Tag: work

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Consoling

After being late yesterday, I was actually really early today. I backtracked to Wendy’s for breakfast this time, and still made it to work several minutes early. I decided early on that I wasn’t going to get any work done, all to focus on moving things out of my office and into the front office with Kim. I started by moving some things around in our storage room, and I think I might have a reasonable plan for how to make the storage more easily accessible.

I skipped out on lunch because ham and cheese wraps sounded awful. I survived on coffee and lemonade and stayed an hour late until I got almost everything out. There was still one set of cabinets with some toner in them, but I don’t even know what they went to, so I figured that can be a problem for Monday.

We decided to keep the television console, so I queued Kevin up again. I thought he was going to be later than he was, so I started to go get some food. He texted me just as I left the house, so I turned around and went to the new house to pick up my straps. As soon as I got there, I realized the girls never took them out of the Murano after they unloaded, so I had to go back to the high school to get them while Eaddie was at a football game. I met Kevin at his place since I was already right by him, and we took his truck to get the console.

The power was already shut off, so we were working in the pitch black. Somehow we managed to get it loaded onto the truck, and I grabbed the lawn mower as well. There were still a few small things to get that Summer didn’t grab, but I figured that would wait until the next day. We got the console and mower to the new house, and then Kevin took me back to my car.

I finally stopped at Arby’s for some dinner, just as it approached bedtime. I’ve been a constant state of exhaustion, and the Big Game Burger I got was kind of a disappointment. Summer was up and mentioned a centipede in the bathroom, but all she did was cover it with a towel and surround it with shoes, hoping it wouldn’t get away. Then she got confused about what kind of bug it was. In fact, it was a centipede, and we were lucky it didn’t crawl away. I dispatched it and then took a shower, taking time to clean a whole bunch of gunk out of the crevices while I was in there. Of course water went everywhere outside of the shower while I did that, so I had to suck that up with the Bissell too. It was super nasty.

Frustrated yet again, I struggled to get to bed for the night. It wasn’t entirely fair, nor was it entirely unfounded. It feels like another week gone by, and not much closer to feeling like home.

It’s just not my year.

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You Don’t Have to Go Home

Somehow I lost track of time this morning after staying at the new house, so I was 15 minutes late to work today. I didn’t really accomplish anything again, because I was preoccupied with moving stuff out of my office. I still can’t believe they’re just fine with cutting my space in half. It would be a résumé-generating event if I hadn’t just updated it already.

Overall the day went by pretty quickly, especially the morning. There’s still a lot to move tomorrow, and if nothing else gets done, oh well. I messaged Kevin on the way home to see if he would be up for helping me move the last of the big stuff from Summer’s old house, and he said he could later in the evening.

I stopped at Casey’s for some free M&Ms before going home for a little while to charge. Then I stopped by my parents’ house for some phở for dinner before going to the new house to find Summer ready to settle in for the night. I motivated her to go to the old house with me so we could prep for Kevin, and Eaddie went to a Tech band concert.

We finally got Summer’s bed apart after taking out way more screws than were required. I honestly don’t even know if we’ll be able to put it back together properly. It’s going to be well and truly rigged at this point. The whole thing was really just supposed to slide apart.

Kevin showed up and helped me take two loads to the new house. We got the washer, dryer, and bed the first trip. Then Summer stayed home while Kevin and I got the deep freeze, kitchen table, and a couple other random things. Summer will have to go back for a little more, but unless we decide we want to bring a couple more cabinets home, we’re done. I just wish she had listed them for free so they could go somewhere useful.

After Kevin left, I hopped in to try the shower to get some of the sweat off of me, and I’m pretty sure it took a couple layers of skin. It felt like I was drowning the entire time, and there was no way to adjust the water pressure down. It was so high-pressure that it was difficult to change the spray pattern.

Eaddie and I chatted for a little bit while I did my stuff on the computer, and then I did my best to squeak into bed by midnight.

But you can’t stay here.

