Weed and Feed +1

This weekend I spread some Weed and Feed onto the front lawn. We had a clover invasion on the grass. For the most part, the weed and feed neutralized the clovers. Hopefully it also did some damage to the dandelions. Unfortunately it also turned some of the grass brown. Perhaps that was not grass. Might have been some green weeds.

I decided to ensure the grass got plenty of water. Found out today that my sprinker was broken. It would not rotate. Tossed it out. I had a backup sprinkler. But the backup is a spinner that is hard to position correctly. Either the thing won't spin, or it shoots water out too far. I ran it for a while on both the front and back lawns.

At lunch I headed over to an all you can eat buffet. I had a coupon. The lady at the register tried her best to sell me all you can drink sodas. I did like Grumpy Cat does, and said, "No." Last time I went to the buffet, I ate too much. Was stuffed all evening and night. This time I ate in moderation. Got some chicken. Could not pass up the waffle fries. I usually add some nachos cheese to the fries.

I like getting a salad. They have Caesar salad out. Added plenty of hard boiled egg. Real bacon bits make the salad even better. This time I just had a small plate of salad. Got some rice crispy treats and carrot cake for dessert. Turned out to be just the right amount. Still probably got my money's worth and then some.

Floria Georgia Line +1

I'd been hearing this song on the radio that I really like. Had something to do with a Chevy truck with some modifications. Then I thought I heard a radio announcer say that it was by Jason Derullo. That was odd. The song sounded like it was sung by some Country boys. Derullo wasn't a country singer last time I checked.

I went to YouTube. Could not find the song or video at all. Fail. Jason Derullo definitely does not sing this song. Then today I was watching some entertainment news. They reported that Nelly teamed up for a remix of a song named Cruise by Florida Georgia Line. That was it. I went to YouTube and immediately found the original Cruise video. Yes.

Florida George line is a duo. One of the dudes comes from Florida. The other comes from Georgia. They must be new. I think they first signed a recording contract back in 2011. They have since jumped ship to a new label. Here are some lyrics from the Cruise song:

Baby you a song
You make me wanna roll my windows down and cruise
Down a back road blowin’ stop signs through the middle
Every little farm town with you
In this brand new Chevy with a lift kit
Would look a hell of a lot better with you up in it
Come on

Lawn Care +1

This weekend, I had my bro come with me to Lowes for some serious shopping. I had a coupon that discounted $25 from a $250 purchase. My Lowes list was long. Figured I could easily spend more than $250. One thing I concentrated on was the lawn. Bought some weed and feed to combat the dandelions plus clovers. Also bought a spreader. You know, this is a cart you push around that spreads seed and such. It worked great.

Looked at a tiller to grind some grass seed into the ground. The one I needed cost too much. So I opted for the premixed package of seed, soil, fertilizer, and mulch. I spread that out on the lawn. Also picked up some lumber for a retaining wall project. I got a hill that is a real pain to mow. I plan to level out the hill and create a retaining wall at the end. That will be a massive project.

Yesterday was a day off. I clicked up to the second story roof to try to secure the rain gutter. Drilled two holes in the gutter and attached a bracket to it. Then I tried to screw the bracket into the roof. The screw would not go in. Neither would a nail. Turns out there must be some steel behind the wood trim or something. Eventually I got one nail in, plus a small screw half way in. It will have to hold.

There is only one gutter left. It will be very difficult to get to. The gutter is on the second story. However it is over top of a first story pitched roof. Not sure how to get a ladder up there to do the work. Might have to build up some scaffolding. I need to do it though. The gutter is starting to pull away from the house.

Unplanned +1

Yesterday I cut the front lawn after work. Then it started to rain on me. At least half the yard was taken care of. It was hard work because I usually take a small nap after work. My college class has finished for a summer break. I guess it was not too bad of a day.

This morning I made up and slept in. The customer closed down due to budget cuts. I worked extra hours last weekend and during the week. So I also got a day off. I had planned to visit my mechanic and do some shopping. At lunch I scored a great deal. Got two chicken sandwiches and two fries for five bucks. Yee haw.

After lunch I came home to drop off some items. That's when I noticed rain flowing over the gutters in the back yard. The rain was falling over the side of the gutter. Had to deal with this quick. The rain was going down to where I store excess firewood. Got up on the ladder and found the downspout clogged.

Pulling out the gunk jamming up the water from the downspout was easy. Then came the hard part. I decided to finally try to secure the gutters to the house. Previoulsy I bought some brackets, screws, and bolts to do the job. Measured where to drill some holes in the gutter. After connecting the gutter to the house with a bracket, the thing was not going to move at all.

All this work made me tired. That's a shame because it was only the first story gutter on the back of the house that I secured. There is the front gutters, and two more gutters that are two stories high. Might have to call in some professional help to gets those locked down. I only had energy left to visit my mechanic. He is still working on my Volkswagon Beetle electrical problems. He found one probem. But there is still something slowly draining the battery.

The Return of Failure +1

We are coming down to the last few weeks of school. Little Kat got a fourth quarter progress report that was not great. But it was not bad. Since then, it has all gone down hill. Luckily Momoko checks all of Little Kat's grades online. Plus she is in contact with some of his teachers. Looks like Little Kat is failing three of his classes.

