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I gratefully got out of work early on Friday and headed down to visit my folks. My dad was already home, but mom had to work late that evening. I noticed that she had a package from Crocs on the doorstep as I came in and an opportunity presented itself.

I opened up the package, took the croc sandals out and put them in a carboard box – then taped it shut and wrapped it. Dad saved the packing slip and I put the box on the table, but didn’t say anything about it to mom when she got home. After a while, I brought it over to where she was sitting and told her I had a present for her.

She got a puzzled look on her face and asked what it was for. I told her “it was just because I loved her”. Still puzzled, she unwrapped the box and opened it to see the crocs. She was now even more puzzled and told her “I saw these and thought they would look great on you,”

These were, of course, the very crocs she had ordered for herself only a few days before and I finally admitted what I’d done. It was a lot of work, but well worth the effort. Both my parents thought it was great. 🙂

On Saturday, we headed over to see my sister, brother-in-law, and niece to meet the newest addition to their family. The new baby was very sweet and adorable and her big sister is old enough to carry on conversations and stay focused on what she is doing. In their own ways, both were great to be around. My sister is doing well, though still sore and not getting much sleep.

One of their friends needed some help done at her new place and my dad and I joined my brother-in-law to help. Our task was to convert a bed with box springs into a platform bed that didn’t need them. We used a piece of composite board to make a platform and had to make several trips up and down stairs until we had all the cuts right.

Back to my sister’s for clean shirts (it was really hot outside and at the apartment) and a walk in woods with the older niece before dinner – then more toddler and baby time until we had leave.

My folks are at church this morning and we’ll spend day together when they get home. Not sure if we’ll visit my sister again this weekend. I’m taking tomorrow off and buying a car on my way back home – looking forward to that, but already missing my current car. I’ve already cleaned it out and everything is in a crate (maps, manual, jumper cables, etc). Feels like I’m moving again.

Got some paperwork to do this morning while things are quiet – best get to that.

One of the techs figured out what was wrong with my password yesterday.  About a year ago, I had been working with a user that was unable to log into our systems remotely.  The computer he was using had the Slovenian language pack enabled and I replicated that on my machine as a test.  I undid all those setting when I was done, but apparently this were still set in the default profile.    When my password wasn’t working, I was actually in the default profile and the keys I was typing in for the password were getting changed by the language pack.  The tech that had been trying this had a password that wasn’t affected by this and my ID wasn’t showing a change – just when I typed the password (which I of course couldn’t see)

We finally got it sorted out and I got some recommendations for an upgrade out of the deal as well.  So very frustrating – especially since I could log in exactly the same way on another machine with success.

While literally doing the work of three people yesterday, I got a call from the Ladies from New York.  The younger of the two – relatively speaking – had recently had eye surgery and was unable to drive.  She asked if I would take them grocery shopping.  So, I headed over and picked them up around 6, took them to giant eagle where they bought enough food for maybe 2 meals, then took them back.  Must be a New York thing.  The younger complained about the heat – her mother wore a sweater.    I wish that their family took a more active interest in what they are doing, but I don’t mind the quiet bemusement I get when I help them out.

After work – but before the grocery trip – I invited our departments student assistant to join me for a swim.  It had been a long time since he had gone swimming as exercise and he was looking forward to it.   I figured that he would be faster than me on the first lap since I pace myself, but that in the long run I would outlast him.

Well, I hydroplaned past him on the first lap and he had to stop and rest for a bit.  He got in about another 1/2 lap and then got out of the pool.   I did 10 laps (with the long lane configuration) and got out of the pool to find him.  He was laying on one of the benches – sound asleep.  I woke him up and we headed out.

It totally wasn’t fair – of course.  I’ve been swimming for years and several times a week.  I’ve got my form down and my breathing and I know how much I can push myself.    So, I kinda felt bad for him – having been there at one time.  On the other hand – it was freaking awesome to out-swim a college-aged guy.  I may be almost 40, but I still kick ass in the pool.

I got a notice that I needed to change my main password at work and though I dreaded it, I started the process.  The password gets changed online, then I have to sync the password with the encryption on my desktop, then with windows.   This has never gone well for me.

