Tag: work

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Smokey Bros

The holiday doldrums were in full swing today, and I think everyone is just ready for a break. I went to Leonard’s at the start of the day to get some nylon washers to put between my vanity license plate and the screws. After that, I didn’t really deep into anything today, and spent most of my time watching a progress bar as I moved files off of our old SCCM server. Even after running all day, I’ll still have more to do tomorrow.

Dad stopped by in the morning to deliver a pumpkin cake, and Tammy didn’t realize who she had let into the building, which caused a bit of a stir up front when he completely bypassed the front of the office. A couple of the guys up front took off after him until Gary recognized who it was.

The junior high invited us for Thanksgiving lunch, but Thomas was having none of that. We were going to Taco Tuesday. Gary and Josh rode with me, but as soon as we got into my car, we realized my screen had frozen. The music would play, but I couldn’t touch any controls, change the volume or climate controls, or even see a speedometer. I didn’t want to force a reboot and have to wait to drive to Taco John’s, so I got us there and then started the reboot once everyone was back out of the car. Allen was there to eat with us again, and then when we left, my car was back to normal.

I went to Dwight for a bit in the afternoon, and then stopped by the Ridgewood smokehouse on the way back. Grant was there, and actually needed a ride to get his car from the tire shop anyway, so I let him drive. It was kind of gritty on the roads after the rain, so we didn’t get to have very much fun, but he got a taste. After that, it was a dull day back in my office until quitting time.

After work, I went back to the smokehouse and hung out with Kyler and another guy while the bros were in the kitchen doing an interview. They were tending the first fire in one of their new smokers, and seasoning the grill before they could check it for hot and cold spots with some biscuits. It was cool to chat about that stuff for a bit, and then I got a better look at the rest of the building once they finished up with their interview.

Eventually I headed home to charge, and then picked up some Popeye’s on the way to Summer’s. The girls all came out to eat, and then it was early to bed again. I think getting dark early just helps. Everyone was tired and ready to crash.

Smoked, dried, floor biscuits.

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Engineering

It was a frosty morning, and it never got much warmer during the day. I forgot my keys at home, so I had to borrow Greg’s to get into my office. Gary had some engineering tasks for me that kept me busy for most of the day. Otherwise it was pretty quiet in the back of the shop. Kyle came through a couple times and stood awkwardly close to me, but that was about it. Greg was out doing something else most of the day.

When lunch time came around, Zach was the only one going. I took us to Morelos, where we sat in a booth next to Cameron, who had walked across the street from Superfast. We had a pretty quick lunch, and then ran by my house to get my keys before going back to work.

I ran to Dwight to take care of a couple things so Melissa could mop my office. On the way back, I finally remembered to return my jack pads to The UPS Store since they were too small to stay in the jack points of the Model 3. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon reading Microsoft’s documentation to figure out what I had to do to decommission our old SCCM server.

Autumn called to ask if I would get Eaddie after band, so I picked her up in what turned into some slightly hard rain. It wasn’t quite sleet or snow, but it definitely had an occasional slush to it. We swapped cars and then headed home where Summer was making a surprise dinner for us. She cooked up some sausage and vegetables which she used to stuff some yellow squash boats, and then covered them in mozzarella and baked them for a little bit. It turned out really great, but was a little heavier than she thought it was going to be.

Eaddie practiced her flute to some music she played on the TV for Summer, and then it was an early night to bed for everyone.

2022.40.4.1

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Each Morning, We Tell the Robot to Kill

The girls left early this morning to go to the robotics tournament. I eventually got up and ate an old, leftover pancake for breakfast before going home to shower. Summer came over once she was ready, and we went to the high school about an hour before we were supposed to be there. I knew they had plans for food, but I didn’t know what or when.

We found the girls and wandered around the commons and cafeteria. I saw Thomas as soon as we walked in, and evidently he and at least two other administrators were told they had to attend. There were enough people there that I was absolutely sure that nobody cared anything about them. They weren’t volunteering, or otherwise involved in any way, and just mingled and chatted among themselves.

Food arrived at noon, and we ate with all of the other home folks. Other schools had their own plans elsewhere, but we had a mix of pizza and some cheap pastas from what looked like Pasta Grill. The food was pretty good, but I really tried to limit myself to a small plate. After we ate, we had to find positions to work. Evidently a couple other volunteers planned to be there the whole day, so we were kind of extra. Instead of scorekeeping, Summer helped at the queue table, and I submitted final scores in the tournament manager program.

