Tag: work

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Artsy Fartsy

I slept pretty heavily last night and woke up pretty refreshed. As soon as I got up and had my shower, I went to pick up Summer to take her to Little Rock to see her employee’s girlfriend’s art show at the food truck festival. That sounds like a lot, and it was. We stopped at Walmart in Conway for a couple flowers to take her as well, and made our way to Main Street Little Rock.

There were a ton of people there. It was too many, but it didn’t make me too anxious. I just wasn’t in the mood to walk and eat around that many people. We found their tent, Summer bought a couple things, and then we bounced right back to the parking garage.

We hit up two Targets to look for Ember mugs, but didn’t have any luck. Then we went across town to Chuy’s for a good lunch before heading back home. We stopped at the Conway Target with similar luck, and then again in Blackwell to scavenge for some boxes for moving. We made it to Summer’s with about 12% battery, so we loaded up her car and then dropped mine off at home to charge.

We took a big load of stuff to the new house and Summer filled cabinets and drawers while I cleaned the carpets some more. It’s been incredible how much fine dust I’ve pulled out of the carpet, and it makes me want to go back over again and again before I actually shampoo the living room. The closet wasn’t completely dry yet anyway, so all I did was vacuum.

Eaddie came over after some studying, and she and I went to my parents’ house for mango soup while Summer went home to do some laundry. After we ate, Eaddie took me to get my car, and we all met back up at the old house for bed.

We’re gonna need some darker crayons…

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Sweatin’ to the Moldies

Today went by super fast, and I just kept feeling like I was running out of time at work. The sense of urgency around all the different tasks I have to juggle has been really annoying, and it just makes work unenjoyable. It’s difficult to get into anything fun when my attention is constantly being yanked violently in different directions. I can never complete a task.

They basically had Thanksgiving dinner for lunch, and that was alright. Then Kim and I went to the elementary to try and swap out or organize Chromebooks that had been shuffled at the start of school. Every time I go down there, I think I’m organized and have a good idea about what I’m doing, but then I get there and choke. It’s like I’m just afraid to go into classrooms because I don’t really have any rapport with anyone down there, and it’s impossible to get when I’m stuck in my office running in circles.

I left work a little late and stopped at Casey’s for a cookie on the way home. I tried charging for a while, but I tripped the breaker again. Then I went to my parents’ house to get some silicone to caulk the shower. The first tube I got was brand new, but completely dried up so I had to go back. Mom made bánh xèo again, so I quickly ate and then went back with a nearly-empty tube of caulk that was still usable.

I got Eaddie’s shower done, and then cleaned the master shower so I could caulk it. That time I used an old tube of white silicone that had bits of hard, dried pieces mixed in the middle of the tube. That made things difficult, but I think after some time I got decent results. Hopefully it worked, but I won’t be upset if we have to rip out the doors and get new ones in the future. The whole shower seems small, and seems kind of stinky, so I don’t know what’s up with the drains. It could probably use some work.

Eaddie and I finally headed up to Summer’s, where she was in bed and nearly asleep. I stayed up for a while to plan a return trip to Tulsa before bed.

No fun at all.

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2,000-inch TV

I was going to be super early leaving the house today, but then Summer and Eaddie both showed up separately because Eaddie forgot a bunch of stuff at home. I squeaked out and stopped at McDonald’s for a McGriddle, and then made it to work in plenty of time. The maintenance guys came around pretty early and helped me swap a couple touch panels that were being replaced under warranty. Then I spent most of the afternoon drafting a form letter for damaged devices.

I managed to leave on time today, and went home for a bit before going to the new house. My Wall Connector threw the breaker twice today, so I’ll need to check that out sooner than later. I took an armful of stuff to the house that I had been needing, but still didn’t really accomplish much. All of my plants were looking pretty sad, so I had to take care of them first.

Mom made bánh xèo for dinner, so I left to eat and then got back to the house relatively quickly. I did get the locks changed, and figured out how to use the garage keypad. I didn’t caulk the shower like I wanted, just because it seemed dirtier than I expected it to be after Summer said she scrubbed the thing totally clean. Instead, I cleaned up Eaddie’s shower around the handle that I wanted to caulk, and then realized I didn’t actually have any clear silicone.

I made it up to Summer’s, where she was in bed with some popcorn. Eaddie eventually made it home and talked to us for a while, and then everyone was off to bed.

Driveless

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S Drive

I let Eaddie take the Model 3 to school today so I could take the Model S. It was just a little bit rainy in the morning, but I wouldn’t have noticed from my desk anyway. I spent most of the day chatting back and forth with the Tesla Service Center about the Model Y. They had the repair done, but did an unauthorized replacement of the right side trim that River Valley Tinting and Glass scratched, so I was able to talk them out of charging us for it. They also tried to touch up some paint issues for us, which would have frustrated me otherwise on account of our constant battle to get things repaired. Overall, without seeing the repairs, I was quite happy with the results.

