J. Palmer

Long time, no write.

I’m not really sure how long it’s been since I’ve written anything–maybe a week or two.  That’s not because I haven’t had anything to write about–I have–I’ve just not had much time to sit down and write, though I wouldn’t necessarily say that I’ve been too busy; I’ve just been focused on other things. One of the most recent things that I’ve had stealing my focus away is what I’m using to write this entry–a “new” laptop!

My parents came over the other day, as I *finally* found some time available to help my dad out with an issue he had with his van. For the past few months–maybe longer–dad’s been waiting for me to be available to change a plug, because it would be a total pain in the ass for him to attempt to do so–the joys of vans with recessed engine compartments. Anyway, when they came, they brought a gift from my sister–an old ThinkPad she was no longer using. This is now the newest computer I own, lol.

I really haven’t done much to the laptop, other than set up an account, install a few packages, and introduce it to the home network. It came with Mint installed and I decided to keep it, since I’m familiar, and I’m already a fan of Debian derivatives. The only “work” I had to do was drop into a root shell, reset her password and then use that account to create mine; then I killed that account and reset mine to the newly freed user and group id.

Other than laptop things, I toyed around with some cheap junk I got from Ali. I picked up a couple of flash drives, and neither one worked as expected, which I guess is really what should have been expected. One drive is “damaged” according to F3–it won’t allow anything to happen other than attempts at creating partitions; the other has an identity crisis–it’s an 8GB drive that thinks it’s a terabyte. Sadly, I’d hoped that maybe I could use that fake one for the Wii, but where it turned out to be only 8GB it’s not useful for much of anything other than sneaker-net use.

I did, however, manage to recover data from one of the previous drives I was using on the Wii, so I don’t need to re-download anything whenever I do finally get a drive for it. Hopefully, whenever that happens, the kids will keep calm and stop tripping over or yanking controllers around, as I will most likely get yet another spinning disk as a replacement instead of something solid state. Yes, I said yanking and tripping over cords–the kids have preferences for games that take advantage of the GameCube controllers, though there are a few they do like that use the Wii-motes.

*sigh*

Well, I guess it’s time for work. Maybe I’ll come back later today and write some more.

I need to find something else to say besides, “I can’t think of anything to write.”

I ordered some random cheap crap from AliExpress last night. What had happened was I decided to redeem some Lucky Strike rewards I had collected for a $10 debit card; I discovered soon thereafter that I couldn’t use that card in the ways I was hoping–which was to apply it to either my PayPal or OnePay balance for other silliness. Since I couldn’t do either of those things, I decided wasting it on cheap Chinese crap was the way to go. So, now I’ve got a couple of flash drives, an SSD and a little radio kit on the way. The SSD–if it works–will become external storage for the Wii; the flash drives will find some sort of random use. The radio will be gifted to Ashlee, as it’s supposed to be a shortwave receiver–and shortwave listening is a hobby I got her interested in.

There’s something about these late spring mornings that just pull at me and make me want to stay home and enjoy the day. I really don’t want to go to work and waste such a beautiful morning.

I managed to wake fairly early this morning, though I’m still not quite feeling all that awake. I have that slight hungover sort of feeling going on in my body, though I hadn’t a single drop to drink. I’m guessing it’s just various aches and pains brought about by having spent most of the day outside yesterday and not staying hydrated well enough. It’s quite likely that it is also due to the house growing fairly cold overnight, and my not sleeping too well, as I also get this feeling when I’ve gone camping. The general body aches are slowly melting away as I sit here; the sinus related pains and muscular tension in my neck is fading at an even slower pace.

The yard has been mowed, and a fence finished enough to have turned the dog loose in the yard last night. Sophie is still running around the backyard this morning; I wonder how long it will be before she finds another way to escape.

There are several birds chirping this morning.

Dean is the only child awake and moving, thus far. Currently he’s in the living room with a bowl of raisin bran.

Facebook decided to notify me of a Harrison County Schools post from a few weeks ago; I need to remember that there was no school a few Tuesdays ago. Facebook is useless. I swear, I remember notifications being more timely and relevant; I guess switching to a model where the system sees that a random “popular” post has not reached a particular user’s eyes has ruined that.

I’m failing on my wishes to quit smoking.

I have a bit more yardwork that I hope I might be able to get to tonight, after Ashlee leaves for work. I need to tackle the patio, clean up the back porch, and do a bit more trimming around the house. I also need to attend to the kitchen drainage line, which will be a rather funky task. I need to think of how and where I am relocating the clothesline.

The kids seem to be adjusting to the “no screen summer” thing that Ashlee and I are trying to enforce. Well, the two youngest, anyway; Violet, of course, is still burying her face in pixels in her room. Dean and Rhiannon have been playing a bit more with toys and such around the house and yard. It’s only been a few days, however; the true test begins today, with Ashlee and I returning to work. I guess the real test, though, begins tomorrow–now that I think of it–as tomorrow will be Ashlee’s first day of attempting to find sleep after having put in a night’s work.

It’s about time to leave for work. The majority of my morning fogginess has gone away, and my body is moving and operating at a much better level than it first was when I woke. The sinus and muscle pain I’d felt is nearly gone, as well.

I still don’t want to go to work.

I’m waking up later than I intended to this morning, which is on par with what has already taken place thus far, this weekend; I am, however, up and moving a bit earlier than yesterday.

Yesterday didn’t quite go as planned, with my waking so late–and then the mower crapping out on me. We bought another old mower, thanks to the one we had dying.

Ugh. I’m still too foggy to write.

Dean is rocking out to “Burning Down the House”.

Rhiannon is eating raisin bran.

I have no idea what Violet is doing.

Nivea is supplying Dean with the tunes; she’s in bed with her phone, while Dean is in the kitchen with a Bluetooth speaker.

Ashlee is still sleeping.

I need to finish waking up and get moving. There’s still so much stuff to do.

I, unfortunately, overslept this morning, so I don’t have really any time to write anything. And I never found time to do any writing last night. Whenever I get a chance to revisit my thoughts from the night before things are going to be fuzzy in detail or not feeling quite as important. That sucks.

So, today is Memorial Day. I have thoughts that I could write about that, too, if I only had time.

Ashlee said she’s like 98% certain that she’s going to turn down the Seasonal Team Lead position if it gets offered. The biggest part of that decision, she says, comes from the thought of how nice it is that we finally have days that mesh, and that those days are weekend days–so not only are her and I able to spend time together, but we can spend time together as a family on days that are typically set aside for family activities.

The clock is telling me I should get ready to move, and I’m like, “I still haven’t had my second cup of coffee, yet.”