It was a pretty long day, and my job was pretty dull. I basically hit a button once after every match, so the scores would show up on a projector. I helped break down a very small part of the setup when the middle school kids finished. Then we waited so Summer could watch the high school finals.

Summer went on home while I traded vehicles and got some gas for hers. Then I met her back at the house for some leftovers for dinner. Of course everyone else has been picking at the better food while I’m left eating a giant mixing bowl full of lettuce. The girls got home late after finishing the cleanup, and then everyone was off to bed.

But secretly, we’re just afraid to tell it to love.

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Veterinarians Day

I slept longer than usual last night, but still struggled to make it to work on time. We didn’t have much to cover in our meeting, as everyone else was run off relatively quickly, but I stuck around to chat with the newbies for a bit. After that, I just tried to stay productive until lunch time. Roy’s was there to work on our air conditioner up front, so Tammy came back to my office for a bit and I started to tell her the story of Sam the clam. Unfortunately I didn’t get to finish, because Kelsea walked up right as I was wrapping up and I didn’t want to spoil the ending.

Gary, Greg, Josh, and I were the only ones to go out today, and somebody decided on Fat Daddy’s. I actually had a really good burger there, but I still couldn’t imagine what takes them so long to make it. It’s a half hour burger for sure.

The afternoon was really quiet, and got pretty cold with the door hanging wide open all day. I went to Dwight for a bit, and then tinkered all afternoon. I never did get a chance to finish my story, so I guess I’ll have to start over later. I walked out a few minutes early so I could catch Summer at the Veterans Day parade.

I had to park on the side of the street on the south side and then walk across to find Summer. Then she ran across the street at the start of the parade so she could record Autumn with the American flag. I think she would have actually had a better view from where I was sitting, and I got aggravated thinking she was going to spend the rest of the parade over there, but fortunately she came back.

We left in a hurry since I had to run across the street before the traffic started up. I sped home, quite pleased with the zippy, instant torque of my new car. It really made navigating stupid traffic feel much better. I took a moment to relax a bit, and eventually made my way up to the girls for the evening.

Summer kept talking about going out to get food, which further aggravated me on account of how much food was in the refrigerator. Of course they all picked at the tasty stuff, and nobody touched the mixing bowl full of salad that was slowly wilting. In fact, a couple of them didn’t even finish the plates they had made themselves, so I finished those up and then had a salad myself. Autumn never once made an appearance, and Eaddie didn’t stick around for very long. Summer and I looked at some houses for a bit, and then she went to bed really early.

I spent the rest of the evening mostly bored out of my mind. I tinkered on YouTube a bit, and finally got ready for bed so we could go to the robotics tournament in the morning.

How do you say “I don’t understand” in Spanish? “No Nintendo?” I simply do not.

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Thaco… Thursday?

Greg was finally back from his vacation, but he said he didn’t catch any deer. I was glad to hear that he still enjoyed himself. I started on my project to migrate EAST’s domain controller, but kept getting stuck because we didn’t have their existing server information documented anywhere. I had other things to pick at throughout the day though, so it wasn’t too dull.

After two Tuesdays without Taco John’s, Greg wanted to go there for lunch. I could have fit in Thomas’s truck with the others, but I really just wanted to drive my car. I used the opportunity to get a free meal with points, and then got more receipts for more points before we left.

The afternoon was quite a bit slower. Somehow I fixed an issue that Jeff had earlier in the morning, but I didn’t have a clue how. Josh never got back to me with the domain controller information because Dan wouldn’t give him what I needed without checking with EAST first. I don’t know why those facilitators always have to be so absolutely dense, but it’s super annoying. I’ve never met one that wasn’t completely out of their depth, and the entire program is a joke any more. I wish they would just scrap it.

The superintendent barged in later in the afternoon, but she stayed up front with Thomas. We weren’t sure what she wanted, but we were pretty sure she wasn’t happy. We collectively did our best to finish out the day, but I left right on the dot. I went by Ridgewood to find Grant and Kyler, and we chatted for a little while about the car. I’ll have to catch up with Grant next week when he’s not covered in barbecue.

