Tag: work

Uncategorised

That’s a WAP

I didn’t really know what to expect today, since things have hit a real lull. Gary had me fix some printers upstairs after he made some changes to the IP ranges for the building. Greg went up to work on the intercoms, and then met me halfway through to find the printers. Afterward, I took Kyle and Jacob across the street to inspect the lines at Transportation. They wanted to add a computer and an additional wireless access point to help with what they thought were signal issues. I wasn’t convinced, but Gary didn’t want to crank the signal up on their existing WAP either.

Greg came to help us actually pull the lines before lunch. Then I took Greg and Josh to meet Brody at Mulan’s to eat. We had forgotten they started closing on Wednesdays, so we headed to New China instead. I sent Eaddie a picture, and she sassed me on the phone for going without her.

After lunch, I finished up the Transportation lines, which took a while. It was hot and itchy up in the insulation, and several of the tiles had water damage. I finished up, and then Gary had me bring their high-end laptop back to troubleshoot why they couldn’t get it to work with an external monitor.

As soon as I plugged the laptop up to the TV, it fired right up without any trouble. Greg was shocked after having spent quite a bit of time with it over the past six months, but then had me try again on a VGA monitor, and then through a docking station. Finally we walked it back across the street, and it worked there in Christopher’s office as well. I gloated a bit, and then we went back to the shop to ride out the day.

After work, I went home to cool off for a while, then got gas and headed up to Summer’s for the evening. Autumn had tried to pry at Summer some more on the way home, but was told to expect and respect me since I’m not going anywhere. She actually greeted me once I arrived, which was an improvement over yesterday. She and Eaddie were watching TV, so I chatted with Summer for a while until she settled in bed. I cleaned up some guacamole before wrapping up my own nightly chores, and then it was off to bed.

That’s a wrap!

Uncategorised

Tacoboutit Tuesday

I hardly got any sleep last night, so I really appreciated being left to my own devices again today. I made a bunch more flash drives for the imaging parties that are about to start, and that really got me most of the way through lunch.

We went to our usual Taco John’s, where I had a cheap meal, and then after we regrouped, I was sent on a side quest for some bubble wrap to help protect unboxed TVs that we needed to relocate. After a little research, I found that U-Haul actually had boxes for shipping TVs of various sizes, so I went and picked up four of those. They packed super small, which was neat. Then Greg and I went to the high school to retrieve four TVs out of Brody’s office.

It was nearly time to go by the time we got back to the shop. I parked my truck in the bus yard, and then helped Jacob park his in the pen since it was his first time. Everyone met in the shop to go over projects for the rest of the week since every day we’ll be missing one of the three head honchos.

I went home to cool down after sweating over those TVs. Then I went up to Summer’s for the evening. She had a work meeting to properly turn Superfast over to Justin, and then picked Autumn up from karate. Eaddie was just enjoying some alone time at home, so I warmed up some leftovers to eat while we waited for everyone else.

Autumn basically ignored me all night. I talked with Eaddie alone for a bit just to try and get her honest feelings without worrying how they might affect her mother. Then Summer and I chatted some more before bed, but I tried not to stay up too late. These extra-early mornings and long days are awful.

Don’t forget to submit!

Uncategorised

The Parent Trap

Today was our first day of our three week “summer hours” nonsense, and it turned out worse than it had any right to be. I actually went to bed super early, so I didn’t have much trouble getting out of bed. It was cool outside for the drive in, but I knew it was going to heat up to an uncomfortable high on the bike. I kind of assumed I would be left alone again, but instead I was sent with a group to the high school. We had to possibly relocate some network lines to move the student computers in the library, and then remove the old journalism computers from the lab. Beyond that, we had to start inventory at that building, and there’s no mistaking how I felt about that.

Kyle and I rode with Brody, and I convinced them to work on inventory while I did all the network and computer pulling by myself. We ran into Al on his last day there, and I chatted with him for a minute before we started. From that point, the morning actually went really well by myself. Lunch time was an about-face.