This time, it failed worse than usual and I was totally locked out.  I called the support desk and patiently went through again all the steps I had already tried.  At their direction I rebooted again and they decided to open a ticket to get a tech over to look at it.

Side notes:

1. I dunno why I need to have my hard-drive encrypted.  My desk is the furthest from any door and I’m not even allowed to have any kind of sensitive data on there.  It’s always a pain in the ass.

2. Rebooting works far more frequently than us geeks would like to admit.  It never sits well with us when that is the best solution.

So, the tech comes over and we try changing the password again.  Still no good. Neither the old password, the new password, or the new-new password will let me into windows.  He can log in, but when he does, IE opens up in Russian.

Finally, I have them watch as I log into a laptop successfully – then type that same damn password on my machine and fail.  This was after the tech had called another guy over and he got stumped too.

It was time to leave for the day so we just shut it down and they promised to come back tomorrow.  If we can’t get it soon, I’m going to back up my files and have them install a new operating system on there.  Very frustrating since before I tried to change the password I was doing the work of three people and getting a lot of stuff done.

As a further side note, I asked my boss today about our evaluations  – since they are due soon – and he expressed some concern about the forms and their usefulness at gauging our performance.  He said that he needed a box on there for my evaluation that said, “Busts his ass all the time and gets everything done that he needs to”

So, I took that as a compliment and thanked him.   Hope I can get logged in tomorrow, I’ve still got way to much to do and would like to leave early on Friday.

So, this past weekend I got invited to an art festival.  The day was really nice and we wandered around the booths for quite a while.  There were a lot of photographers and jewelry makers – and a few that worked in glass – but I didn’t really see anything that a). caught my eye & b). that I could afford.  Still, it was nice to get out and see some cool artwork.

After the festival, my friends and I headed to the west Market street Chipotle.  And once again, the wizards at this Chipotle created an amazingly perfect burrito.  I dunno how they make it so much better than any other Chipotle, but they do.  And it was full-on awesome.

After dinner, we went back to the festival for ballet in the park.  This was my first ballet and while I don’t think I really got it, I enjoyed it.   Some parts were a little boring or repetitive, but the scene from the Dracula ballet was impressive and the ending number had some really amazing moments.  I don’t think I’m a ballet kind of guy – not enough explosions – it was still fun.

On the downside, I got eaten alive by mosquitoes.  I’ve determined that I must be delicious.

My new baby niece was born yesterday – 7lbs, 14oz, 20.5 inches.   She’s got a full head of hair and my sister reports that the newest member of the family is eating well and pooping well.  And since that’s all a baby really has to do, she’s doing a job well done.

I asked my mom if she was “super duper excited” or “super duper awesome excited”.  She said she was Super Duper Awesome Excited.  🙂

My first niece is doing well too – she’s pretty excited about her new baby sister and I know she’ll do a great job with her.

I’m looking forward to making the trip to visit them this coming weekend – it will be great to see everyone and to meet the little one.

I was driving to work yesterday and it’s pretty much a straight shot directly to campus on one road with many side streets and a few traffic lights.    I noticed a police car with the sirens going as he came towards me.  I slowed and prepared to stop – the police car turned down one of the side streets.  Then I noticed that another police car was right behind them and turned down the same street – sirens blaring.

Then I noticed lights in my rearview mirror and saw another police car behind me.  I stayed slowed down expecting him to pass me – then he also turned down a side street, though not the same one as the others.

Next, two more police cars ahead of me turning down side streets.

Then I heard a series of loud popping noises.

Then another police car  – this one racing directly across my path, headed in the same general direction as the others.  As I got a little closer to campus, a police van with sirens going roared past me.