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Eviction Notice

I had a fairly rough night and morning, and woke up hungry, so I stopped at McDonald’s for an Egg McMuffin. The first thing I did at work was assemble another Chromebook cart for our own use, so I could give the one we were using to the library for checkout devices. It wasn’t much later that I received an email from the assistant superintendent that the superintendent’s wife would be needing my office next week, and that I needed to get things moved.

The front of the office looks better now, but there simply won’t be enough room there for everything we have to spread out at different times of the year. Time will tell, I suppose. We had a plate of mushy “tater tot casserole” for lunch, and some guys came to install more security cameras without anyone’s knowledge.

I left a little bit late and ran to the new house to meet John so he could quote me on another Wall Connector install. He suggested we might want to update the panel as well, so we may be looking at around $2,500 for that, plus another $1,500 for the charger. We don’t have time to dawdle, but we also still have to get the last of Summer’s stuff moved, and some drywall guys in to fix the ceiling. Nevermind actually having furniture.

After he left, I cleaned up a little bit outside and sprayed some bug killer after I found a huge trial of ants leading up the deck and across the side of the house. They were on a mission to get somewhere, and I wasn’t going to have it.

Once Summer got home, I replaced her shower head, and then spent the rest of the night feeling incredibly uncomfortable in the dining room. I just didn’t want to be there.

There’s no place like home.

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Regrounding

I slept reasonably well last night in the new house, but it was still a hassle to go home in the morning. I was reasonably early for work, and the cafeteria lunch menu didn’t sound very appealing for most of the week, so I stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast. Nothing remarkable happened at work, and things were mostly pretty quiet. I still kind of feel like a temporary guest there most of the time, and I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.

The electrician finally made it out to the house, so I had Summer meet him there to test charging. The breaker never tripped, but evidently he tightened some ground wires while he was there. I’ll have to get my tools from the new house to see if that fixed the floating ground issue I had elsewhere in the house.

After work, I met Summer at the high school for parent-teacher conferences. The atmosphere there seemed to be about what I expected with the current regime. I’d love to take a survey to see if anyone has anything nice to say.

When we finished, I got tacos and went home. Summer didn’t want to get back out to help me with bulk item pickup after she got to the new house, so I just ended up staying home for the night.

Disapproval Ratings

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New Digs, Who Dis

I very nearly called in to work today because I was still in so much pain from moving yesterday. Even driving in to work was a struggle, but I felt better after some coffee at my desk. Kim wasn’t much use to anyone today, and she wasn’t ashamed about it. She didn’t feel the need to be there if the kids weren’t, but there were still work orders that could have been closed.

Todd said Harry called him over the weekend with some trouble with his PlayStation and the internet. Since the school pays for the superintendent’s house and internet, I guess that’s my job. It really seemed like we had a rogue DHCP server somewhere after the trouble I had last week, but I didn’t have much luck finding it. I spent all day learning about that stuff, but still didn’t feel accomplished in anything.

I was pretty hungry by quitting time, so I ran home and finished my hot wings. Then Mom and Dad came over to look at my drippy refrigerator water line. We went next door briefly so Mom could look through Bác Vân’s stuff, and then we met the girls at Morelos for dinner.

The serving sizes were awesome, but the food was super salty. We ate, and then I went with the girls to the car wash, and then Walmart for a shower curtain for Eaddie. When we left there, we stopped by the old house to get a couple of things, and then they dropped me back at my house to get a couple more things.

I met them at the new house and tried to get a few things done before bed. Summer helped me move the grills around outside, I fixed the refrigerator shelving and messed with the shower in the master bath. Then I realized I didn’t have a laptop to take care of the blog. Summer had hers in the car, so I made do.

Floor bed

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House Toad

As I was heading out the door, I noticed a little toad stuck in a sticky bug trap. I don’t have a clue how he got into the house in the first place. I get them in the garage occasionally, but this little guy was inside the laundry room. I got him out with some vegetable oil spray, and hopefully he’ll survive after I put him back outside.

Committed to showing up late to work, I stopped at Taco John’s for some breakfast to eat along the way. It was quiet in the office again, and I wasn’t having much luck staying focused. The big exciting thing of the day was when a security camera stole the IP of my virtualization server. Every day it’s something new. Fortunately I was able to track down the switch port of the camera, and shutting that down resolved my issue. I’ll wait until somebody complains to do anything more with the camera.