Brody and Kyle were slow coming up to the office, and Kyle didn’t want La Chiquita, so I took the opportunity to skip as well while Brody caught up with the others. Instead, I ate an apple and chatted with Tammy at the shop until people started showing back up. Gary was the only one to ever come back, and it took me a while to find anyone else. I had to go back to the high school anyway, so I could unload the old computers from the cart I borrowed.

I finally found Brody, Jacob, and Kyle trying to pull a bunch of network lines to the old journalism room, and I caught them just as they discovered that three of their eight boxes of cable were not long enough for the run. The excuse was that they checked the length of available cable in the boxes, but not the actual length of the physical run. Frustration mounted as we finished that run, and then tried to wrangle up more boxes of cable to make another run. In the end, we decided to wait for a new delivery of cable, and I sent everyone to work on inventory for the rest of the day.

I went back to the shop and just announced very loudly outside the offices of the holy trinity that I needed a safe space where the republicans couldn’t get to me. Thomas jokingly called out to me, and I took his leave to cry exasperatedly at him about my experience with the crew. Zach came around the corner and joined in on the conversation, and we set forth a plan to grow from the experience. I spent the rest of the day hooking up a new-to-me desktop in place of my frustrating laptop.

Summer said Autumn was cooking dinner, so I went home to change before heading up. I was already emotional from the day, on top of being ignored as a parental figure yesterday, so I fell apart once I got there. I took Summer aside to talk to her, and found no comfort. I finally came out to the dinner table and started the uncomfortable conversation about whether I improved any of their lives. I knew what Autumn’s answer would be, but as usual she fell silent when confronted. Eaddie wasn’t any comfort either, but at least backed me up when I called them out for bad vibes. It took a couple of hours of talking, but we finally dug deep enough to find the root of some of the issues, and hopefully the growing and learning will continue with some action.

Obvious Protip: Don’t vent to the children.

Uncategorised

Sangwiches

It was too hot to go to work without air conditioning today, so I drove in. Most of the guys were sent to do inventory at another building, so I stuck around to image more computers for the new high school lab. It wasn’t too long before the eSCO guys showed up to haul off some garbage, so Thomas, Zach, and I went outside to help load them up. I got super hot and had to pace myself, so by the end of it I was dripping wet with sweat.

The crew showed back up around lunch time, and five of us went to Slim Chickens. I tried their buffalo chicken sandwich, which was good, if not small. Then I did everyone’s receipt surveys to get them all a bunch of free brownies. I got lucky spinning the wheel, and got a strawberry cheesecake jar dessert.

Somehow we convinced Thomas to call it an early day, so shortly after we got back from lunch, we started drawing numbers. After about half of the crew was gone, it was down to Greg, Jacob, and me. Our numbers were all really close together, and mine was in the middle, which meant both of them had way better odds of going home. Thomas kept asking if we wanted to change our numbers, but I refused. When it came time to draw, the random number generator rolled my exact number, so I beat the other two out.

I headed home and wanted to swim, but Eaddie didn’t want to get out of the house. I fought sleep for a little while, and eventually made it up to Summer’s after picking up some Wendy’s for Eaddie. I made a leftover burger while I was up there, and then Eaddie and I came back to my house for a late night of Stranger Things.

We watched two episodes before she started fussing about being hungry again, so we left the house to find something quick to eat. Everything was closed at 10, so we ended up at the McDonald’s drive-through with a bunch of teenage hooligans. It took way too long, but we got a burger for Eaddie and headed back home to try and finish the season.

We got a little over halfway through the last episode before Eaddie and I were both ready to fall asleep, so I tucked her in and we both crashed after a long day.

Too Frosty.

Uncategorised

Language!

I went in on the Grom today, and I could tell it was going to be a hot day by how bright it was. We had a little meeting, and then Thomas asked for help cleaning up the shop talk. I was left alone to manufacture flash drives all day, but I kept running into errors on my laptop. Fortunately I had my new Windows 11 desktop ready to pump some out.

