Tag: work

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Fish Fry

Almost exactly 11 years ago on January 30, 2014, I messaged a guy on Reddit about some fish he needed to re-home. My parents and I stopped by the Air Force base to meet him, and I brought home two corydoras and five tetras. A couple of the tetras died fairly quickly, if I remember correctly, but some of the others lasted a while. None of them lasted the 11 years of mostly neglect that the cory catfish survived. There have been a couple other tankmates, including a female betta that would eat out of my hand and let me pet it. Several snails have passed through the tank. They seemed to thrive through the neglect as I spent less and less time at home, and then made the move with us to the new house.

Then tonight, as I dropped some food into the tank and added some water to satisfy the gurgling filter, I noticed a baby. The tank was too dark and covered in algae to really see, but my eyes didn’t deceive me. At least one little cory fry was swimming around, along with both of the adults. I never had any inkling that they might be a breeding pair, but at some point, conditions must have been right. I’m afraid to even try and clean up the tank, for fear of damaging the ecosystem. It may just continue forever as it is in the guest room.

The rest of my day was incredibly boring by comparison. I was a little bit late leaving the house, just after Summer. I tried to catch up to her, but caught some slow traffic coming into Morrilton. There was no way I’d make up the time before she got off the interstate in Conway. I made it to work and was surprised to see Randy there before me.

People were mostly out of the office, and I worked on SCCM as my Vine ticker scrolled. Lunch time came and nobody else was interested. Everyone else left the office, so I took a late lunch and went to Cici’s by myself since they had a $4.99 deal. They were absolutely packed, almost entirely with old geriatrics – slow ones, at that. It mostly looked like poverty, and a couple people had crocheted hats that reminded me of the pigeon lady from Home Alone. One particularly ignorant old woman kept yelling loudly at one of the hispanics working, and asked multiple times where she came from before she lived here. In the end, I had a good salad and tried not to overdo it. I felt pretty good afterward, and it was actually rewarding to have paid less than I would have anywhere else.

The afternoon was pretty lonely since Maggie and Randy didn’t make it back until near quitting time. I made it to the end and got home to run the dogs. It wasn’t frigid out, so we had a good time. At one point, I stopped momentarily at the basin and Muad’Dib immediately peed on my Onewheel. I couldn’t believe it, because he’s normally pretty good about that stuff. I don’t know what prompted him to do such a thing.

From there, we made it to my parents’ house where Dad met us in the road again. I rinsed the Onewheel off under the faucet outside, and then we made it home. The girls ate some leftover pasta, I cleaned up what Summer didn’t finish, and then I took out a bunch of recycling before all of the excitement happened with the fish tank. I messaged the guy on Reddit just to let him know, so it’ll be interesting if I hear back.

Fishy

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See Food

I ran really late today, which was a little worse because Randy texted me while I was still trying to get out of the house to let me know that I would be the point of contact while he would be coming in late. It really didn’t matter though, because it was just Kyle and Gary in the office when I got there, and they didn’t stick around long once I settled in.

I didn’t have a lot going on in the morning, and Randy did eventually show up, if for nothing else, than to lament about being at the board meeting until after 10 the night before. He, Javier, Jim, and I ended up going to Red Lobster for lunch because Randy and Jay had never been before. Randy even said he had never had lobster before, which I find difficult to believe. Overall I think it was a success, though I was disappointed in the portion size for the fish and chips, and our service felt unnecessarily slow.

Afterward, I rode with Randy while he got gas, then creeped by the Mazda dealership to see if his car was still sitting on the lot waiting to be serviced. When we did finally get back to the office, Javier had to come back because he forgot his badge there. Then Maggie, Randy, and I grilled him about his upcoming date with the girl he met in his apartment gym.

We finally left at the end of the day and I made it home where Summer was mostly done making a huge pot of chicken Alfredo with spinach and broccoli. I took the dogs for a really extended run since my parents weren’t home again. Then Eaddie brought Jenny over for dinner, but they spent most of the night in Eaddie’s room. I spent a while replacing light bulbs and then swapping them back after not being satisfied with the color temperature. Then I dragged through the night until bed.