I skipped lunch because the “sloppy joes” didn’t look very sloppy or edible. Johnny called for some help with GoGuardian, and I tried to point him in a direction. It was tough not to just leave early, but I made it to the end of the day.

I changed and picked up some Hardee’s for a quick bite with Summer before getting into carpets again. She had been moving stuff for most of the day, so she was already tired. Our new Optimum router came in, so I got the internet going, and then I finished shampooing the rest of the master bedroom. Hopefully it’ll be dry enough to move some things in this weekend.

It was pretty late when I got up to Summer’s house. Eaddie stayed at the new house since her bed was cleared off again. The old house is feeling pretty empty except for a bunch of big stuff we need to move. I originally wanted to rent a box truck, but now I’m not sure it will be much help on account of how steep the new driveway is.

STROKE! STROKE! STROKE! STROKE!

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Let’s Review

I was a shut-in at work again today, stuck in my seat, trying to figure out why I couldn’t adopt our gateway router. Out of nowhere, I got a call from someone at the Department of Information Systems about a support ticket they still had open from January. He indicated our link protocol was still dropping, and wanted to know if we noticed anything. I shared how broken things have been, and welcomed the help.

I also got a call from Jay, the Executive Sales Director at TCW, regarding the review I left them last night. He apologized and offered to refund the money, and even offered a free month of service if I wanted to give them a shot. I felt much better after that conversation, and after hearing that they could offer synchronous gigabit service for the same price I got from Optimum, I’ll really consider switching. Being a smaller company, I think their terms were just a little half-baked, but Jay indicated that I’d be welcome to talk to the engineering team, and that they could work with me on just about anything I needed.

After work, I went home to charge for just a little bit before going to the new house. I took the housewarming gift to The UPS Store for return, stopped at Wendy’s for a quick bite, and then got to work on carpets again. All total, I’ve finished about two thirds of the master bedroom, so I should be able to completely finish it tomorrow, in time to move some furniture this weekend. I’m less worried about the living room since we don’t know what furniture we’re moving in yet, plus we still have ceiling drywall work to be done.

I eventually made it up to Summer’s, just before Eaddie did. She came and sat with me for a bit when she got home, and shared some fight videos from school. I know they had a pretty rough class coming up, so I guess they’re here now.

Rereview

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Deal with the Internet Devil

I had a really hard time getting started this morning. I was sleeping heavily, and had no energy at all. Kim was out, so I spent all day locked up in my office again. It was nice and quiet, I had some good coffee, and I spent nearly the entire day trying to re-adopt the USG-Pro-4 into our network. I was not successful, but to be fair the documentation was absolutely nonexistent.

Paul from TCW called to sell me some internet service. When I talked to him before, he said it would be ready last week. Today he scheduled an install for two weeks later. I didn’t love the idea of a two year contract, especially after all of the buyer’s remorse I’ve had with the new house, so I agreed to pay $10 per month to stay out of a contract. I figured $65 per month for 500 megabits was worth it just to leave Optimum, but then things got weird.

He collected a $50 deposit that would go toward my first bill. Then I got a contract by email that they wanted me to e-sign. The contract had a link to their terms of service, which outlined a whole bunch of things that I like to do that were prohibited. They also offloaded all liability for their own equipment onto the customers, and even threatened to cancel service without notice if you promote a competing internet provider. I decided not to sign the contract, and instead called to haggle with Optimum. They gave me gigabit service for $70 per month and a $200 gift card for signing up. In retrospect, that’s their normal pricing for new customers, so I wish I had haggled harder.

The Optimum service would also be set up before the end of the week, which was nice. I called TCW back and was transferred right back to Paul, which made me appreciate them as a small company. However, after a friendly conversation to cancel my installation appointment, he told me that the deposit couldn’t be refunded. No service had been rendered, and in fact, I called to cancel just 45 minutes after he had called me to solicit their service. He refused to budge, so I’ll just have to dispute the charge as soon as it clears my Discover Card.

