Tag: work

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Oodles and Moodles of Interviews

I was a little frustrated that I beat James to work today, and he still left at the same time as Kim. Even she’s pulling more hours than he is. To think, I could have just not cared this whole time, and just left at the end of school. Denice was in the office all day as well, which was cause for further annoyance.

My big event for the day was a panel interview with Moodle. I tried to prep for it a bit by researching the company, but it really wasn’t necessary at all. They just took turns asking me typical interview questions. I thought it went super well, and I seemed to get a positive response when I closed by asking each of them what change they would personally like to better their job or the company.

In addition to that, I got a request for an interview at the North Little Rock School District. It could potentially pay the most out of everything that’s currently on the table, but would also be the longest drive at just over an hour. I’m not thrilled to commute, but at least it’s a relatively straight shot. I’ll have three total interviews next week, and I expect to get at least a couple offers to choose between.

Eaddie had her final parent marching event for band, so she and Summer were at that after I got home. I ate some more leftovers and then took the dogs for a walk to my parents’ house, since I couldn’t get any life out of my Onewheel. I don’t figure I’ll get a response from them until the middle of next week, which is a bummer. It was one of the hottest, most humid days we’ve seen this year, so I got home absolutely drenched.

I took a shower and then watched some YouTube in the living room with Summer. Eaddie was pretty tired when she got home, so it got pretty quiet pretty fast. I should have gone to bed earlier, but I got trapped looking through more Amazon Vine stuff.

The bottom fell out?

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No, but Maybe

I forgot to grab a banana for work this morning, so I started off hungry. It was pretty quiet, but I still had plenty of time to vent about the surrounding idiocy. I was a bit more helpful today, and it seemed like James was getting into a little bit of a groove. I still don’t know if he’ll stick around, but I guess he is making more than I was. I could see him leaving for Russellville, since he evidently lives just a few blocks away from us.

I did get a call from Grace Manufacturing, which was a bit of a surprise. They turned me down for the job I interviewed for, but liked me well enough to call back because one of their IT guys is retiring in a few months. I laughed a bit that they were actually able to get ahead of that and train someone before he leaves, unlike schools where they just play catch-up forever. I’ll get to have a real interview next week, so I feel like I have a pretty good chance of getting an offer from them. Tomorrow, I’ll have my call with Moodle too, so I really need to study up for that one in the morning.

I was the last one out of the office again, this time messing around with SCCM. I should just leave it, but I also don’t want to make it seem like I didn’t actually have it working. I need to be able to image at least one computer to prove it works before I go.

After work, I took care of the fish and made it home to eat some of the leftover tacos Dad brought over. Then I was pretty quick to take the dogs out for a run. We got to the end of my parents’ street when my Onewheel just died. Luckily I was coming up to a stop, so I just tipped forward and stumbled off of it, but all the lights went out and I could never get it to wake up again. I ended up carrying it, a water bottle, and two bags of poop, all while trying to keep the dogs from pulling me over all the way to their house.

Dad got the DJI FPV drone in, and unboxed it before he had to go water the plants. I had Summer bring my swimsuit over so I could cool off, and we played with the dogs by the pool. Stilgar really wanted in, so I splashed him a bunch to cool him off. Then Summer took everything else home so I could walk the dogs back. It was a struggle, but we made it through the humidity of the evening.

Eaddie got home a little after I did, and spent some time talking to Summer while I wound down for the night. Muad’Dib really doesn’t seem to like the Ol’ Roy that we’ve gotten for them, so I guess I’ll have to keep buying something better.

Pay the bills!

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Hold the Phone

I spotted a Cybertruck at the new donut shop on the way to work, and I wondered if the owners were just crazy Tesla people like us. I don’t mind the way they look, but I do think it’s stupid how polarized people are over them. I’ve been listening to podcasts on my commute, and though I guess I’m a little late to start doing that, I’ve been enjoying it. Today was The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart, since he’s basically the only person who can present politics in a way that I can enjoy them.

I wasn’t going to do much at work, but then James and Kim managed to break the counselor’s phone. I finally went down to the elementary with him after lunch and fixed her phone there, but then I had to fix the one at the high school too.