This is a typical Little Kat failure. He does not turn work in. Then he tells the teachers he needs more time and will turn the work in later. For a disorganized kid like Little Kat, that scenario spells disaster. He can barely keep up when he is keeping track of the homework that is due tomorrow. Once he misses it, we are in never never land.

Momoko is stepping in to make sure Little Kat does not fail. But Little Kat needs to grow up eventually. Some people are not cut out to be top notch students. It is looking like Little Kat is one of those people. I spent a whole quarter teaching him how to keep on top of things. I showed him a failproof system to ensure he gets good grades even if teachers make mistakes and give him bad grades. Did Little Kat learn anything? Guess not.

The problem is that later on in life, when Little Kat has limited options for work, he will regret not stepping up his game now. Who wants to work a back breaking job for a bozo boss at minimum wage? Nobody. But that's what you set yourself up for if you don't apply yourself at school and life. Disappointment. Maybe we need to get radical and get rid of all the electronics that might be distracting Little Kat and clouding his judgement.

Coupon Mania +1

I returned to Wendys today for lunch. Had a coupon yesterday to get a free spicy chicken sandwich. Had a coupon today for a free flatbread chicken sandwich. Unfortunately the coupon had expired. I used to be really good tossing out the expired coupons. Just been busy lately. I decided to stay at Wendys anyway and pay full price. Had another spicy chicken sandwich.

I would have rather went to Roy Rogers for lunch. Or I could have hit Jerrys where I know I have some good coupons. But time was of the essence. I needed to do some shopping at Lowes during my lunch break too. Yep. I had a Lowes coupon. Buy $50 worth of merchandise and get $10 off.

I had a long list of things to buy at Lowes. No trouble hitting the $50 mark. Transaction worked out great. I also picked up some paint samples to match the basement bathroom. Contractor replaced my toilet roll holder. Exposed some of the previous red paint on the wall. I need to cover that up. Think I got a match now.

One Plus One Equals One +1

Kit Kat went shopping on Sunday as planned. She brought Little Kat along for assistance. Momoko asked Kit Kat to buy some Chips Ahoy cookies. Momoko requested two boxes of cookies. Kit Kat gave Momoko a hard time. Kit Kat thought two boxes of cookies was excessive. Momoko overruled her. We were in luck. The cookies did not cost too much.

The next day, Momoko was ready to eat some cookies. I said I wanted some too. Momoko said I could eat out of my own box of cookies. Kit Kat corrected Momoko. No I could not. The first box had already been eaten! Little Kat piped up saying that he only ate a single cookie from the first box. Turns out Kit Kat ate the whole dang box of cookies.

Good thing Momoko was a forward thinker and ordered two boxes. I immediately took possession of the remaining box and hid it from the kids. We have to be able to enjoy a few cookies at least.

College Books Chaos +1

Way back when, Momoko saw that Kit Kat was headed to college. However Kit Kat did not have a job. She was planning to go to a community college. Momoko decided in her mind to help Kit Kat out. So she volunteered to pay for Kit Kat's college books. In her mind, she planned to pay for the first semester's book bill. That should have cost around $500. But she told Kit Kat that she would pay for college books.

This problem surfaced as Kit Kat went to purchase her books for her second semester at college. The misunderstanding was uncovered. Momoko in the end decided to buy just one more semester worth of books for Kit Kat. I always encourage documentation of such agreements with a contract. That is the way to avoid confusion on both sides of the deal.

Just recently, Momoko decided to finally document the end of her paying for Kit Kat's books. She wanted to draw up a contract. Unfortunately, at family meeting night last night, she identified Kit Kat as part of the original problem. At the heart of the matter is what does, "I will pay for college books mean". It was pretty clear to Kit Kat and myself what that does not mean. That does not mean paying for just one semester's worth of books.

It took us an hour to explain to Momoko that trying to declare Kit Kat partially to blame for the problem is the wrong plan. Esepcially when trying to argue that "paying for college books" means "paying for a single semester of college books". That is just not what that sentence means in the English language.

Little Kat's only input on the matter was to cap any such heated debates to 30 minutes total during family meeting night. The moral of the story is to always document agreements like this with a contract. It does not have to be an elaborate contract. Just a written understanding with the specific details of the understanding. It can save you from a mountain of trouble later.

Summer Begins

I had my final exams for college class this week. The exam was scheduled around the same time my class normally meets. So it was almost like a normal school week. Things were a bit crazy at work on exam day. I had to stay late working on a tough problem. However I told everyone I had to go take my final.

I made sure I had a good dinner. For once I skipped my normal Roy Rogers meal before school. Instead I went to the mall and ate some pretzel dogs. They were delicious. I downed a Doctor Pepper soft drink I brought from home, and headed to class. I arrived at school over a half hour early.

On campus I found a free computer and started browsing the web. No need to try to do any cram studying. When you slowly learn all the material during the semester, you have already mastered the topic. Tests are just going through the motions if you are a master.