I got to the high school on time, but it looked like robotics had let out a little earlier than usual. Eaddie jumped into the car while I farted at her friends outside, and she said now she likes the Tesla. We went on to my house where I started my first software update, and then we made our way home for the evening. Autumn came out once to make a brief appearance, but otherwise it was an early night to bed. I ate some leftovers for dinner, but then finished up about three hours early myself. I felt tired, though.

Shorter days, but still no SAD yet!

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AKS69Z

I wanted to take a bike to work today because the weather was supposed to be really mild all day, but I didn’t really have room to get one out without moving the car first. Gary came back pretty early and asked me to finish up the EAST domain controller migration, so that’s on my plate again. I talked to him about Azure AD and using Autopilot to prep new computers, so he was stuck on that for most of the day.

Kelsea and I went upstairs when the girl from JTS showed up, and I opted out of any extra insurance again for this year. I figured 2024 or 2025 might be a good year for another vision exam, and without any major dental issues, I would have lost money on that plan. Kyle asked me to return Shavon’s laptop to her once I finished re-imaging it for him, since he was supposed to help out at the middle school today. I didn’t object, since it meant I would get to drive around a bit.

That got me to lunch time, but Gary wasn’t joining us. It ended up just being Thomas and me, and we sort of left awkwardly while Tammy upset herself thinking about the evils of marijuana. I don’t know what triggered her, but she was adamant that it was bad for us and that society was crumbling around her. Thomas agreed to Whatta-Burger for something different, and it was such an incredible disappointment. The wait was bad enough, but then the fries were absolute garbage and the meat patties were about an inch and a half smaller in diameter than the buns. They tasted okay, but I wouldn’t have minded to pay a little more for something that at least resembled what they used to sell.

The afternoon was pretty quiet, but I wasn’t super motivated. I tinkered a bit and then took another trip to the DMV to register my car. Evidently right before school lets out on a Wednesday is the perfect time to go, because I walked in and right up to the counter, and two other people showed up the entire time I was there. All the ladies behind the counter were friendly and chatty, so I can officially say the DMV was a better, friendlier experience than shopping at Target last weekend. Once I paid my sales tax and got my license, I went to Dwight to install an additional charger in a Chromebook cart. Then it was back to the office for the remainder of the day.

I got a little caught up in traffic and took the long way back to the shop. I figured tomorrow would be a fine time to start a big project, so I didn’t dig into anything too tough before quitting time. When I left work, I went to my parents’ house to return the critter traps I had set in the basement, since we never caught anything. Dad had fixed a couple rice cookers for me, and then Mom got home from work and offered bún bò Huế. I decided to stick around for dinner and chatted with them for a while before going home.

As soon as I got home, I installed my new license plate and then headed up to Summer’s for the evening. She and Eaddie were up talking, but then Eaddie scolded me for showing up and making Summer start talking about boring work stuff. Everyone went off to bed, and I tried not to get sucked down any rabbit holes online.

Poor kid had no idea.

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To Recap

It was kind of a busy day today, but not so much from work. Thomas was finally back, but it was still pretty quiet in the office. I had to go to the junior high pretty early to help Jacob find the breaker for the west street sign power. I gave him a ride back to his office and then went in to see the girls in the library. I quickly gave Ronda a ride down the street, chatted with our coffee guy for a bit about it, and then gave Jessica a ride as well. I stopped by Dwight on my way back across town and took care of the only thing they had going on. They’ve been the opposite of needy, but it’s just that time of year.

Dale came down to meet us for lunch, and when we all arrived at Taco John’s, Allen was there to meet us as well. I don’t really think anyone told him, so it’s possible he showed up because I told him weeks ago that we’re there every week. I sent a picture to Amanda and jokingly asked why she wasn’t there for the reunion.

The afternoon was a little quiet as well. I snuck out to go to the assessor’s office because they couldn’t add the Model 3 to my tax account over the phone. Evidently their service provider was compromised, but hopefully nothing of value was stolen. The printed copy of the accounts they had to find me in was comically large, so I asked if I could get a photo.