My interview had to be rescheduled again for an “ongoing family emergency,” so hopefully everything is alright for my interviewee. I headed home with a couple things from the old house and ate a couple leftover burritos since I skipped out on cafeteria spaghetti for lunch. Eaddie and Eli were watching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but left for the park when that was over. I cleaned up the kitchen before Summer got home, and then Dad came by with some leftover tacos from church.

It was hot and humid out, but I took the dogs for a run. They did really well again, but Stilgar struggled with the heat. They drank all of their water and we took a slower pace on the last leg of the walk. I’d be alright with some cooler weather.

“How do you spell literacy?”
“I-R-O-N-Y”

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Step Back and Watch

I had my leftover burrito on the way to work today, and decided I was going to relax and just let everyone else take care of things for the day. I made some coffee and sat at the “guest desk” I had set up. As time goes on, I get a little more honest and smile a little less, but I’ve had worse days. It was mostly boring without having any real projects to pace myself. I’ll turn around and check in on James occasionally, but for the most part he’s just diving in and trying to learn as much as he can. I think Kim still has more questions for me than anything, and he’ll typically just listen in. Hopefully he sees the struggle I’ve had with her as well.

I tried calling the Walmart Amp box office for a refund, but they were firm on their policy. Fortunately, near the end of the day, I thought to try and sell my tickets online through StubHub. I ran into some trouble with their site, and it wouldn’t let me create an account with my usual email, but I could with another one. I don’t know if it thought I already had an account, or what. If all goes well, I’ll make my money back, plus some. If it actually works, it may be worth actually “scalping” some discount tickets to sell on the day-of for future concerts. I won’t feel bad, since they’re obviously just trying to fill all the empty space on the lawn at that price, so it’s really just passing some savings along to last-minute buyers that would otherwise pay the box office.

Dad let the restoration guys into the old house and then left them there, and it seemed like they were being kind of nosey, but I didn’t have memory cards to review the full footage. All I could see were some short clips where they were looking around parts of the house where they weren’t working. I don’t guess I have anything super important there, but it still didn’t make me feel good about them being there. I stopped by on my way home to feed the fish, and didn’t see anything obvious missing.

Summer was home early doing some work when I got there, so I changed and then finished up some leftover chicken tacos. Eaddie brought Eli over after band practice, and then I took the dogs out for another really great run. As the weather is nicer, they’ve been really sticking together for the most part, and listening to my less animated commands. We passed one of the ladies that fed them when they broke out previously, and then briefly rolled by my parents’ house before turning back. I forgot their water bottle at home, so I didn’t want to take them too far from home. Stilgar seemed to struggle a little bit more than Muad’Dib as usual, but he was still good. He stopped in a puddle on the way home to cool off.

I tried to get to bed quickly after that. Summer was already in bed, and the dogs were pretty tuckered out. I’ve got a non-technical phone interview with DeepNet tomorrow afternoon, so I’ll probably try to get home early for that, or else I’ll be at work later than I really want to be.

Gotta find some time to catch up.

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Experience Depreciation

I got up extra early today so I could try and beat the new guy to work, but that failed for multiple reasons. I stopped at Taco John’s for breakfast, which ate up all of that extra time, but he also showed up a full hour early. Todd had already given him the tour, and as I would learn later, Samuel had actually given him a tour the week before last, while I was still there. In fact, Samuel was the one that called him the week that Blake told me they weren’t going to keep me, and told him they were looking for a new Tech Coordinator. The entire thing has been super shady, and it just made my day worse and worse until the end.

I walked around with him again and we visited all of the switch closets in the high school and elementary. We didn’t bother going anywhere else, and I probably won’t, except maybe Plainview to see if there’s anything out there that I want for myself. Maybe I could get lucky and find some rails.

We had several waves of kids come in for password resets, but otherwise it was relatively quiet. I had to keep telling him that I wished him the best of luck in spite of how crappy they’ve been to me, but secretly I just hope he gets the same and leaves them in a short amount of time. It’s just not fair that I invested all of that time and effort to fix so many major problems, and he gets to come in and ride the calm seas at a higher rate of pay with two fewer years of school experience.

I was the last one out of the office, and I had already relinquished my keys, but luckily Keith was there and I could borrow his to lock the office. I headed toward home and fed the fish, and got gas at Casey’s. Summer was making a baked spaghetti with pink sauce when I got home, and I just held her for a bit before I got changed and went out to sit with the dogs.