Zach wanted to split lunch into two groups today just in case our FedEx truck showed up. I went with him, Greg, and Thomas to Brangus at noon, and the truck showed up right after I got back. I got to take the forklift out again, which is always fun. Then the guys took everything downstairs to try and image.

We haven’t purchased Bytespeed computers since before I started, so I figured this was going to be a struggle. To my surprise, they actually imaged with the drivers we already had loaded, so it wasn’t too much extra work. The only trick was to use the manufacture date in place of the serial number when setting the hostnames.

At the end of the day, I chatted with Thomas for a bit about the school board, and he invited me to come hang out in the sound booth with him any time. I think that will be a good way to get my feet wet without sitting awkwardly in the crowd.

I sat down for a bit when I got home before calling Eaddie to see if she wanted to swim. I thought Summer and Autumn were in Conway, so I wanted to give her a chance to get out of the house. Evidently Summer had just left to take Autumn to karate and then hit the gym, but to my surprise, Eaddie actually wanted to swim. We headed to my parents’ house and jumped straight into the pool. The water felt great, and we swam around and chatted for quite a while.

When we got out, Mom offered some leftovers and Eaddie decided on some shrimp and sweet potato fritters. I cleaned up some old beef and rice, and then we headed back home. Eaddie wanted a strawberry Frosty, but Wendy’s said they were out. We ended up going back to an ice cream truck by the railroad tracks. I got a strawberry pineapple Dole Whip, and paid an arm and a leg for it.

Back at the house, Autumn was sat in front of the TV while Summer cleaned up for bed. The girls watched YouTube while I caught up with Summer, and then everyone was off to bed.

IT’S PIKACHU!!!

Uncategorised

7 to 11

It wasn’t miserably hot today, so I took the Shadow to work. I got to work on my own projects again, which mainly consisted of testing imaging in the morning, along with applying OS updates. It made for a really quiet day by myself.

Gary and Greg came back and said they were going to Johnny’s for lunch, so I opted out. Rather than spend money on something I dislike, I cleaned some junk that people had forgotten in the fridge, and chewed on ice all afternoon. I don’t know what’s been driving that craving, but I just can’t seem to get enough.

The afternoon was more of the same, and I eventually turned into a flash drive manufacturer. Aside from that, Thomas turned on a scrap netbook that I brought back to the shop that had Windows 7 on it, and I pulled out an old desktop that would run Windows 11 since my laptop frustrated me the entire day.

After work, I went home to change before going to dinner at my parents’ house. I thought the girls were coming over to eat and swim as well, but they didn’t. I rode the bike over, ate, sat around for a little while, and then rode up to see the girls for a little bit before returning home for the evening.

I remember microwave popcorn being better than that.

Uncategorised

Dentology

I knew I had to take the girls to the orthodontist this afternoon, but I nearly spaced and took the bike to work this morning. I caught myself on the way out and took the Murano instead, but it wouldn’t have been a bad day for a ride. We had a short meeting, and then I was mostly left alone to do my own thing. Gary had me update SCCM, which was a relatively easy, but long process that took me all morning to complete.

The guys went to Taco John’s and invited me along, but I was on the fence anyway, and then traffic didn’t allow me into the right lane to make the turn, so I headed on up to Summer’s instead. The girls were up but sedentary. I warmed up some leftover Mexican chicken casserole for lunch, and then we left for Dr. K’s.

When we got there, the doors were locked for lunch time, so we waited under the shade of a nearby bushy tree. It seemed a little silly to see so many people waiting outside the door in the heat, but I guess they’ve gotta eat too. Autumn filled out some paperwork while Eaddie went back. Then she wanted me to go back with her for the consult. Autumn really wants braces, but Invisalign is about 400 bucks cheaper. Evidently they don’t have insurance to cover anything, so I don’t know why Summer’s trying so hard to spend money on the kid that’s giving us so much trouble.