I didn’t take a break for lunch, and then left a little bit late. I made it home to change, and then immediately took off to my parents’ house for a quick dinner before going to the new house to clean carpets. Eaddie showed up with a couple of friends and some boxes from the old house, but then acted like she was embarrassed to live in a no-shoe household. Nearly all of the houses I ever visited growing up didn’t allow shoes past the front door, so I don’t know what her issue was. These girls act like they were raised by wolves.

Once I finished shampooing the carpet in the final closet, I stripped caulk from around the tub. There was quite a lot of it under the seam in some areas, so hopefully pulling that all out won’t mess with anything. I’ll just have to re-apply it with a heavy hand.

The girls were pretty well settled in by the time I got to the old house. Summer had a few more things boxed up and ready to go, and everyone was ready for bed. I wrote a pretty scathing review of TCW, and then headed for bed myself, later than I wanted, as usual.

What kind of shady crap is this? And who still uses Usenet, anyway?

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Smudge, Rattle, and Scroll

I got a message back from Shaun early this morning about the rattle in my car and the smudge in front of the camera that kept triggering my wipers in the dark. That made me feel a lot better after having such an ordeal getting them to fix my windshield in the first place.

It was relatively quiet at work, but I actually had a student come in with a broken screen and payment for the damage fee. That got me in a rush to create a new tracking sheet for damage and repairs, which took most of the day.

They had some pretty decent fajitas for lunch, and then I went to the elementary at the very end of the day to fill up a cart that was missing some chargers and Chromebooks. I left as soon as I finished there so I could get to Fast Glass to meet up with Shaun. We took a trip around the block and discovered the rattle was coming from the headliner, so I babysat his dog Annie while he took the headliner down a bit and taped the rattling cable up. Afterward, he pulled the camera assembly down and discovered a smudge of some kind of residue in front of the cameras.

The rattle was resolved for the ride home, but I wouldn’t be able to test the erroneous wipers until it was completely dark outside. I spent the evening just hanging out at home so my car could charge, resetting the breaker multiple times, and taking a break to pick up some tacos for dinner.

When I finally made it up to Summer’s, she was helping Eaddie study for a test over some historical lawsuits, which fell to rote memorization. I dawdled a bit until they went to sleep, and then I followed along after.

That’s a big payment.

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Sandwich Day

Today was National Cheeseburger Day, but I didn’t realize it until later. I stopped at Burger King for breakfast since Kim would be out and I figured I wouldn’t eat lunch. I spent the entire day in my office, being mostly productive, but in questionably-important ways. I felt good about it, but I also felt a little bit bad about things left on the backburner.

I tried to get the electrician back out to the house to fix the bad breaker he gave me, but that didn’t happen. I also tried to coordinate a time to fix the rattle and the smudged camera on the Model 3, but never got a response from them either. Then I got a call from Griffin’s Home Improvement while I was on the way home. They wanted payment for the ceiling they literally and figuratively jacked up, so I had to run to the new house to get the check, and then run that to the opposite end of town to pay them. They weren’t at all surprised at my response, and knew it looked awful, but evidently they just don’t do drywall, and apparently nobody thought we wanted that done at the same time by the seller.

After I left there, I stopped at McDonald’s for my 50 cent double cheeseburger. I took it to AT&T and ate it while I chatted with both Kevins. When I left, I picked up a free double steakburger from Freddy’s and took it home. I wanted to charge my car for a bit, but tripped the breaker twice after I tried to slowly increase my charge rate. I should have just left it at the slower rate, because now I’ll be shy of my charge limit again tomorrow.

I eventually made it to the new house to water plants, and I was going to clean some more carpets, but ended up leaving after just a little while. I went to wash my car instead, and then headed up to Summer’s where I shared the news of the Burger Day deals.

Eaddie immediately jumped at the opportunity for some free Freddy’s, but she wanted a buddy, so I rode with her. Then I drove us to Dairy Queen and Burger King for two more stops before heading back to the house. Summer came out to eat with us, and then everyone was off to bed.

I’m sick of all this shoddy workmanship.