Summer called Eaddie home for dinner, and the three of us ate. Julie called because she saw a Cybertruck in town and thought it might actually be me. Then I went out for a run with the dogs. They did super well, ran hard, had some mostly solid poops, and for the most part weren’t too bad about getting distracted until the very end. It got dark fast, so we only stopped at my parents’ house long enough to say, “hello.”

I wound down pretty quickly, and everyone was off to bed. It was an awful, emotional, maddening day of being the better person, and the frustration of living by an unmatched code of integrity just made me incredibly sad.

And either I’m right and justice is never served, or I’m wrong and I go to Hell anyway.

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To Hale With It

I was kind of surprised at how many people were at work first thing this morning, since I kept hearing that everyone had to work late for the open house. They didn’t have breakfast, but I had some tucked away in my office fridge. I kept getting calls for support unimportant things, and I really only spent any time cleaning up my own things to leave. I took almost everything home, except for my coffee supplies, so I could still have that for the remainder of my time there.

Kim was late, kept getting lost, and even then was super proud of the whole two work orders she completed after I left. I could tell because she texted me while I was on the road that she completed them after. I took off around 1:30 to get Eaddie, and then we picked up her friend Autumn to take Summer’s place at the concert.

We stopped briefly at the Ozark charger before making it to Chuy’s by the Amp. We didn’t quite make it to the first opener, but we didn’t love the music anyway. We were also disappointed in the shirts, so we didn’t get any merch. Fit for a King wasn’t really for us. Hollywood Undead was pretty good. I think I Prevail was Autumn’s favorite, and they had a big mosh pit going with a bit of overproduction on the stage. Hailstorm was slower than the last time we saw them, and it sounded like Lizzy was recovering from a strained voice. They still put on a good show, but there was no encore.

We stopped to charge in Lowell, and then made it all the way home with Autumn for the night. I made them listen to 8-bit covers of pop songs for the first half of the trip, and I think they actually enjoyed trying to sing along.

They’re so angry!

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Big Ask

Breakfast was better this morning, but Kim was by all accounts worse. She disappeared often, and left at some point to drive to another town to retrieve her wallet from her husband’s unlocked truck where he parked at work. Fortunately it was mostly quiet for me. The afternoon dragged horribly after we got our hibachi food truck for lunch.

I got a call from Grace Manufacturing to do a same-day phone interview, so I took that at the end of the day after everyone had left. I thought it went alright, but I had the feeling they weren’t looking to pay anywhere near my asking price, and it’s not at all in the technology field either.

I eventually made it to the old house to grab some things and feed the fish. Then I headed home for some peace for a while before Summer got home and I left with the dogs. I took their water bottle along this time, and it really seemed to help pace them. We stopped at my parents’ house, and then went through the basin again. We ran across several others walking dogs, so we had to take some breaks and then ended up on the divided street before circling through the neighborhood again to get home.

Noah was back for some reason. Then Eaddie got home late, and I was upset at the state of her room. Summer failed to take the evening off for our concert tomorrow, and Eaddie still doesn’t want to go next week, and it has me wondering why I plan anything with them at all.

Good boys, anyway.

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Foaming

I got to work a little bit early this morning, but breakfast was already pretty picked-through, and definitely not as good as yesterday. It was quieter today though, I think because teachers were stuck in the auditorium for a large part of the day. I used my time to try and clean up some things before I got, but it’s getting harder to keep my spirits amicable.

Lunch wasn’t great either. I remembered the Junction Cafe having pretty awful chicken strips, and I was right. I don’t know how they got them so flat or dried out, but at least there was some food left over from yesterday.

I got the fish fed once I got back into town, and then headed home and played with the dogs. Then I took them out for a long run to my parents’ house for some water, and then the long way through the new neighborhood and the basin area. Stilgar was pulling and huffing pretty hard, and started to foam at the mouth quite a bit. I was a bit worried, but we tried stopping by some sprinklers along the way, and he managed to keep going. I gave him a good misting from the hose once we got back to the house, since he’s not allowed a bath for the time being.

I was pretty hot myself, so I rode back to my parents’ house for a quick swim before coming back home. Eaddie suddenly said she didn’t want to go to see Five Finger Death Punch next week even though I triple-checked with her before I submitted payment, so I really want to make her go anyway. It’ll be a lesson in maintaining a working calendar for her schedule.