Brained

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Taco Well

I stopped at Casey’s in Atkins this morning for a free coffee, since it was the one store closest to my path to work. I got there just after Kyle, and nobody else had been around, so the outside door was still locked. We caught up a little bit before he left, and then Maggie showed up. It was quite a while before Randy came in, and he seemed to be in a pretty foul mood, though that’s not terribly uncommon. It can be pretty endearing sometimes.

Gary evidently failed to complete some work from the start of the year, so Randy was on him about that, and had me image some desktops for him. That took me back into SCCM for some fun, and I figured out some dumb things that were breaking my task sequence. I had everything fixed by the end of the day.

Lunch was late and on my own, since nobody else wanted to eat. It took me a while to decide on anything, and I finally landed on Taco Bell to see if my good experience was a fluke due to the presence of corporate heads. I was only a little surprised, and very pleased to find that it was another great experience. This pleased me, because Charles came in and said the Sonic up the road was permanently closed and up for lease.

Randy and I both walked out just a few minutes early since he had to get ready for the board meeting. I made it home and took the dogs out for a good run, though they were a bit slower. I tried switching up their path a little bit, and they did alright. My parents weren’t home, so we continued on around the neighborhood and then had hot dogs and food. I ate some leftover pizza, and then got to work on a bunch of deliveries.

It was a reasonably quick night for me as I got things cleaned up and headed to bed. I really want to get another charger set up so I can quit swapping cars every night.

I could teach you, but I’d have to charge.

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Support Class

I got a better amount of sleep last night, so it was only fitting that I would be up late tonight. I was the first one in the office, and we rode it out until lunch time. David and Woody came to talk sales and take us out to lunch at Saltgrass. Maybe I just had my hopes up too high, but I was kind of disappointed in the steak. The quail and Brussels sprouts were delicious. I liked the baked potato soup, but there wasn’t much of it. My ribeye was just very thin and gristly, and apart from the crawfish and shrimp on it to make it “Cajun,” the tomatoes just watered it down. Overall it was a good, large meal though, which was good because it was my only one.

The afternoon went by relatively quickly. I helped someone find a breaker they had thrown using two space heaters on the same wall. Luckily I had just enough charge by the time I left that I could make it home without Supercharging.

Summer was home when I got there, and had to charge up from 5%, so she was pretty nervous coming home. I took the dogs out for a good, long run. We weren’t breaking any records, but we maintained a good clip. We encountered both of my parents driving separately, and chased them down their road to the house. Then we made it home for doggy dinner because I forgot to thaw hot dogs.

As I was trying to process my evening, Mitch called on me for some support. We chatted a little bit, and then I called Robert. We didn’t talk long because he was just starting a movie, but then I ended up talking with Mitch for quite a while after that, just to catch up. I eventually got all of my nightly chores done, and an overstuffed recycle bin to the curb, so hopefully sleep hits fast tonight.

More buffs!

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Freeziots

I got out early again today and made it to the office. It wasn’t very long before Maggie texted and asked me to let maintenance into our shop to unload a bunch of stuff. I didn’t realize they had a trailer full of shelving and other crap. I let them in, but then they just stood around doing nothing because I couldn’t tell them exactly where everything was going. I assumed they would just bring it inside, but instead they got back into their trucks. I very nearly just closed back up and went inside, because the cold had me in a coughing fit.

Maggie eventually showed up and I went back inside. There was something going on in the conference room, so there were a bunch of ladies in and out of our restroom. I helped bring some stuff back from the front, helped Jim over the phone, and generally tried to be useful until lunch time. I suggested David’s Burgers, but Kyle preferred The Purple Cow for some reason. The food wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t seem as bespoke.

The afternoon was mostly dull, though the maintenance crew showed up again to try and hang a TV in the lobby. The gringo didn’t want to make a call on how to hang it, and the four or more Hispanics just giggled amongst themselves. After an hour or more, the TV still didn’t get hung and I would have done it myself if I had longer screws.

It was so cold out that I had to stop and Supercharge on the way home. I had went into Five Guys for some fries and a restroom break, then made it home to run the dogs. We make a new record at 11.5mph average for 3.4 miles, and a top speed of 22.2mph. Dad met us at the end of their driveway, and the dogs made a mad dash the whole way down.