I checked the newspaper online today and got the full story.  Turns out it was a low speed chase and the suspect stopped the car, tried to run, pulled a gun and was shot by police officers.   Tragic, scary, and a little too close to home. The owner of the property said that the neighborhood is normally very quite and peaceful  – so, I guess that’s something.  Still…

Full story from the Akron Beacon Journal

I got a text message from my sister yesterday.  This started to load as a picture message and since my sister is very pregnant, my first thought was that she had gone into labor and had the baby before she had a chance to contact me to say it was happening.   The picture wouldn’t load, so I excitedly read the text.  She said that my 2.5 year old niece “had gone poopy on the potty” and was very happy about that.  I was then less looking forward to an image and glad that nothing loaded.  I called my sister and got the scoop.  Nope, she hadn’t gone into labor and no, there wasn’t a photo of poop – though my niece was very proud of herself.   My sister and I had a good laugh and I’m looking forward to the “gone into labor” call or text soon.

I got asked to help baby-sit a three year last evening.  My friend and I ganged up the little dude and managed to keep this very hyper kid entertained/ occupied while his parents were out to dinner.

We had pizza shortly after his folks left and we all helped clear the table.  Next up, building a lego fire truck that I had brought for him.  At one point the directions called for flipping the lego pieces over and I joked that maybe he should be the one to be flipped over.  He laughed out loud at my silly suggestion and protested, “No, I’m not a fire truck, I’m a boy!”

After the fire truck was put together we worked on a lego helicopter that he had – and he called a hopper-copter – then there were a series of helicopter, fire truck and robot related adventures in the living room.

For the record, the blue robot got named after him.  The pinkish-purple girl robot in a skirt got named after me.  My friend, who provided the robots to begin with, escaped any robot naming shame.

Next up was a trip to my friend’s house to hang out with his dogs.  There was a lot of jumping and running around, but everyone escaped unharmed.  Back to the kids house so he could change into his pajamas and then he and I played lego Star Wars for a bit before it was time for stories and bed.  His parents came home just before he went to sleep and we de-briefed them before we left.   Lots of fun, but wow, I was exhausted when we were done.

As always, I remain impressed and respectful of the great job my sister and brother-in-law are doing with my niece.  I watched this one kid – with help -for three hours and was ready to drop.  I dunno how they do, but I’m impressed.

I was driving recently and noted that the truck in front of me had a license plate that read:

UR A 2L

Which I would translate as “you are a tool”

Really?  What kind of a person must this be to broadcast that kind of attitude 24/7?  And to go to the trouble of a personalized plate.  And the arrogance  – I’m guessing – that they themselves are the only non-tool in a sea of tools.  I wonder how much road rage they have generated?  I wasn’t enraged myself, but a little offended once I had translated the letters.

In other news… I helped one of my neighbors get tags for his dogs.  He was a little delayed in getting the license for them and I went with him to get the actual tags for their collars.   We went into Pet Supplies Plus and right over to the tag kiosk where a woman was standing in front of the machine  – chatting with two other women.  We waited patiently and I noticed that there was a screen saver running on the machine.   I gave her about 30 seconds, then approached.

“Excuse me,” I said, “Are you using this machine?”

“Yes,” she lied, “And you need a code to use it,”

So, we went over to the cash register and my friend bought the tags for the dogs.  We went back over to the machine where the woman was now finished with her conversation and was just getting started on the machine.  We waited while she took two phone calls (to determine what address to put on the tags) as she keyed in the information.  Suddenly she stopped and turned to us with a panicked look on her face.

“I need help,” she said, “Which lettering should I use?”

Now, let’s pause for a moment and reflect.

1. Font choice is not something to panic over.
2. As a web developer, I’m actually qualified to help in this regard, but she didn’t know that.
3. It really didn’t freaking matter what font she picked.  She named the dog Goober. The sooner the text on the tag wears off and the dog escapes – the better for the dog.

I picked the font on the far right because it was more readable and she moved on.  While the tag was being printed, she proceeded to strike up a conversation with us.  In the span of maybe 2 minutes she decided to tell us:

1. She had dumped her boyfriend and bought a $950 whippet.
2. She could have picked up the dog before now, but had been deployed and didn’t want the dog to have to stay at her mom’s
3. She would be picking up the dog on August 20th.

Before she left, she pointed out the code on the receipt – though this was a explained on the screen for us later – and proceeded on her merry, if slightly insane, way.

We got the tags done in record time and were out the door in less time than it took to finish her conversation while she was blocking using the machine.

What have we learned from all of this?

That license plate was meant for her.

