Subs for Dinner

I got to school every Thursday evening. So I don't eat dinner with the family. They take advantage of this and usually do not cook. They might eat some take out. On special weeks they go out. Today they went to a Japanese steak house. It was Little Kat's first time at this restaurant. He said it was a great time.

After school I was in the mood for some steak subs. I usually try to hurry home to watch Community with Momoko on TV. Ha ha. I come home from community college to watch a show about community college. I drove quite a ways to go to the good steak sub shop. This one costs more than Subway. But their food is much better too.

It was strange that they were busy so late at night. I think only one person was working at the store too. She was busy cooking up some orders when I arrived so I had to wait to place my order. Another customer pointed me to some coupons sitting on the trash can.

I grabbed a coupon and got a free fries and coke, a $3.19 value. Oh yeah. I did not worry about the store too much. They were still making money off me. I also go to them a lot, paying full price normally.

Networking Over Power Lines

We have a wireless router in the house. Most of our computers and electronic devices communicate wirelessly with this router. The connection is broadcast over the airwaves. So in general, there is no need to be connected to the box. However we have some computers that cannot communicate wirelessly. For example, Little Kat has an old Macintosh that has no wireless capability. And I have a work computer from my customer. They don't trust wireless communications for security purposes. Every day I run a network cable from this work computer to the router. Very tedious.

I wanted to move my work computer to the basement. The problem is that I need that physical network connection. I thought I could hire my handyman to somehow install some ports in the wall that would connect the two floors. That way I could connect my router to the wall, and my work computer to the wall on another level of the house, and still have them communicate. My handyman said he could do it for a couple hundred bucks. But he needed me to go buy the materials.

I went to Radio Shack as my handyman suggested. They did not have the ports for the walls. They referred me to Best Buy. After waiting in line to speak with the experts for a while, I once again explained my goals and asked if they had materials for my solution. Instead they sold me some devices that make a connection through the existing power lines in the house. Once little box connects to the router and a plug in the wall. Another box connects to a plug in the wall on another level of the house, then connects to my work computer. Bamm. This setup actually works.

To make the connection diagram even more complicated, Best Buy sold me an extra hub. That is a box that will sit in the basement and be connected to the little box which plugs into the wall. The hub can have many devices connected to it. They all get an effective connection to my router, and thus the Internet. Life is about to get real good in our house (at least for Internet connectivity). Little Kat has been waiting such a long time to get his old Mac on the Internet.

Surprise Changes

Momoko and Kit Kat had to deal with getting their cars serviced. So it was up to Little Kat and I to get our own dinner. First I had Little Kat finish all his homework and chores. Then we were good to go.

I asked Little Kat where he wanted to go. He chose Mongolian BBQ. That is where you pick all the raw ingredients, add spices of your choice, and they cook it up. Little Kat also wanted to take a ride in my truck. We drove up to the placest closest to us. I was a bit alarmed that I did not see the restaurant sign. We walked up and found the place was converted to an Indian food joint. So we had to settle for plain old Chinese food.

At home, Little Kat and I found the house empty. Momoko and Kit Kat were out running errands. Little Kat went downstairs to play Skyrim. Kit Kat came home and slowly played with all our gerbils. One of them was upside down with her eyes open. She had passed. Kit Kat put the body in a small box. She brought Momoko with her to bury the little girl towards the edge of our property.

Car Swap

Momoko has to put her car in the shop. She plans to use her other car (the one that Kit Kat) drives until she can get her car back. Kit Kat still needs to drive around. So I decided she can drive my car. After all, Kit Kat pretty much learned how to drive in my car. So it should be no trouble.

We still made Kit Kat practice this weekend in my car. Good idea. Kit Kat called me up from the grocery store. She said my steering wheel locked up in the parking lot. I told her she needed to turn the ignition switch on half way to unlock the steering wheel sometimes. Other than that, her loan of my car has worked out okay.

I have been driving the car that Kit Kat normally drives now. I will continue to do so until Momoko's car is actually in the shop. I found my favorite CD in the car. So I put it in and tried to go to Avril Lavigne's song. Ended up listening to "All Day" by Cody Simpson. I thought it might be a girl singing due to the high voice. But the lyrics indicated otherwise. Turns out Cody is a young boy who has a real high voice. Go figure. "All Day" is my new favorite song.

Party Time

One of Kit Kat's friends turned 18 years old this month. Another of Kit Kat's friends thought they should throw a birthday party for him. What better place to have the party than our house? Kit Kat cleared it with me and Momoko. The party was set for Saturday night.

