Tag: work

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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.

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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.

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