My “big win” at work was basically just assembling a huge Monoprice order, and then getting a discount on some headphones from CDW. I found some tiny Type-C headphone adapters that would go on the end of some super cheap, $2 headphones. Overall, we ended up only spending about $10 per headset, compared to $15-20 as expected.

I made the mistake of going to a classroom on the way out of work, and ran into an apparent workaholic teacher who had ALL OF THE QUESTIONS. I ended up leaving about an hour late, so by the time I got home to change, picked up tacos, and made it to the new house, the fact that I needed some other supplies from home really solidified my feeling that it was too late to get started.

Instead of starting carpets super late, I stopped by my parents’ house for some hose washers, and then by Julie’s house to get an old laptop she wanted to return. She and Kevin came out to check out the Model S, and Julie took it squeaking around the block.

I finally made it home to gather what I needed for the new house, and then made it up to Summer’s in time to catch her starting to fall asleep. I didn’t stay up too late since I had questionable-quality sleep last night in my own strange, hot home with a rattly fan and a splashy aquarium.

This is seriously the most embarrassing cool car ever.

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All About the Little Wins

Kim didn’t show up to work today, and texted about an hour late that she probably wasn’t going to make it. That instantly made my day more productive in certain areas. It certainly made things quieter, at least in part because I simply closed people out during lunch.

Harry came to fetch me early in the morning because he couldn’t get into his computer. Shortly after that, Toby came to ask me about another request from Dean to move his touch panel. I was confused, on account of my conversation with Blake, so I shot off an email to confirm. He totally had my back, so I denied the request again with the blessing of both supers.

I missed out on lunch, but powered right on through. The kids set off my car alarm again while they were playing foursquare, but it didn’t look like they hurt anything. I just kept feeling like maybe the idiot sitting in the rocking chair should move the kids somewhere away from staff vehicles.

After work, I headed home until I heard from Eaddie. She took the Model S to school, but forgot her phone. She called me when she got home, and then came over to charge while we went to eat. Ben called before she got there, and I ended up on the phone with him for a little while. I had Eaddie drive us to The Gunslingin’ Burger, but they were closed for the day. We crossed the street to wash my car, and then I took us to Sam’s Southern Eatery.

I can’t even say we had poor service, because we simply had no service. They took our order, delivered our food, and then we never saw anyone ever again. Eaddie really enjoyed the food though, and we had a really long, great talk. Afterward, we made our way to their old house to get a few more things for the night. Then we went back to my house for the Model S and possibly a mattress for me to stay the night.

It didn’t take long for us to decide it was too late to be moving that much bedding to the new house just to sleep in the floor, so she helped me clean out my bedroom instead. Then we went to the new house so I could help her unload and check out how she arranged her room. I checked on my carpet experiment and found no difference between presoaking and just using the machine with detergent, so I figure I’ll just stick with what I was doing before, but limit myself to smaller areas to concentrate the detergent.

I finally headed back home with the Model S, trusting her to go to school in the Model 3. I called Summer to catch up with her after a long day out of town, and then made it to sleep as quickly as I could.

This house is haunted, it’s so pathetic.

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Inverted Coffee

My alarm went off in the middle of a very deep sleep this morning, so I had a really rough time getting going, until nearly lunch time. I had to make coffee twice because I spilled the first one all over the carpet. Then we had a presenter for a cookie dough fundraiser, so we had to go “work the projector” for him. Just before that, Blake came into the office to tell me I was, in fact, having to move into the front office with Kim. It’s just as well, since I can never hear her through the wall anyway. The rest of my career there will probably end up being pretty passive-aggressive.

Summer took her car to Fast Glass again, and just as before, I got a call that they didn’t have the right windshield. At least this time they didn’t rip out the old one, so I called Progressive/Safelite to confirm that I could take the car to the dealership, and then messaged Tesla to see if they would be able to add it to my service. As luck would have it, they actually did have one in stock.

I felt kind of crummy near the end of the day, but made it back to town in time to catch Shaun at Fast Glass to confirm he would get it parked outside their shop before he left for the night. Evidently he had to start disassembly before he could tell they had the wrong glass. He was working with someone else at the time, so I went to see Summer at Superfast before going home to change. Once her car was moved out, I headed back over to move some things to my car, and then went to my parents’ house for some shrimp soup.

After I ate, I headed straight up to Summer’s for the night. Summer was doing work things most of the night, and Eaddie was having trouble with her new piercings she got on her birthday. I spent some time on my résumé, and went to bed way later than I wanted after Summer got off the phone.

This is a normal and appropriate level of anger.

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Somebody Else’s Fix

I was a little bit early to work this morning, so I let the car do its thing to get me there. It was a pretty quiet day without much new work coming in. I had to make a few key fobs for Todd, but otherwise my big project for the day was to finish upgrading our state VPN. All I did was test the DIS guy’s fix though, so no brain required.

