kyle at Fazoli’s for lunch. I had never been, but it was pretty decent, and seemed pretty cheap for Little Rock. We took a vendor call in the afternoon that wasn’t of much value to us, and then kind of rode it out until quitting time.

Summer traveled all day, so I stopped to charge most of the way up so I wouldn’t have to stay up late to swap chargers at home. Once I got home, I rode over to Dad’s to get Muad’Dib and we went on a long run to Ridgewood Brothers. I saw Kyler’s car there, but the doors were shut and they were working, so we sat on the bench for a little bit and then headed on back. We encountered a couple other big dogs that were pretty fussy, but then got to meet the same small dog we sniffed yesterday. I talked to the lady for a little bit and let them play, and then we headed back to my parents’ house to see them before we made it home.

Eaddie had a fundraiser at Freddy’s, so Summer got herself some food there. I ate some leftover goulash and then took my car to the wash because it was super gross. I couldn’t even see out of the rear camera very well. After that, I finally replaced an outside bulb I had been meaning to get to for weeks, and then unboxed most of my daily Vine stuff before bed.

Potato; tomato

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Review Recap

I awoke from a deep sleep this morning, and it was off to work again. Jimmy was the only one there, but then Kyle and I walked in together. Randy got there shortly after that, and I recapped my week and a half since I’d left. The rest of the day I tried to catch up on emails in between talks with Randy about getting my evaluation done. They had trouble getting the self-evaluation form to us, so Randy was stuck.

The two of us met Kyle and Jim at the Black Bear Diner, and we had breakfast for lunch. It was super good, and a reasonably good price for all the food we got. It was still expensive, but I had leftovers to save for tomorrow. I finally got my self-evaluation form in my personal email, so I spent the afternoon filling that out more than what was probably necessary. Then I ran home as quickly as I could so we could pick up Muad’Dib.

Traffic was awful even after I stopped to charge in Conway, but I eventually got home where Summer was waiting for me. She had her bicycle out to ride over, and Dad met us outside. Muad’Dib was just hanging out on the porch, and didn’t seem to mind much. I’d seen him really whimper in the past, so I thought he might be even more excited after we were gone so long, but he just sort of greeted us like any other time. We ran Summer home, and then the two of us went for our normal route at a leisurely pace. He did great off leash, but I did end up holding onto him a couple of times near another small dog, just as a precaution.

When we got home, I started unboxing Vine stuff. I got all of the smaller packages done, but I still had a couple large ones that were mostly outdoor light fixtures. I sprang to bed as quickly as I could, so hopefully I can maintain a healthy sleep schedule.

Bark

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Call Me Now for Your Free Reading!

I was even earlier to work today, and pulled in right behind Kyle. He was still having trouble installing Features on Demand, but didn’t stick around very long. It was mostly Gary, Maggie, and me in the office all day. All of the guys called me several times for help, totaling 19 calls by the end of the day. I left to get McDonald’s for lunch and had my best experience at that location by far. The food was all really hot and fresh for once.

The afternoon went by quickly since I took lunch so late, and just as I was trying to leave I got an email from our HVAC guy because we broke his access to the old server when we finally got Windstream to forward the address to the new server. Kyle ended up calling to find out it wasn’t critical, so we went home.

I stopped for a while to charge before making it home through awful traffic again. Eaddie and her friend Autumn were there, but left while Summer worked on the couch. I took the dogs out for a long run to Ridgewood hoping for some barbecue, and had to stop at Kroger when I found an abandoned cart on the bike trail behind the building. When we got to the entrance, we spotted Mia and Aimee selling Girl Scout cookies. While we were talking to them, Mom and Dad walked out with some groceries.

We made it to the restaurant, but they were completely packed. I briefly saw Grant run outside, so I yelled at him and we left. We came through the basin for another bath, then went to my parents’ house and then home. The dogs did pretty well overall, but Stilgar pulled the leash quite a bit.

I wanted to clean up some mashed potatoes and coleslaw, so I went to KFC to pick up some chicken. Summer and I ate and then she went to bed. Eaddie came home pretty late and went straight to bed. I got there eventually.

You can’t fool Miss Cleo!

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Networking Chops

I made up quite a bit of time on the way to work this morning, but there wasn’t anything going on. I helped Kyle set up some server tools before he left, then ended up working on sleuthing a DNS issue for most of the day. Our representative that was supposed to set up our new Alerton HVAC system on the server I spun up several months ago was still having trouble getting it to work, and I figured it was because she didn’t realize she was still talking to the old server. Even Randy seemed to get caught up in a separate SSL issue, but I think I had it pegged from the get-go.

I ended up going down the road for lunch on my own and decided to finally try the fried chicken, along with the catfish, at Louisiana Fried Chicken. The food is always pretty decent, but every time I walk in there, I swear it’s a front for the drug cartel. I was the only one eating there, and I think maybe two cars came through the drive-through. A couple people walked in but left without ordering, and another group of four or so people picked up some food. The staff is always nice, but you’re not going to win any awards for old fried chicken kept under an open-air heat lamp.

The afternoon felt the most successful after Randy took me to central office to help with a couple issues. I got to present myself a little more loosely after having a little more face time with some of the staff there, and I finally conveyed our DNS issue to Randy in a way that he understood. We got back to the office and casually finished out the day.