My time at the courthouse was pretty short, so I decided to run across town to the DMV to register my car, since an earlier phone call proved that I wouldn’t be able to register immediately with my vanity plate. Even if I only use it for a day, I’ll have to have a regular interim plate in order to retrieve my vanity plate. I waited in line for a short while, and then spoke to a nice lady that couldn’t actually help me without my loan paperwork. I didn’t realize it until after I left, but I actually had digital copies of that stuff from when I originally made my down payment. I expected it to be in the physical packet I received, but it wasn’t. Now I’ll have to go back a second and third time to complete the registration and ultimate transfer to my final tag.

I finished up the day working on some things for a couple of the other guys. Summer wanted me to pick up Eaddie after robotics, so I had some time to kill. I headed toward Ridgewood Brothers to see if I would run into anyone, and I found Robert at the new building. He was just finishing up, so I let him take a spin in the new car. He was just loaded with questions, more than anyone else I’ve talked to so far. It was a fun ride, and got me right up to time to get Eaddie.

I stopped by the house to check mail, and then waited for Eaddie behind the high school. As soon as she came out, we ran to my house again so I could change, swap cars, and pick up some rice for dinner. Summer made a corned beef at home, so we ate as soon as the rice was done. Autumn got home from karate late and had lots to say about people that were trying to motivate her. She was taking their comments to mean they thought she was doing well, but in reality it was pretty obvious they were trying to push her harder and tell her that she had potential if she would just stick with something. After that, the girls split up for bed pretty early. I tinkered a little bit, but made it to bed on time myself.

OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE BLUER THAN THEY APPEAR

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Fro, Yo.

Tammy came into my office first thing this morning and said she had something for me. She had mentioned some Vietnamese artwork before, and finally brought it for me. She thought it could be worth several hundred dollars, but I was pretty certain that it wasn’t based on other artwork I’ve seen throughout my life and visiting Oriental markets.

The boss was still out sick, so it was quiet downstairs again. I had some leftovers for breakfast, but otherwise kept relatively busy somehow. I wasn’t really hungry by the time lunch came around, but I went to Quiznos with Gary and Zach just to get out of the office for a bit. I went light with a cup of soup, but then nearly doubled the price with a bread bowl and drink. I can’t resist their lemonade though.

I spent a good part of the afternoon upstairs with the virtual academy folks, because they had a stack of several computers up there that they wanted serviced. Most of them didn’t exhibit any troubles for me, but I logged in and charged them up just to be sure. A couple were damaged enough to be discarded, but one of those was pretty well demolished. I even had a teacher device with a cracked screen, so nobody was safe.

In one of my trips back upstairs, I ran across Danielle, who wanted to look at my car. I thought she was going to stick around while I dropped off some junk, but she went up to her office instead and said she would come by tomorrow. By the time I finished running around, it was time to leave.

Autumn ran around after school and went to karate, so I had to get Eaddie from band. She wanted to go by her grandparents’ house, but evidently they forgot and weren’t home either. Instead, we went to get a pumpkin cake from my dad, then swapped cars and headed home where Summer was busy cooking dinner after going home early from not feeling well.

We arrived to a super smoky house, but most of that was just from a dirty oven. Summer had made chicken cordon bleu with mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts, and it was awesome. The three of us scarfed that down pretty quickly, and then I broke out the new Yonanas machine we bought on clearance. I didn’t realize the bananas needed to be on the ripe side, but it still came out super good with some mixed fruit. I’d always heard that frozen bananas tasted a lot like soft serve, but in reality the similarity was uncanny.

Autumn came home, and all three girls were off to bed pretty early. I stayed up doing my usual things and found a deal on an LG refrigerator with the craft ice from Costco, so I messaged Julie to see if she could order it for me. That turned into a bit of an ordeal because you can’t pick it up from Costco, but they also won’t deliver it farther than 50 miles from a store, nor would they deliver it to the Splash in Conway. I ended up getting Ben to be my fridge mule, and we’ll just have to pick it up from his house after Thanksgiving. All of that, of course, was on a whim since I’ve been without a refrigerator for several months now.

A sad chicken, named James.

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40 and 21

Today was Gary’s 40th birthday, which just reminded me how close I am to mine. He said the air unit in our core server room had gone out, so he had to come to work at two in the morning. Thomas was out, so we didn’t have an agenda for our meeting, but it was still really short. After everyone else was run off, Gary and I chatted with Jeff to give him a little bit of training.