After the girls finished, we went to my house so I could change out of my work jeans into some shorts, then headed back up to their house until Eaddie’s flute lesson. They watched Stranger Things for a little while, and I baked the Surfer Boy branded pizza we got for them. Then Autumn took a nap while Eaddie painted. When it was time to leave again, Autumn pitched an absolute fit about being woken up, and was super bitchy for about two hours.

We dropped Eaddie off for her lesson and then went to my parents’ house for half an hour. Eaddie finished up after about 45 minutes, and I took them straight to karate. They had both started to get moody, so I decided to go in to watch them for the hour. They begrudgingly worked out together, and flailed their limbs around loosely the entire time. On the way home, Autumn wanted to get some sour cream for barbecue nachos, but then went straight to the Takis and Dr. Pepper. I didn’t have the energy to fight her there, so I got the corn chips we really needed, and we continued home.

It was a little late, but I wanted to eat a little bit for dinner. Then I had to threaten to take her snacks before Autumn made herself the tiniest plate of smoked pork and shredded cheese I had ever seen. She didn’t even open the sour cream she begged for. After she ate, I made her clean the kitchen while Eaddie cleaned her room. Then I killed time until Summer got home super late. She went straight to bed, and I played Puzzle Quest on my phone all night.

…but I’m a creep…

Uncategorised

and Friends

I hardly slept last night. It was hot and humid all day. There were a couple projects going on, but Gary just had me take care of some work orders that had come to him over his long weekend. It was just more time rubbing shoulders with people I don’t normally see, which was fine by me. There wasn’t actually anything difficult, so though it was an active day, it was still really relaxed. I did learn that two of our Mac users were basically only using Apple computers because that’s what they were given, but that they prefer Windows. It is absolutely Jeff’s doing, and I can’t stand it when people make ignorant and irresponsible decisions like that.

I didn’t take a lunch, and had half a Soylent instead. It was just as well, because near the end of the hour, we had a truck with four pallets of Chromebooks arrive. Luckily I had easy access to the forklift, and though Chris said it wasn’t running well, I didn’t have any trouble with it. Once the guys got back from lunch, Zach pulled the truck around and I loaded them up for delivery to the middle school. That meant I had to babysit the second pair of pallets until they came back for them, but Thomas came back from lunch and kept me company.

The afternoon was more of the same until it was time to go. I was hungry by then, so I went home to change, dropped a package off at Walgreens and picked up a Nitro Pepsi, and headed up to Summer’s. The nitrogenated vanilla Pepsi was smooth and creamy, but felt more flat than anything else. I don’t think I’d recommend it. Since it didn’t have any spike to it, I had the can down by the time I made it up the hill.

Noah was there, and watching Stranger Things with Eaddie. I offered to warm up some dinner for them, but they didn’t want any. I made myself a barbecue sandwich and ate, then sat down to watch TV with them. Eaddie asked me at least half a dozen times if I was staying, and then specifically said she didn’t want me to, so I went home, cleaned some algae out of my nano aquarium, watched the episode they started without me, and then went to bed after a Duo call with Summer.

and Godzooooky.

Uncategorised

Just for Kicks

I got up and made some fancy bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits from leftovers this morning. Then I went home to clean up and pack a bunch of camp chairs for Summer’s company picnic in Little Rock. We left early so we could spend a little extra time there. I got us last-minute tickets to see Jurassic World: Dominion at the IMAX, but the kids weren’t super excited for it. They argued that they hadn’t seen any of the others, but we actually saw the last one at an IMAX in Illinois.

We stopped in Conway first for some lunch because they were hungry. We tried going to Raising Cain’s, but that place was absolutely packed without an open seat in the house. From there, we drove across the street to Chipotle. Eaddie seemed most confused by their ordering process for some reason, but we made it through. Summer and I just split a burrito.