Usually Momoko foots the bill for the parties at our house. But this time the party was for somebody else. So she told Kit Kat to have her friends chips in. One of the boys bought the pizza. Another brought assorted chips. A girl baked a cake, and I think another got a card.

The party people arrived as me and my bro were wacthing a DVD. That's okay. The party was in the basement. I felt sorry for the birthday boy. They made him carry in a large cake, tons of helium ballons, and other birthday items. Isn't the birthday boy supposed to take it easy on his birthday?

Halfway through the party, we heard a big boom downstairs. Little Kat said he was disturbed and decided to investigate. I told him to chill, and sent Momoko down instead. Turns out the birthday boy was playing the Xbox, jumped up in the air, and hit his heard on the ceiling. It is amazing that he did not get a concussion.

Kit Kat said everyone, including birthday boy, had tons of fun at the party. As usual, I kicked the boys out around midnight. The girls stayed over for a sleepover with Kit Kat. Now we await the next big celebration at our house.

Exercise Equipment

Momoko suggested that we get rid of the exercise equipment in the basement. She said we could use the extra room. And besides, nobody uses the stuff. At first I was against this idea. The main driver was that the stuff cost a couple thousand dollars to buy.

I like to live by the anti-hoarding rule: If something does not get used, it gets thrown out. Even expensive items like exercise equipment should fall under this rule. So what's a cat like me to do? It was simple actually. I started using the equipment.

Over the past week, I have used each of our three exercise machines every day. I only spend 5 to 6 minutes on each machine each day. I am done in well under 30 minutes each day. I was TV on our new big screen TV down in the basement as I exercise.

For now I am put off the removal of the equipment. The trick is to keep up this schedule for the long haul. That will serve two goals. I will get our money's worth our of the equipment. And I am sure it will do wonders for my health. Go Voltron force.

Laundry Mess

I washed our bed sheets today to get a head start on the weekend chores. By the end of the cycle, the bed sheet had become wrapped around everything else. It was also dirty because the wrapping prevented the crud from going down the drain. I washed the sheets again with no success.

I added some clothes on top of the sheets, thinking they would prevent the problem. No dice. I just gave up and threw the load into the dryer. Perhaps my problem was that I was selecting the dark clothes setting instead of the sheets setting on the washer.

I might have to manually change the spin cycle. Right now I have it set to spin super fast to extract the most water possible. That might be foiling the sheets. All I know is I can't keep rewashing the sheets. It is a waste of water and detergent.

Calling Our Handyman

Things were building up around the house. It was time to call our handyman. One major effort is that I want to move into our old guest room. I am declaring it my new study. To do that, I need a phone line down there. Also need a network cable to connect my work computer.

We also needed help in our master bedroom bathroom. The shower head is old and crusty. The wallpaper is coming off the wall here and there. I tried to patch up the wallpaper and it looks bad. The ceiling needs a little repair too. The grout and caulk on the shower tiles needs help.

The last big item is the new shed I want. I founder a vendor. They don't do permits. They do not install on an incline. I want my handman to take care of these problems for me. I hope I can afford him to do all my shed work. This will require a concrete pad to level out the hill. I want a big shed once and for all.

Trash Can Overload

This weekend I worked out in the yard a lot. Cut the grass. Raked up old leaves. Bundled up tree branches. With my new work table, these choses seemed easier. I generated a large number of big trash bags. I was glad we have a bunch of trash cans.

Kit Kat has been doing spring cleaning in her room. It has been a mess for quite some time. Momoko said Kit Kat's friends could not come over for a party until this spring cleaning got done. That put the work on overdrive. Kit Kat generated about 10 bags full of trash. The problem was that I already filled the trash cans.

Luckily the trash collection comes twice a week. So I put all of Kit Kat's bags in the trash cans. I put a bit of my trash bags on top. However most of my yard refuse has to go in the next trash pickup.

Old School Friends

Today I went to visit a friend of mine from my last college. It brought back memories as I drove up to the college campus. Althought I only went part time, I went to that school for two years. I was a bit early, but so was my friend.

It was in the middle of the afternoon. I had already ate. I thought about where we could go to hang out. I recall from my youth a park we took field trips to in the area. Turns out it is 5 minutes from school. It was a long time I had visited the park. All I recall was a bit rocket ship that kids could climb in.

When we got to the park, we found that there was a lot things at the park. There was still a large area for kids to play. There was also a big bubble building. We investigated to find it was an indoor tennis court. The big surprise was that there was a zoo farm on site.

My friend and I walked through the zoo path. The peacocks had the most impressive colors. We saw a llama that was busy eating hay. They had horses and donkeys that came up close so kids could pet them. We still did not see everything that the park had to offer. I think I might have to take the family back to investigate.