I was a bit scattered for most of the day, and was pulled in a few different directions. Tammy’s son came by, and she asked if I would give him a ride in the Model 3. She came along too, for a loop around the neighborhood. Then I spent some time in Photoshop and worked on my meeting minutes.

Jeff came back to have lunch with us, but Jacob still wouldn’t. It ended up being Gary, Kyle, Josh, Jeff, and me because Zach went to wait for maintenance to show up at the server room. We thought he would catch up to us, but ultimately he just had Gary make an order to go. That meant I paid for four meals, but Zach paid me back for his and Jeff’s.

Shortly after we got back from lunch, Dale and Neletta stopped by. She chatted with Tammy while he, Zach, Gary, and I gabbed in Zach’s office. Eventually I got around to offering a ride, and I let him drive my car up the road a ways. He had lots to talk about, and enjoyed the performance, but I don’t think it’ll make him start voting democrat any time soon.

The rest of the afternoon was super quiet, and I’m pretty sure nobody else actually worked a full day. I stayed a little late putting the finishing touches on my CPPC email, and then I headed home to see what Terminix had finished with at the house.

I hadn’t had a chance to show Bác Vân or Doug my car yet, so I stopped by to take them around the block as well. She really liked how clean it was inside. Then I went home to reset one of my wireless access points for her and then killed a bit of time before going to Summer’s.

On the way, I finally remembered to return the unused sprayer hose to Lowe’s. When I got to the house, Summer was on the couch watching TV while the girls were picking up food. I warmed up some leftovers for myself and then laid on the couch with her until she got up to go to bed. I got pretty tired pretty early, so I took the opportunity for some extra sleep.

Gobble.

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Red is Black

I struggled to find a whole lot of motivation today, and spent a bit too much time aggravated that the little felt letterboard I had in the shop was likely thrown into the garbage for “cluttering the place up.” I don’t understand why we couldn’t have anything decorative in the room. It just feels so sterile back there now, and I kind of hate it.

I left to go to Dwight and install a AA battery, but the one in the microphone just wasn’t installed properly. What made it worse was that you could easily see where the battery needed additional contact to charge. While I was there, I had to ask Karen to decipher the calendar again, because evidently the copy she gave me for the agenda had the names inverted from what Linda was expecting. This was even more confusing, considering that Linda was the source of both copies.

We thought Jeff was going to eat lunch with us, but it ended up being Gary, Zach, Thomas, and me. Gary drove this time, and I sensed that Thomas appreciated the extra leg room. Kevin texted that he saw me, but I didn’t spot him until we left. He and Keith were having lunch together, and it was good to see both of them.

Dad went by my house to meet a guy from Terminix to inspect the termite damage. I had nightmares all night about my walls falling apart from termite damage, but the end result of the inspection was really just to sell what appeared to be a highly overpriced poison treatment plan that will do nothing for the repair of any damage. He didn’t even look in the attic, which seemed particularly important to me since he couldn’t look behind the drywall. The only relief will be how much easier rerunning electrical will be if we have to tear the drywall out.

I had to go back to Dwight again after lunch because their projector in the cafeteria had some sort of problem. I finally got Karen to figure out what was happening, and luckily the end of the VGA cable would be bent and twisted in a way that the colors looked normal again. It’s super tempting to make Kyle re-run that cable on account of how high the ceiling is.

After work, I ran straight to Arvest to withdraw a sack of money. Aaron chatted with me for a bit, and all the girls got super chatty about the car. I think I would enjoy being rich. With a Popeye’s paper bag full of large bills, I picked up Summer from the gym and we went to her bank to deposit it all back into her savings account. Their lobby was closed, so we had to wait forever in the drive-through, but we finally finished, and Summer was super relieved to have her account squared away.

I dropped Summer off and ran to pick up Eaddie late from robotics. Ethan was giving Lindsey a tour of their Ioniq, but I still felt bad for being so late. We continued to my house so I could change, and then went to Walmart for some salad fixings. Eaddie argued for boring lettuce, so I made her get the unprepared romaine hearts instead of the pre-bagged stuff.

Summer and Autumn were sitting out on the porch when we got there, and I fixed dinner by myself. I got pretty frustrated by how late it was, and the fact that I couldn’t use either side of the sink to clean vegetables. I ate, the kids ate, and then Summer finally ate after a shower. Then Summer and I chatted for a bit before she went off to bed.

Be kind; Unwind!