Summer was home when we got back, so I had to play Musical Cars to get everybody charged. The dogs got hot dogs and food, and I warmed up the rest of my fries. Eaddie and Eli came in and did homework in front of the TV with Summer, and I cleaned up the kitchen until everyone settled in for the night. I finished early, and may have to dress more warmly for tomorrow.

The dog prefers the ice. I don’t know what to say.

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Hauliday

I got to work on time, but I didn’t see anyone for a while. Evidently several of them had met at the annex to move some stuff, and it wasn’t until Randy called that I went outside to help unload into the new shop. For the rest of the day, I rode around with Jim and Randy as we collected a couple more loads of stuff.

Randy had been wanting catfish from BJ’s for a couple days, so that’s where we went for lunch. Javier met us there, and we had a good time learning how little he knows about history and historical figures.

We kept moving stuff, and then most of us stood around in the shop just to socialize a bit before we went inside. Maggie took the afternoon off, so it was mostly just Randy and me sitting in the dark until quitting time. Javier did stop by a couple times, but nobody was really getting into anything.

It sprinkled a bit on the way home, but luckily it had quit by the time I got there. I took the dogs out for a good run, we met Dad, and then zig-zagged home. Summer had to close the shop, and Eaddie was out late before her all-region weekend.

The dogs were about out of food, so I eventually made a trip to the Neighborhood Market for several things we had been needing. I got pretty sleepy on the drive home from work, and that just got worse and worse all night until I finally went to bed.

Be no more there.

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Corporate Grin

I had a pretty rough start this morning in spite of sleeping a bit longer. I got to work a few minutes late, and only then realized that I got all the way there and had forgotten my backpack with my laptop at home. I made my way inside and found a laptop to use, but had to join the domain and basically install anything I wanted to use. Fortunately there was absolutely nothing going on.

The day dragged as I dawdled, eventually coming to another lunch hour on my own. I landed at Taco Bell just up the road, and was surprised at all of the eerily cheery faces. I knew something wasn’t quite right, and then I finally recognized that there were at least three or four people there from corporate. I don’t know if it was their doing or not, but my food was awesome, and the service was great. They even had chip ice, which was deliciously crunchy. One of the corporate heads even said something about it, remarking that she didn’t think any of their Taco Bells had that kind of ice. I told her I loved it, so maybe it’ll spread.

The afternoon dragged on some more, and I left a few minutes early so I could get home and retrieve my car from Clearview where Summer had dropped it off for a tint job. She was short staffed at the lube, so I got Dad from the old house where they had been remodeling. Mike was super excited to chat about the car, and charged me even less than what he had said previously.

Dad drove the Model Y back to the lube for Summer, and then we went to check out the old house quickly before I headed home to run the dogs. They had a good run, got to see Dad, then made it home just before dark. I got them fed while Summer picked up some KFC on the way home. Then we ate and settled in quickly.

Eaddie got home late from something, and I was upset that for some reason both of the Murano keys were gone in spite of the car sitting in the driveway. Now nobody knows where the second key went, and I’m just sat there like Surprised Pikachu that my stuff has gone missing.

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Jumbo Gumbo

I was sleeping pretty hard when my alarm went off this morning, but I managed to get to work before anyone else. It was another slow day for me, just kind of riding out my new meds. I wouldn’t have expected such a difference for such a small dose of basically the same combination I’d started with before. I took my amlodipine and lisinopril a couple hours apart today to see if I could minimize my afternoon reaction, and it seemed to help a little bit, though I still felt a bit dizzy for a little while.

I was on my own for lunch, so I decided to pick up some gumbo from the Louisiana Fried Chicken place just down the road. The fact that they even have a website is wild to me, because the place looks so rough, is in such a rough area, and is basically empty every time I drive by. The guy was super nice though, and I really liked the gumbo.

Jim, Charles, Randy, and Maggie were there in the afternoon gossiping about some local drama. Evidently my superintendent nemesis in town is negotiating an exit from her contract by the end of this year as well. I’m really just standing by to see if I die from whatever ails me, so it’s hard to get me excited about much right now.