Besides, we’ve got to start practicing now if we’re going to survive another Trump presidency.

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Badges?

Teachers were back, which meant breakfast and lunch was provided at work today. I got there a couple minutes early and made a plate to take back to my office. There was no way I could have done anything important, because I had visitors all day long. I made an ID badge or two, and suddenly word got out and a I practically had a line of people wanting their picture taken. We’re almost out of RFID tags too, so I’ll leave it up to the next guy to figure out what to order.

We had El or La Something for lunch, which was pretty good. There was a mountain of chips and salsa left, but it all got cleaned up before Kim or I could go back for more. We had our fill though, and I made it through the end of the day with more food than I’d had at work since probably last year.

Just before I left, I snagged “Possum” on his way out the door, and mentioned my grief with the superintendent. I raised the concern about lost devices and how I had been wronged, and he basically said he just does whatever the superintendent or board president want. What’s the point of being on the board if you don’t use your own thoughts and considerations?

I made it to the old house to take care of the fish, and then got home to check on the dogs. Summer took them in for castrations this morning, so they were still drowsy when I got there. Muad’Dib was hiding under the shallow part of the porch where Chani died, which only had me a little nervous. He came out and let me feed him a little bit by hand, and I pet them for a while before going in to eat some leftovers for dinner.

When I came back out later, the dogs were feeling well enough for a walk, so I took them to my parents’ house. They did really well, but Stilgar kept getting distracted and wanted to do his own thing. Muad’Dib was the one that was feeling more affected by the drugs anyway. We made it back home and I ran a bath for Stilgar, because Summer didn’t tell me that he wasn’t supposed to get wet for a week or two.

I gave the dogs lots of attention until bedtime, and then I actually made it to bed on time, fairly exhausted. I haven’t even had the energy to do any more job searching since last week, so hopefully one of the leads I have now will lead somewhere.

You don’t need no stinking badges!

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Unintegritous

I ran a little late this morning, guilt-free. I even got a burrito on the way in. Good vibes only.

My morning was eaten up by people stopping by the office, and about a thousand phone calls from Denice. She seemed unsympathetic when I finally told her it was the next guy’s problem. Then I spent the afternoon packing up most of the rest of my things. I even had the maintenance guys smile at the cameras while I carried out a Dell box full of my crap, just to have some evidence that I wasn’t stealing anything.

When I came back in from the car, they mentioned that they were having a called board meeting tonight, so I ended up sticking around for that. It was pretty quick, with an unshared agenda and a motion to pass it all. Among those things, were staff changes, and then one specific item that they did call out, which was a flat pay rate of $50,000 for the Technology Coordinator position. Of course, before that was the recommendation to hire the guy from Western Yell County School District. I had no say in the matter.

The best I could do was one-up them on integrity once more. After they concluded the meeting, I waved to the president of the board and thanked him for the opportunity to serve his district. He came over to shake my hand, and I mentioned expressing a desire to speak with them prior to all of this. He went on about a military background that dictated he should follow the recommendations of their superintendent.

Afterward, I had Harry sign my timesheets for July, and he apologized and spoke words of validation for my feeling slighted. Then he basically blamed it on the board in saying that he couldn’t tell me what happened in executive session, or tell me what he was “directed” to do. Everyone’s pointing at someone else, and they’re all guilty of being idiots.

In the end, I asked what he wanted from me, and Harry said I could continue working on into the first couple weeks that their new guy starts. He acted as though he was helping me out, and even offered to write me a glowing recommendation for my exemplary professionalism against all odds. I’ll even get paid at the new hourly rate for the $50,000 stepless salary that the new guy is getting. Bully for me.

I went home, fed the fish, and picked up some fries from Arby’s and a sandwich from KFC since Eaddie brought home pizza, but not enough for me. Then I wanted to take the dogs out for a therapy run, but they were on the absolute worst behavior they’ve ever shown me. They were both constantly pulling on the leash, and Stilgar was constantly running in circles around the stop signs, getting tangled up. I kept having to kick him back around the correct direction. The coup de grâce was when I had to stop and pick up the third poop of the night, and Stilgar pulled on the leash and tangled me up enough that I dragged it across the open bag of poop. From then on, they were dragged behind me on a short leash all the way home. From now on, it’ll be short leash discipline runs until they straighten out.

I’ve had it up to here.