Outdoor Work Bench

I do a lot of collecting of items outside in our yard. At times I pick up sticks and branches that fall in the yard. In the fall, I collect leaves. And in the spring it is grass. Most of the time I bundle this stuff in a plastic bag to dispose of it. To collect everything into a bag, I need a table to hold the stuff. Previously I used the hood of my pickup truck. It is a work truck after all.

The problem with this technique is that the paint on my truck's hood suffers. I figured it was time for an outdoor work table. You could call it a work bench. That would also help when I need to lay down some wood for cutting. I had some extra wood left over from a massive retaining wall I found I did not need to build. So I went to work building my bench.

First I cut up all the plywood and lumber. Then I painted the plywood white as it seemed susceptible to mildew. Finally today I hammered and nailed together all the pieces. This thing is heavy duty. I got 4x4 posts with 2x6 runners. I could get on top of the table and do the Riverdance without the thing even moving.

I did have one tradgedy during final assembly. I had two large sides that I needed to join with plywood. During the layout, one side fell down, busting the carport rain gutter. I repaired the rain gutter and braced both sides with lumber to hold them in place. Now that everything is done, I just need to move our excess firewood inside the table. Very handy indeed.

Shed Setback

We have a metal shed in our back yard. It is the one that came with the house when we bought it. The thing is still standing. But there are holes in the roof letting water in. The roof is too low. I hit my head often when I enter. I am tall so I have to crouch down to walk around inside the shed. It is time for a new shed.

Went to the local hardware store. They offer sheds through their subcontractors. I called up the subcontractors. They just build the sheds. They do not take care of the building permits. They also do not do level your ground for you. It has to start off relatively level. First things first. I need that permit.

I should have known there would be pain based on my troubles getting a permit for our driveway. However I went ahead and prepared a "site plan". This shows our property from a bird's eye view. I drew an outline on that plan that showed the new dimensions of the shed. After going to the permit office, I found that I needed building plans. The guy at the front desk referred me to their building plan expert.

I spent about a half hour listening to the building plan. This plan is actually a bunch of smaller plans bundled together. I took notes. I needed a lot of drawings with specifications. I also need some waivers or documents from other county agencies. When my sheet of notes was full, I left. For now the new shed remains just a dream.

Gerbil Rumble

Kit Kat split our largest cage in two using mesh wire. This was to let the fighting gerbils see and smell each other without killing each other. Our large gerbil did not like this arrangement. It drove her crazy. She could not get to the gerbils she is warring with. So instead she turned on the gerbil we had on her side of the cage.

Momoko had Kit Kat remove these gerbils from the split tank. I said we might be able to cover the mesh wire barrier with cardboard to limit sight and smell across the divide. This seems to have worked. The large gerbil is still a bit wild. But she is not attacking the gerbil in her half of the cage.

The end goal is for the gerbils to become reacquainted. Then we hope that we can remove the barrier and there will be peace. This setup is already starting to have a calming effect on our home gerbils, whose tank we split with mesh wire earlier this week.

Miscommunication

Earlier today I asked Kit Kat what her plans for the day were. She said she needed to shop for shoes with her friends. She also planned to split our big gerbil cage into two to prevent the young gerbils from fighting. She cleaned the house up a bit. That was the last I saw of her.

My bro came over and we started watching movie Hugo. I thought I saw Kit Kat leave the house out of the corner of my eye. Later the doorbell rang in the middle of our movie. I thought it might be the neighbors telling us they got our mail or something. Instead it was Kit Kat's friend. I invited her in. We went over and looked outside. Kit Kat's car was gone.

I called up Kit Kat on her cell phone. Luckily she picked up. I let Kit Kat's friend talk with her. Apparently Kit Kat thought her friend was meeting her at the store. Luckily Kit Kat's friend had a car to drive this weekend. So she left our house to meet Kit Kat at the shopping center. What a weird situation.

Pain in the Side

Little Kat reported to the school nurse today. He complained of sharp pains in his side. The nurse thought it might be due to a virus going around. Little Kat will stay home tomorrow. If he is not doing well, Momomok will take him to the doctor.

At home Little Kat took some medicine to numb the pain. When it wore off, he was complaining of severe pain. The meds and a hot pad seemed to do him well. We never really know with Little Kat. He cries wolf often. It is suspicious that his pain flared up just when we needed him to do some work like clean the kitchen.

I am hoping Little Kat is fine tomorrow. Since he is staying home, I can pick us up some subs for lunch. There is a 2 subs, 2 fries, 2 drinks special going on at a new pizza shop. Let's hope Little Kat is well enough for the hoagies.