The last stretch of the drive was uneventful, and we made it to the theater and through the concessions line just in time to catch the trailers. They were super busy, and I didn’t realize it was opening weekend. I was pretty annoyed by all the chatter and noise around us, but the speakers were cranked up so high that you couldn’t hear much else. I was a bit disappointed in the movie myself, but I think all of them after the first one were kind of campy. The girls enjoyed it though, and it clearly wasn’t an issue that they hadn’t seen all of the prior films.

After the movie, we had just enough time to make it across to North Little Rock for the Splash company picnic at the Lakewood Properties park. It was nice and windy there, and the tree cover made the heat and humidity bearable. We found a box turtle, and Autumn immediately pulled it out of its hiding spot and carried it around the park while Summer and Eaddie played cornhole. I brought a biplane kite and put it together, but nobody else was really interested in that.

The girls got food, but I was still stuffed from lunch. I didn’t even eat any popcorn during the movie. Afterward, Eaddie said she wanted to fly the kite, but then didn’t follow me out into the opening. She and Summer took off in the opposite direction, leaving me standing there alone on the hill. My aggravations grew when I found them alone at some swings, way away from everyone else. I was happy to make an appearance with Summer, but it was hot and they kept leaving me alone. I felt like we were only there because she had to make an appearance as a part of the management team, but then she wasn’t even mingling.

Fortunately, they started a big kickball game going, which drew everyone together. I was surprised that Eaddie didn’t play, but Autumn did. I was proud of her for jumping in though. I sat at the top of the bleachers because I was sweating enough just sitting there. After a while, Eaddie came up and wanted to get a snowcone, so we walked back up the hill for that. I was sat weird on the bleachers, and also super dehydrated from the heat, so my legs cramped up immediately.

I didn’t even make it back down the hill by the time the game was over, so the girls came back up and played a little basketball before we headed home. On the way out, we took pans of smoked pork, potato salad, and coleslaw for later. The drive home was quiet and felt a little tense, as Summer had been quiet all day. We made it home, I played Tetris to get everything into the refrigerator, and the usual suspects made it to bed. I got there eventually.

It’s always work if you’re a leader.

Uncategorised

How to Tell if You’re in a Cult

A bunch of water had collected in the trunk of my car this morning, and sloshed around on my way to work. Fortunately it didn’t damage my headliner, or seemingly get on it at all. I couldn’t tell where it was actually coming in though, so I guess I’ll have to pour water on it with a hose.

Jacob and I continued with inventory today, which made the day go by quickly, if nothing else. He didn’t want to reset iPads, and I didn’t want to do inventory, so we just split up this time, and I slowly went room to room with earbuds in. We made it back to the shop just a bit before lunch, and Tammy started talking about everyone having to clean out their work spaces to create more separation between our work life and home life. I was absolutely triggered at the thought of having to take all of my shit home, so I was riled up the rest of the day.

Nobody had any idea what to eat, so I suggested Chick O’Fish, since it was something new. When we got there, the menu TVs weren’t quite working right. I hate that places are starting to use more animated menus that flip to a different screen while I’m reading them. The next thing I noticed was that they appeared to have the same menu as Sam’s Southern Eatery, down to Sam’s Special. That’s when one of the girls behind the counter piped up and said that they were identical, with the same owners and everything. What made even less sense was that they were also trying to have table service in that tiny building, rather than let people order from the counter. That would have made it much easier.

After lunch, Jacob and I finished at Oakland. We got done about an hour before quitting time and made it back to the shop, but then Thomas cut us loose. I went home and tried to investigate my leaky car, but got nowhere. I fought sleep for a while, and cleaned up a couple aquarium hoods before Summer told me we no longer had a buyer for the 55 gallon tank.

Eventually I headed up to their house for the evening. I stopped at McDonald’s to spend some expiring rewards points on some fries, got gas, and then made it up in time for everyone to already be in their bedrooms. I was concerned about the water in the succulent pots, so I repotted everything and then wound down for bed.

Somebody drank all of the Kool-Aid…