Tag: work

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TV Is Not a Roman Numeral

I slept really hard, straight through the night again last night, and then woke up about five minutes before my alarm. I was feeling some Margaritaville, so I found a playlist of that name that gave me a weird mix of some classics and some more modern country. I thought Greg might say something, but he never did. In fact, he ended up leaving for a while. I mostly had the morning to myself, and dug into Cognos again so I could automate some data.

Nobody came around for lunch, so I just sat at my desk for a while until I decided to run through Sonic for some 99-cent cheese sticks. I thought the girls might want some, but they were both gone when I got back. I gave a couple orders to Greg though, and he was super excited about it.

Zach scheduled Brody, Josh, and Jacob to help me move two older touch panels at Oakland, and then hang two new ones in the old rooms, as well as replace an old SMART board with another new touch panel. We knew it was going to be an annoying job, but we didn’t realize how annoying. Every single room gave us issues, and Zach ended up sending Greg to help.

The first room should have been an easy SMART board swap, but they used half-width cinderblocks that were too thin to allow toggle bolts to expand. The next two rooms had every-other column of the block wall filled with cement, so we couldn’t get toggles into the brick. The two new small rooms had their own issues. The wall between then was really thin, so Brody blew out the back side of the cinderblock in one room. Then the last room was a mount on drywall. Greg ended up just mounting it to two studs with a couple of bolts we had to tighten with an actual wrench.

Greg, Brody, and I worked a little late to finish up, but we got it all done aside from the wiring. That would end up being a problem for Future Me. I headed home to get the wall charger that had just been delivered, then changed to head up to Summer’s pretty immediately. She had been running around with the kids most of the day, since Autumn had her heart checked and Eaddie needed to see someone about the blisters she got from the bugs. While home, she made a corned beef for dinner that the three of us slurped right up.

Autumn was out doing something, followed by some tutoring with Jennifer at the city mall. She came home in good spirits though, and it was overall a really quiet night. I’ve constantly felt like I’ve just been juggling a ton of different things at once, and I think it’s just the time of year. Starting school is always crazy, but it just usually seems more crazy before school actually starts.

It’s happening…!

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Impromptumus Prime

I slept really well last night, but that meant I really didn’t want to get out of bed. I was a couple minutes late, but spent the first several minutes just untangling mice anyway. I thought I would spend the first part of my morning closing things out at Oakland, but I kept getting dragged into other things that nearly ate up the entire first half of my day. I did eventually get over to my building, but ended up having to go back after lunch anyway.

Several of us went to Quiznos, where we ran into Heather and who was apparently her newest baby daddy. I thought she was married to some white hillbilly kid, so I assumed this was a new guy today. If I had known he was the crazy one, I totally would have antagonized her. Instead, we all just said a quick hello and continued through the ridiculously long line.

After lunch, I got some more random things done, including going back to Oakland. I just kept feeling super distracted, but thankfully Jacob has been diving right into anything we’ve given him access to. I ended up leaving work on time, but just went straight home to start some laundry.

I spent some more money on grill parts so I can put it together and get it out of the garage. My delivery date was moved back again, so there’s really no time to waste in cleaning out the garage. I ended up staying home for the evening, and just fought off mosquitos until bedtime.

Time to put those points to use!

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Driving Results

I had so much trouble sleeping last night because my mind just kept racing about anything that floated by. I dragged myself into work, but had trouble getting started on anything. Summer took Eaddie in for her second attempt at her driving test first thing this morning, and fortunately she passed. They relaxed a bit with some breakfast before coming to trade cars with me and taking Eaddie back to school.

The whole day seemed to go by pretty slowly. I had a light lunch for Taco Tuesday, and then I spent some time upstairs in the afternoon. At the end of the day, I went to the junior high to help Jacob hang a television, and then unloaded some tools back at the shop before making it home.

Summer had her big VIP night at the new Maumelle wash. The girls had band until super late. I just hung out at home by myself all evening. I left for some McDonald’s fries and a Zaxby’s sandwich, and both were pretty incredible. I got to McDonald’s just as a busload of mullet-bearing kids were leaving, so my fries were super fresh. The sandwich from Zaxby’s could have been the best fast food chicken sandwich if it only had some lettuce and tomato.