After work, I loaded up some stuff to take to the house and then stopped at Walmart for a new air filter. While I was there, I noticed the barbecue prep cart that I picked up last week had been marked down another 30 bucks. I tried to get it price-matched, but the four employees I talked to didn’t seem to understand the policy. Furthermore, they didn’t actually take care of me at the customer service desk, and instead asked me to wander around and find a training lead. Ultimately they made me go back and buy the last one on the shelf, carry it out of the store, and then wanted me to return my old one that was also still in the box. When I finally got back in, I thought I was going to have trouble returning the same one, but then a different manager came up and basically told them they were being stupid, and just shook her head at them. Even as we completed the transaction, the girl processing the return made comments about being confused. I could not imagine a simpler scenario.

I finally made it to the house and unloaded my stuff. I didn’t have time to start on new carpets, so I just checked on the previous rooms and left a bit dissatisfied. Then I shuffled some light bulbs around to match fixtures and rooms before locking everything up again. As I was about to leave, I noticed that with the lights out and the doors shut, the back hallway appears to be pitch black and just disappears forever. It was slightly terrifying.

My parents had leftovers ready for dinner, so I went to eat and chatted with Dad for a bit before heading up to Summer’s for the night. Noah was in the same place on the couch, watching the same videos on YouTube as he was a full day ago. Eaddie had homework to do in her room, but came out to discuss it a couple of times before I went to bed.

Transplant

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Hot Diggity Dog

I had a room full of kids waiting on me in the office this morning, but we got them some Chromebooks and sent them along their way. I had been crawling out of bed more and more begrudgingly over the course of the week, and Kim didn’t make any coffee this morning, so I tried out my Aeropress Go. It really only made about half of a cup, but I felt like the scoop was bigger and it probably used more coffee grounds than the regular one. The coffee was good, though.

I continued picking through work orders to close out some older ones, and finally moved some things off of the backburner. One of those things was a door controller with an undocumented password. I mentioned something to Todd about it, and the next thing I know, he called Samuel down to have a look. They showed up while I was on a call with a guy from DIS, but came back around a little later.

Sam sidled up to my computer and hammered away rather belligerently at my keyboard as he discovered my troubles, one-by-one. We eventually took a walk down to the core closet, and I got a little more history and some guidance for what equipment I had. I felt a little better about digging into some new stuff, but then he left after having broken my phone.

The rest of the day was pretty slow. We had hot dogs for lunch, along with some other leftovers that made for a pretty big meal. I left work early, but then got caught in traffic with some busses after a pep rally, so my call with DIS from home didn’t happen. I was only a few minutes late, but I think he misunderstood what time I would be available to troubleshoot his VPN issue.

After a little while, I took my car to the wash, and then to my parents’ house to visit for a moment. I tried to convince Mom to come with me to the Model Y service appointment to test drive an S or X, but for some reason she kept fighting it. The prices just dropped substantially too, so now would be a great time to buy.

When I left there, I drove by the Sherwood house just to check things out again, and Jeremy saw me and waved me down. I stopped and we chatted for a little while, and he seemed super nice. One of the kids peeked out the window at us, but I never saw anyone else. He said they would be out of the house later in the evening, so we would be free to move on in.

I finally made it up to Summer’s, but mostly dawdled the rest of the night. I wanted to go to the house after Jeremy texted me, but it was a bit late. I guess I would have been more productive to go early in the morning anyway. Summer went to bed, and Eaddie didn’t get home until really late from an away game. They also had a Conquer the Gauntlet race in the morning in Tulsa, so I figured I’d have a day to myself to get things done.

How do utilities work again?

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Catching Upwards

I was early again this morning, so I stopped into Sonic for breakfast, and they were super fast. The drive to work was mostly slow while I was stuck behind traffic for most of the drive. I was feeling a bit more caught up and less ragged, which was nice. Nothing remarkable happened over the course of the day, though I think we’ll need to order a lot more Chromebook chargers than I expected.

Julie called me after I got home and said in a lot of words that she decided to delay our impromptu vacation. I headed up to Summer’s kind of late, stopping at Casey’s for a second time in the day to try and find a S’mores coffee. They still didn’t have any. Then I stopped at McDonald’s but only got fries since Summer had just started heading home. I had her warm up the chicken and I made everyone leftover tacos for dinner.

Eaddie came out to do some homework with me, and then it was off to bed a little earlier than usual.

The fact that I can no longer “supersize” my fries because of one asshole’s documentary is absolutely the current world’s greatest injustice.

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79% Deployed

Today was another relatively dull day of scattered students coming in for Chromebooks. We did get down to the elementary for a bit, so I was glad to close out some of those work orders. At one point I had a pretty bad anxiety attack. My vision went dark, and I got super dizzy and sweaty really fast. It took me a little while to shake that one off.

I finally got an answer from Entergy, but not the one I was looking for. I suppose it will let me focus on the school a little harder, but it was disappointing all the same. Summer said Splash was hiring for another IT person, but that work sounds very entry-level with nowhere to go.

I stopped by Casey’s after work, but they didn’t have the coffee I wanted, so I continued home to clean up a bit. Mom had some phở to clean up, so I ran across town to eat and then chatted with them for a bit before heading up to Summer’s.

Eaddie helped me fill out the family calendar with all of her band events, and I went through the house baiting for ants again. Then it was off to bed.

So close, yet so far.