I ran the dogs hard when I got home from work, and they had a great time. Dad met us at the end of their driveway, and we hit over 20 miles an hour. He was making taco soup, so we went home and I fed the dogs, then unboxed a ton of Vine stuff before going back over there to eat. Summer got home late from work and wasn’t hungry, and Eaddie was out with a friend.

After dinner, I had to take out the trash and recycling. They hadn’t picked up recycling in a couple weeks, so with all the Vine stuff I’ve been getting, I could have nearly filled up two whole dumpsters. I accidentally spilled an entire box of miscellaneous recycling, and was picking it all up by flashlight when the UPS driver stopped to hand me one more package for the day. I lost count of how many were delivered today, but it’s clear I’ve got a problem.

The girls were up for a while talking about everything Eaddie has going on. I cleaned up the best I could and made a mad dash for bed.

Retail therapy gets me a 1099-NEC this year.

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Donut Panic

I didn’t sleep great last night, but I managed to make it to work a few minutes early. I parked in the other bay because my usual was blocked by a layer of snow, but I think I like the other bay better anyway, because I can pull straight in and there’s nothing in the way of the power outlet. My third party charger decided to quit working after a couple hours, so I had to break out the Tesla branded one instead. I’ll need to update my review, and see if I can get it fixed or replaced, but at least it was “free.”

Maggie called me early wanting to know if I wanted donuts, and then she basically brought me every example of something I might like. She’s always too generous when she brings us food, so I tried to pay her back a little bit by buying her kid’s meal she wanted from Cane’s for lunch.

Otherwise it was a super quiet day until the afternoon when I felt like I was going to black out again out of nowhere. I felt pretty dizzy and strange for a little while after that, and I was nervous to go home at the end of the day, but I was better by then. I had gotten enough of a charge to make it home, so I stopped to see Summer in Conway and washed my car.

I got home just before dark and took the dogs out for a quick run. We creeped through the basin trail because there was still standing water over parts of the trail, and they kept pulling pretty hard in some places, so I had to tug back on their leash quite a bit after that. We visited Dad, then got home a little bit before Summer did.

Eaddie was out super late for all-region, and I wasn’t surprised when she reported first chair. I tried to get to bed super early with the hopes that more sleep might prevent another spell like today, but I wasn’t sure if it was due to a slight change in meds, or the alleged anemia, which doesn’t seem to be making me as tired as I would expect, otherwise I might be sleeping better.

Quit!

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Breakfats

I was even earlier to work today, and was craving food. Randy and Maggie showed up feeling similarly, so Maggie ordered us some pancakes from BJ’s and I went to pick it up. I gave her some of my pancake, but then she gave me her biscuit and gravy, and a bunch of grits, so I was stuffed after that. Lunch time came around and Kyle and Javier actually wanted to eat, so we all went to Sweet Poppa’s with Jim and I just tried to find something small to eat so I could be social.

Just after we got seated, some guy came in waving a dollar bill asking if anyone had a couple more bucks so he could get some food. I don’t know what made me bite, but I ended up going to the counter and ordering him some food. After I sat back down, he came over and asked for some extra cash, but I wasn’t as quick to oblige on account of paying more for his food than my own.

I charged the car after work using one of the new no-name chargers I got from Amazon Vine. It seemed to work great. The cable just wasn’t long enough for me to use it at home. We still don’t have a 14-50 outlet out there, so I couldn’t try the other charger I brought.

The afternoon dragged on forever, but we got the news that they were closing school for the remainder of the week and Randy said to bring our laptops home just in case, but not to do any work. I finally left and stopped in Conway to Supercharge, then visited with Summer at the wash briefly before heading home.

The dogs needed a walk, but I felt sick to the stomach, so I didn’t get to take them out until after sundown. We made it quick as the temperature dropped, stopping briefly to see Dad before making it home. Summer was there when we got back, and she got ready for bed while I opened up some Vine stuff. I laid down with her for a while after that because I wasn’t feeling great, and I started to fall asleep. I felt a little more sick, and I was exhausted, so I tried to wrap things up for bed.

Eaddie got home kind of late, but we sent her back out for some milk. She’ll be out of school for the rest of the week as well, so I wanted to finally be able to make some waffles for us.

Like Minnie Black Pearl