Eventually the girls came over so Autumn could get her car back and drop off the Montego. Eaddie was in a mood, and Autumn was painfully dehydrated. They didn’t stick around long. I got my new grill mostly unboxed, but I think the assembly will need a little more open space than I had available at the time, so I ended up leaving it to watch some YouTube videos on the assembly and mods. That turned into science videos, and ended with Tesla mods before bed.

You’ve got to be yoking.

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Smokin’ Hot Deal

I was on fire at work today. I closed out as many work orders as I could, and actually felt pretty accomplished by the end of the day. We didn’t catch a critter over the weekend, but I was glad we hadn’t caught one that ended up being stuck over the whole weekend in a tiny cage. Kyle was back after a week of COVID, and for some reason felt compelled to follow me into my office. Then Brody walked in right behind him, and they were both crowding me until I shooed them off.

I worked on a couple deployments, and even resolved a long-standing issue with some JROTC software. I really can’t imagine those kids learning 10 gigabytes of information all year, but that’s how big the software was. It was really quiet downstairs all day, so it really made it easy to get things done.

Zach came back to get me for lunch, and Gary took us to Slim Chickens. I was super disappointed in my chicken strips. One of them was smaller than my thumb, and I don’t even mean the back joint by my wrist. It was puny, and I was mad. I forgot that their gravy is awful too.

I tried going upstairs in the afternoon after school, but everybody I needed to see had disappeared for the day. I ended the day at Oakland to set up a new phone for their new resource officer. When I left for the day, almost on a whim, I texted Zach to see if he would help me get a grill home from Walmart.

I decided I really wanted the grill for its smart temperature range and oven-like convenience, and at less than half of retail it was probably the best price I was going to get on it. Summer’s grill, like her car, had rusted out and was very near the end of its life, so I figured I’d take her the dual-fuel grill I bought last year and keep the new charcoal smoker at my house. Zach met me there just in time to load it up, and boy was it heavy. I wished it had some handles or something, but we got it onto the ground as I poured sweat.

As soon as Autumn finished up at school, she brought Eaddie over and traded cars with me. Then Eaddie and I drove the driving test course a couple of times before heading up to their house. She had broken out pretty bad from the bug bites, but apparently Gavin was worse off and skipped school to get a steroid shot. I helped load her up on anything we could find to mitigate the itch, and then I headed to my parents’ house for some ribs Dad had just cooked.

After we ate, I ran by Kroger to see if they had any more of those ribs for 99 cents per pound. I picked up the limit of five, along with a half gallon of orange juice, and then tried to get over to Walgreens for my lisinopril refill. That was when I ran into Robin, who wanted to stop and chat about her big life drama. I learned a lot in a really short amount of time. I got out and rolled up to Walgreens just as my medication reminder rang at eight o’clock, which was evidently when they closed the pharmacy.

Eaddie had left her phone at my house earlier, so I ran home to get it, and then met up with the girls back at their house. Summer was busy doing more work stuff before a big couple of days away. Autumn had said she was going to the gym after dropping Eaddie off, but she really went to McDonald’s. Eaddie was still just miserably itchy, so we had her dope up on some diphenhydramine and go to bed. I tried not to stay up too late, but I just felt overstimulated most of the day. It must have been all the money I’ve been spending.

Dun dun…

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Down With OPWO

Thomas got us two dozen glazed donuts today instead of one being chocolate covered, which meant that we actually ate them all by the end of the day. We did a little training in the morning to teach everyone about the flow of data from our information systems, and it feels like about the fourth time I’ve been through that conversation.

We were all split up to work Kyle’s work orders again, and this time that included me. I was sent to Dwight, which wasn’t that bad, but again seemed like a bunch of really little stuff that he could have closed out if he’d just go to the actual room to see the teacher instead of waiting on responses in the work order system. I tried to be useful without stressing too much over how few of my own bigger projects I was completing.

I made it back in time for lunch, but it was only Zach, Brody, and myself since Gary was out. They wanted to go to Chick-fil-A, and I was game for a salad. I was surprised how run down the inside of the restaurant looked, especially considering how long they were closed due to COVID. They put a bunch of work into the drive-through, but the inside seemed very pieced-together. I also felt like my salad had shrunk, and if they had a self-service fountain, a lemonade would have made me much happier. Instead, I grabbed a peach milkshake on the way out.