I stopped to charge on the way home and decided to redeem my free Grand Slam at the Denny’s there. It was quiet, and service was quick. I got in and out in just enough time to get about a 50% charge, then made it home to run the dogs.

Dad called earlier in the morning and said they had gotten out and over to his house again. He walked them home and then took them out for another walk in the afternoon, but I was frustrated with them when we got home and we took a pretty stern walk. We stopped to see him, then encountered Mom as we were riding home. She caught up to me and asked about going out to eat, but neither of the girls were home.

Summer got home from work and the gym as I was finishing up my Vine shipments, and then Eaddie got home a little later and said we forgot her robotics banquet to which Summer had RSVPed. I live and die by my calendar for exactly that reason, and it upsets me when they fail after I push them to do the same. They caught up for a bit before bed, and then I wrapped up my own things as quickly as I could.

This is obviously a front.

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Twinning

It was super gusty and windy all day today. I stopped by Starbucks for my free birthday drink and made it to work reasonably close to starting time, and was surprised to see Randy there after the board meeting last night. There wasn’t much more drama than last time, and the cuts are off to the personnel committees to approve now. Several of us caught up for a while, and I helped Jim prepare for our impending shutdown of remote desktop services on our servers.

Our Logical Front sales rep wanted to meet, but ran a little late and pushed into our lunch, but we eventually made it to Skinny J’s where Kyle, Jay, and Jim were waiting for us. Maggie drove herself so she could pick up a chocolate meringue pie for Jim on our shared birthday, but I rode with Randy to check out his new RAV4. Food was good as usual, but I was stuffed by the time we left.

The afternoon went by fairly quickly after that. Maggie and a couple other ladies I hadn’t met before brought the pie as a surprise, and we all had a slice of that. When we finally left, I fought traffic to get to Conway to charge, and then fought even more to get home. The dogs and I had a good run to see my parents, and then made it back home where Eli had come over for a while, and both girls were actually home together.

I opened up a few Vine packages and took out the recycling and trash, which was a bit of a chore, but I got it all to fit. Summer went to bed pretty early, and I made it nearly on time.

Un-

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Driverless

After being overcast all day yesterday, it finally rained most of today. I brought some leftover pizza to work, which prompted Randy and Kyle to want pizza for lunch. Things were fairly quiet most of the day, in preparation for another heated board meeting about budget cuts in the evening. I helped Gary and Charles image a couple laptops, but had to figure out why they didn’t seem to have the right RAID drivers.

The car drove Maggie, Charles, and me to Larry’s for lunch, which was super good. We got there right as they opened, and they somehow maintained a flow of fresh pies that was enough to feed a growing dining room. Then the afternoon was a lights-off kind of day until quitting time.

I stopped for nearly a full charge on the way home since I’d be losing my free supercharging by the end of the month. Then I took the dogs for a good backwards walk where we went up the hill, down to see Dad, and then through the slightly-flooded basin trail. Summer was home when we made it back, and the boys got hot dogs and dinner while I tinkered with some old Vine stuff that had been sitting around for a while.

Summer went to bed, Eaddie got home pretty late, and I tried to go to bed early so I could try and get some extra birthday treats in the morning.

Pizza, pizza!

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Problems with Gravity

Randy showed up with his new RAV4 today, unexpectedly early after ordering it only a week ago. The guys were outside looking at it when I showed up, but we all went in when I got there. There was a bit of catching up since he and Jim had been gone all week, so things were pretty relaxed. I actually got some work done, rebuilding the Adobe roster sync, and fixing a couple of other things as they came to me.

Jimmy was there in the morning, but Maggie got a call a little while later that he had fallen. She and Randy took off to check on him, and evidently he just passed out for about half a minute. Luckily one of the security folks saw him and they ran out to take care of him, but the doctor said he can’t drive until he has someone check out his heart.

I ended up taking lunch by myself, so I picked up a $4 ghost pepper chicken sandwich from Popeye’s, and some free fries with purchase of cheddar tots from Burger King. I was worried after getting relatively poor service from both places, but all of the food was absolutely spot-on, so I couldn’t be mad. They can ignore my presence all day as long as they hand me a piping hot bag of food.

The afternoon went by kind of slowly after that. I made it to Conway for a quick charge, then got home so I could run the dogs. It was overcast and dark all day, so it got pretty chilly while we were out. The dogs did well though, so they got hot dogs with their dinner and I tried to clean up some leftovers. I got a bit frustrated with how much old food hasn’t been touched, and then I accidentally knocked one of Summer’s coffee mugs off the counter and shattered it. I don’t know why they’re both so bad about keeping that area tidy, but they’re just incapable of organizing anything. It all just goes everywhere. Eaddie’s stuff just goes in the floor, and I’m tired of being the bad guy about ever saying anything.

I spent the rest of the evening unpacking Vine orders since a bunch of them arrived today. The recycle dumpster is already crammed pretty full, and I’ve got a bunch more cardboard to load up. At least some of the novelty is starting to wear off, so my ordering has slowed down a little bit. I still hate when I miss something really good, though.

Retail Therapy Problems