On Friday night, I had dinner with some friends and neighbors.  We had pizza, chicken, and jo-jos.  And let me tell you, those were some dang good jo-jos.  I kept their little boy entertained with my video game prowess and we had a nice time just hanging out.  The little guy is on some allergy medicine that makes him very hyper as a side effect.  I felt bad for him – he was so excited about everything, but had just trouble staying focused.  And his mom was suffering some wear-and-tear as well – must be exhausting to try and keep up with him.   We finished up the evening with some gelato and called it a night.

Saturday went on a “pond tour” with a friend.  The tour spanned 3 counties and had all kinds of waterfalls, ponds, gardens, etc.  Some really nice work on several of them – though one had way too many gnomes.  I decided it looked like the end result of a hoarder who decided to put in a pond.

That evening, I met up with friends for dinner at PF Changs.  The restaurant was really cool and the food was excellent. And the company was a lot of fun.  We covered a lot of topics and really had a great conversation.  Hoping to hang out with this crew again soon.

Sunday morning I worked on the mint I had drying in my basement. I got all the leaves off the stems and sealed away in some tupperware – I’ll crush this a little better one of these days and get it ready to become tea.  I’ll do a test brew to make sure it’s good before I give any away – just in case.  Though, really, how can you screw up mint?

Went out to dinner on Sunday to Rockne’s and got wheat pasta, chicken, and broccoli  – and no sauce.  I cleared my plate on that one – really good.    And pretty healthy too.

Had a bit of a mild headache most of the weekend and it’s come back today.  Not bad, just enough to be noticeable and mildly annoying.  I took some advil this morning, but it hasn’t been able to kick it yet.

Also over the weekend I bought another wooden box.  I really enjoy containers in general and this was shaped a bit like a pyramid with the top cut off – and then inverted.  I don’t have anything in particular to put in it – it’s been added to my collection.

I’ve started to make the moves to replace my car.  I’d really rather not have to get a new one – I like my car pretty well – but the looming repair bills have me worried.  It was also really nice not having a car payment.

That’s it for the weekend.  My sister is due to have her second child any day now – looking forward to meeting the newest member of the family.

Here’s the breakdown of my afternoon yesterday.

3:59 I got a text as I was headed up campus to swim, but couldn’t read it because of the sun glare.  When I got the pool I read the message and saw that it was from my former co-worker – he was inviting me to dinner and asking if I would bring my external hard-drive to get the music he’d left behind on his work computer and that I had salvaged.

4:11 I sent him a text back asking when he wanted to meet, but didn’t get a response.  I changed clothes and hit the pool, thinking I could still get a quick swim before dinner, even without knowing the time.

4:32 20 laps done and back to the locker room to change.  No message yet.  Back to the office to pick up my iPad and then to my car to head home.  While I’m driving, I get a text saying 6:00 – easily do-able.

5:02 I’m home, changed clothes, picked up the drive and out the door again, heading down to Red Robin.  In route, I get another text saying 5:40 for the dinner time.  Since this is also a dinner to celebrate his wife’s birthday, I decided to stop first at a bookstore and get her a card.

5:25 I’m at the bookstore and pick out a card, a magazine, a comic book, and a book of short stories.

5:36 Checked out my purchase.

5:39 Back to my car and over to the restaurant.  I’m in the lobby with one minute to spare and text my friend letting him know I’ve arrived.  He responses that he’s getting close to the exit.

He and his family arrive and we have a nice dinner.  I stole a french fry from his wife – because that’s what I do – and we entertained and were entertained by his toddler.

He had forgotten his computer so I followed him over to his Mom’s house to use her computer as a temporary storage place for his music.  He starts copying the music over, then heads to the bathroom to “desecrate” it.  His wife is talking to her mother-in-law and with nothing to do I decide to keep track of their daughter.  I prevented her from eating magnets, stepping in the dog pee on the floor, playing with scissors, and climbing on anything. I eventually convinced her that finding Mommy would be a good idea and I was able to hand her off to her mom and grandmother.  Dog pee got cleaned up, music finished copying, and I was on my way and home by 7:30

I spent the rest of the evening playing video games and relaxing – trying to wind down from the afternoon.