I didn’t even get back out in the afternoon, because I had enough things to do from my office. I still feel like I spend about 60% of my day fighting the work order system, which is astoundingly frustrating. I wrapped up the day as the last one in the office, trying to get some help through chat for one of our systems. They kept trying to refer me to James, who hasn’t been in that role in over a year. I finally just left.

When I got home, I unwound with some Into the Breach until Summer got back to town and finished a workout. She wanted Stoby’s, so I met her there for dinner before heading up to her place. The girls had a football game, so they didn’t get home until really late. I was exhausted from the day and week, so I didn’t stay up long.

Did we just create a new timeline…?

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Make Work Count!

I woke up in the middle of an ocular migraine this morning, but fortunately that didn’t slow me down. I made it in to work a few minutes early and got right to it. Eventually I got around to making a cup of coffee, but when I brought it back to my desk and tried to dunk an old, stale donut into it, a piece fell into the cup and splashed coffee onto my desk mat. I rolled it out from underneath my keyboard and washed it the best I could in the sink, and then hung it up on my door to dry.

A while later, Thomas came into my office and asked me to count my phone calls since Monday. It wasn’t very accurate, but I added messages, texts, and emails to the list of things that required “non-trivial” amounts of work. It truly felt like I just couldn’t self-prioritize anything today.

Zach came and got me for lunch, and we went to Fat Daddy’s downtown. I tried their Thursday lunch special, which was a BLT with pulled pork. It was probably one of the better things I’ve had there, but I wished it had more bacon and less pulled pork.

After lunch, I got to spend some time at Oakland to close out some work orders. One of them got me a little heated, because she just bought her own computer and didn’t cancel the ticket, so all the time and effort I spent on it was completely wasted. I got out just before the kids were released, and ran into Robert and his tiny toddler for parent walkup.

The rest of the afternoon went by quietly, and I left a bit late so I could finish up one last project for the day. Summer beat me home with Chipotle, and we ate at my house before she headed home. I ended up following her after a while, and we called it an early night.

I can’t fix willful ignorance and a discernible lack of effort.

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Treading Water

Gary gave a bunch of his tickets to Greg and me this morning, so I spent all day working on those. First up was a bunch of stuff in the Transportation office, but afterward I did everything from my office. It was quiet, and would have been boring if not for all the questions I kept getting from the rest of the crew. It was nice to be needed, but it was also hard to get anything done.

Zach, Gary, and I went to CJ’s for a quick lunch, and then it was back to the shop. Jason came by for a GoGuardian demo, so I went up front just to say hello before hiding in the back again. It’s kind of that time of year when it just feels like we’re treading water.

I went home for just a little bit after work and played some Into the Breach until Summer called on her way home. She wanted to meet up at Linh’s, but I remembered that it was Wednesday and that they were closed. I met at her house instead, and just cleaned up a bunch of leftovers while she made an egg. The girls didn’t come out much, so I laid on the couch with Summer for a while, playing my game until it was time for bed.

Only a little delayed.

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We Do Not Speak of Tres

I didn’t sleep great last night, but I wasn’t nearly as cranky as the girl in front of me on the way to work. She flicked a cigarette butt out her window and slowed down to practically a stop before crossing the railroad tracks, and I guess she thought I was riding her tail, because she flipped me off. Then she flipped me off again and started screaming out her window at me when we were next to each other at the stoplight. She was amped up on something.

The workday started with running over to the new early childhood offices to hook up phones. Gary said he hooked phones up for them, but they told me yesterday that they didn’t have any. I should have just saved myself the trip and taken the phones over there to begin with, because apparently Gary was remembering the other end of the building. I had to run back a second time because not all of the lines were terminated, and Greg had to help me find one that wasn’t even hooked up at the switch. It was pretty frustrating at first, partly because of how hot and humid it was.

I never did catch anything in my critter traps either. I had the largest one set up in the front hallway with a couple sheets of paper with “Affirmation” and “Kindness” written on them. I honestly thought it would get more laughs, even if I couldn’t capture any kids’ hearts. I was just proud to put what I had learned in sensitivity training to work.