Fishy Slots

Momoko found this fun slots game for the iPhone called Fishy Slots. No it is not fishy as in suspicous. It had items from the sea on the reels. Momoko plays this game on her iPad mostly. You could say she is addicted. I think I am catching the addiction too.

Sharks are wild in this game. Any shark will clone itself to make the whole column wild. That can get real interesting if you have multiple sharks. I just got a record 78,100 coins from having 3 columns of sharks. You also go to a bonus round if you get three treasure chests anywhere on the screen. The bonus brings you to seven gold chests you must open. If you find keys, they multiply your bonus score.

For the longest time, we had been seeing a progressive icon or two. You need at least three to win, and five to score the progressive jackpot. Momoko actually got four progressive icons in one spin today. I was disappoitned when she only got 25,000 coins. Progressives are so rare. I thought she would get a million coin bonus.

Left Out

Kit Kat was planning to spend the night at her friends house. My bro came over our house to watch some movies as uusual. Then Kit Kat came down, asking whether her friend could spend the night at our house. Sounded okay. So Kit Kat's friend came over.

Momoko sent Kit Kat out to pick up some Chick-fil-A for Momoko and myself. Kit Kat said she was taking her friend. After they left, Momoko wondered how that would work. Kit Kat has not had her license long enough to drive another teenager. We did not think Kit Kat's friend had her license long enough either. Turns out Kit Kat's friend drove them to Chick-fil-A. Upon return, Kit Kat's friend declared that she had her license long enough to drive other teens.

Kit Kat unpacked the Chick-fil-A. Unfortunately Kit Kat bought something for everyone except Little Kat. That did not sound right. I had a salad topped with fried chicken. I let Little Kat choose to share either my salad or chicken. He chose the chicken (it came with buffalo sauce).

Flower Delivery

I decided to get my mom some flowers for her birthday this year. She usually does not like to receive other gifts that sit around the hosue. Previously I had the local flower shop deliver mom the goods. But one year my mom told me they brought her some dead flowers. That was an epic fail, especially because I was shelling out big bucks for flowers plus delivery.

Now I take matters into my own hands. I go pick out the flowers myself, and deliver them myself as well. This year I went to the grocery store. They usually have some nice bouquets. I wanted to take a kid to hold the flowers as I went to my mom's. However Little Kat was away spending the night at his friend's house. Kit Kat was sleeping in.

I picked out some bright yellow flowers. The centerpiece of them were some sunflowers. I got in line in the express checkout aisle. Some dude had a whole lot of items in front of me. Intiially I gave him a dirty look. But I softened up a bit when I saw he was old and handicapped. I strapped the flowers into the passenger seat with a seatbelt. However I had to kept one hand on them at all time because they wanted to slide around.

25 Billion Strong

Momoko informed me that Apple was getting close to its 25 billionth app download in its app store. To celebrate, it was giving away a $10,000 app store credit to the person who downloads the 25 billionth app. I saw that 500 apps were being downloaded per second. At that rate, it would take about 10 days to hit 25 billion.

Momomoko kept asking me how the downloads were doing. Each time I would calculate how much time it would take before the 25 billionth app was hit. Last night the apps were being downloaded much fast. I figured it would take 2 to 3 hours to hit the mark. We prepared our downloads.

The app store was very slow. Momoko queued up a few apps to download. The first one seemed to take forever to download. When we got within an estimated 30 minutes to go, I tried as well. It took a while, but I queued up around 6 apps to download. As we got closer to the 25 billionth mark, I started initiating even more downloads.

I tried out a couple apps that installed successfully. Most got deleted right away. I hate when they take a long time to load, or have errors connecting to some server. So far the only one tested that I may keep is Sloto Mania. However that one sends me annoying messages even when I am not playing it. If that keeps up, it goes to the bit bucket too.

Computer Woes

I have had all kinds of problems with my laptop recently. The immediate need was to install the latest TurboTax software to file my income tax returns. The install would not work, complaining about Windows installer being missing. TurboTax tried to fix my computer. It did not work.

Next I have had some weird problems browsing. I would Google some topic. Then if I click a link, instead of going to the search result, I get sent over to some rogue search engine. When I try to open the search result in a new window, I get a "404 not found nginx" page. Fail.

So I bit the bullet and restored my computer to its factory settings. That was a pain. But at least I was able to file my taxes. Then I found the Google browsing problems had returned. What? I tried finding some fixes online. The latest fix was Norton Eraser, a free tool that would supposed to help. The only thing it did was make it so my computer would not boot up. Luckily I had some system recovery CDs. However I am back to restoring my system to the factory default.

Maybe it is time to buy a Macintosh like Momoko.