We went to Taco John’s, and I had a relatively light lunch. Then it was back to the grind in the afternoon. I went to Oakland to clean up a bunch more tickets, and I’ve still got more to go. I’m not happy about playing musical touch panels, but I’ll have to swap a couple 65-inch displays for 75, and then re-mount the 65s in a couple new rooms.

After work, I went straight to my parents’ house to drop off the largest trap, since I was pretty sure whatever we had wouldn’t trigger it. I ended up sticking around for some leftovers that they were trying to clean up. Then, almost on a whim, we discussed some of our future plans and my wanting to invest in my future. Summer’s car has been reliable, but finding a low tire yesterday really triggered me, on top of not wanting to drive it past the need for new tires in the first place. It’s just time to go, and we all agreed that it was time for something n3w.

I went home for the evening and finished up some really brief paperwork. Summer and I chatted for a little while, and then it was off to bed as early as I could.

haha yes

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I Smell a Rat

It was cooler and rainy today, so I went in with my hair down and did some quiet work in my office all morning. Evidently our rodent friend returned and ate through Gary’s backpack to find some crackers, so he put out some glue traps in the breakroom. I kept busy all morning, so lunch time was there before I knew it. Zach, Gary, Thomas, and I went to Sam’s for the first time in a while after Tammy suggested Chick O’ Fish. It really does seem to just depend on who’s cooking that day, because I got some decent sized fish, but the chicken was smaller than my jumbo shrimp.

After lunch, I finished up what I could in my office and then ended the day at Oakland to close out several tickets that had accumulated. I never got around to looking at any of Kyle’s tickets, but Greg and Zach did quite a few since he said he was out for the week with COVID. It definitely seems like it’s spreading quickly now that school is back in session, because Sheri said Steven was out as well.

I went home for a while after work and tinkered a bit before deciding to set up a live trap at the office. Evidently Dad bought a couple larger ones, so I took all four, from Mason jar, to full cat-sized. Once I had them set up at the shop, I headed on up to Summer’s for the evening, but kind of wished I had just gone home. I lose a minimum of an hour out of my day by doing that, and everyone was already in bed anyway. It was a little unfair how irritated it made me, but I should know better by now. I kept getting too distracted as I was leaving the house, so it was just too late by the time I got there. On top of all of that, I noticed that Summer’s rear driver-side tier was down to 15 pounds, so I’ll have to watch that to check for a leak. I think it’s time to pull the trigger.

It’s my turn.

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Synccess

I had some more ideas for the transportation software this morning, and it finally worked out. I took a trip to the bus shop and verified everything was working as it should, and finally wrapped up that day and a half of work. Lunch time came around pretty quickly, and Brody said the guys wanted Mulan’s. I really didn’t want another buffet, but I thought I could switch up my normal routine enough that I wouldn’t get sick from it.

I was shocked at how much better the food was at Mulan’s than New China. I had been favoring New China for a little while, but I think after the last few visits, I’m ready to switch back. The variety and freshness have just been better, and it feels like New China is just getting run down.

The afternoon was pretty quiet again, but I kept busy with other things people were sending me. When it was time to leave, I caught Zach and Gary talking outside, and Zach said he was going to Lowe’s to check out an alleged sale on lawn furniture that Brody told us about during our meeting. I decided to ride over with him, and his girls beat us there. We didn’t see much of interest, which wasn’t a huge surprise since Brody is like 90% hype and about 12% follow-through.

I rode on home for a little while, and got a message from Dad that he was going to go see the paramotoring guys again. I met them at the aquatic center just in time to see them take off. The new guy we met, Nathan, had an old gas-powered rig and took off with relative ease. Jim had his brand new electric one from OpenPPG, and seemed much more cautious about the wind direction. He did finally get off the ground and took off to the north, but he never gained much altitude. As he went down below some trees in the distance, I saw his wing collapse and heard a crash. Dad and I drove around to check on him, and he was walking around picking up the pieces. We felt terrible, but he refused any help, and Nathan eventually landed and came around to help.

We left from there, and I went up to Summer’s for the evening. She was just sitting down to watch The Devil Wears Prada on the recommendation of someone at work that likened their work relationship to theirs in the movie. I told Summer this wasn’t a good thing, and of course neither of us cared much for the movie. The girls left to pick up some Wendy’s while we watched the movie, and then everyone called it an early night.

Ptlblblb.