Strangely enough, I found that the test was difficult. I am positive I got every single one of the questions right. But those poor guys that were struggling in the class. They must have been toast.

The second half of the test was a take home assignment. We had to write some code. That is normally the fun part. Since the first part of the test was so hard, I thought the take home would also be difficult. I was wrong. It was a piece of cake. After I submitted my second part online, my instructor emailed me back saying he could not read my files. Good thing I check my email often. I sent him my code a second time.

Now it is summer break. I won't take another college course until the fall semester starts. That's not to say I won't be studying anything. I bought a textbook we never got around to using in the class. I plan to hit that book hard this summer. Got to learn this stuff for the job and the career.

Surrealist Art +1

Recently I quizzed Little Kat on some chapters the family read separately. I was disturbed at his lack of comprehension. Then I had him ready one of the chapter again. He still failed to grasp some key ideas, or remember entire scenes. Oh oh. I think it is time to slow down our roll.

Momoko thought we should review tough vocabulary before we read. So I read ahead, marking down words I expect that Little Kat does not know. Then I quiz him on the words. If he does not know the words, I have him look it up.

This is not that hard. I email Little Kat all the words. His iPhone can automatically define the words. Now I think I may keep quizzing him on the words until he knows what they mean. Some recently vocab included "surrealist" and "Salvadore Dali". I think Little Kat may just now understand these terms.

To celebrate, Momoko decided that we should put up some surrealist art in our library. I ordered six posters of works done by Salvadore Dali. The first ones have already been shipped.

Encountering the Batmobile +1

Momoko stayed home sick the other day. She said she needed some soup for lunch. So I cancelled my lunch errands and decided to pick up some Chinese food. As I was driving down the street, I saw two guys standing there. At first I thought they may have been cops. But they were not wearing the standard police uniform colors that the local city, county, or state officers wear. Weird I thought.

Later I drove up on a scene I had not witnessed before. The center of the street was blocked by a couple vehicles I can only describe as the Batmobile on steroids. I could not pass. A guy saw me drive up and said there was no way through. He recommended I take a detour. So I take the long way around.

This is where things get real weird. All down the street, there are abandoned cops cars. No cops are to be seen. Umm WTF is going on? I proceed past them. When I get to the end of the street, a police car is blocking off the entrance to the street I am on. There are police officers stopping another car in my lane. I am trapped. I look to one of the cops. He waves me on. As I pull forward, another cop tells me to stop. I wait there for a long time before I can get past this mess.

Okay something really weird is going on. On the way back, I look around the long way to get home. There are cops and cop cars at all the intersections. These are not major roads. Most of them are dead ends. What the heck are these people doing? I finally get home and tell the family to stay put. Something weird is going on, and it would be best to stay indoors until it clears up.

Bad Omens

I went to visit my mom today for Mother's Day. There is a Chinese food buffet by her house. So I tried to drop by there first. I got off the highway and figured something was not right. The traffic was too heavy for a Sunday. Then I saw the problem. The lights were out. It took a while before cars in front of me could flow through the dark intersection.

I got to the Chinese food place. It was strange that there were not many cars in the parking lot. The place was open. I told the guy I was here for lunch. He told me there was no lunch today. WTF? I guess he meant that there are no lunch prices on the weekend. I had to pay a high rate to get in.

When I got a table, my waitress asked me for my drink order. I told her I wanted coke. Then I went to the buffet. They had a lot of fancy but nasty dishes there. Many had ingredients such as squid. No thank you. They did not have my favorite chicken dish there. They did not have my second favorite mushroom dish there. To top it off, my waitress forgot to get me my drink.

I busted out of the Chinese food place. Figured I would be smart and avoid the light outtage. I took the long way around to my mom's house. While driving I started thinking about my newly acquired Volkswagen Beetle still being in the shop. Then I found myself taking the road home instead of the road to my mom's house. Sheesh.

It was actually a nice time visiting my mom. Afterwards I headed home. What did I see on the road? A sign said there was 6 miles of slow traffic ahead of me due to an accident. Drats. I was hoping the sign was a mistake. Nope. Traffic slowed down to a crawl soon after. Luckily I got off the freeway as soon as I could and took the back roads home. Then I got busy for a few hours doing yard work. No exercise for me today.

Silver Linings +1

Today my bro and I watched Silver Linings Playbook. I rented it because it starred Bradley Cooper. Ever since he did the movie Limitless, he is the man. Silver Linings Playbook is known for the award winning performance of Jennifer Lawrence. Hey. I enjoyed her in Hunger Games. But before that, I never even heard of the chick.

I was prepared for some sappy love story. Yes there is an element of that in Silver Linings. But the movie was so much more. There was actually a story there. Main character was crazy, trying to get un-crazy. Then he meets J-Law who is also a bit crazy. As you might guess, madness ensues.

Momoko actually wanted to watch the movie. But she had a hard week and slept most of the day. When she woke up, she was ready to watch the movie. She talked Kit Kat inot watching it with her. Little Kat and I went to Wendy's to pick up a late night snack for the family. Turns out Little Kat wanted to watch the movie too. He seemed to have more interest in playing with the gerbils than movie watching though.

Doing Work +1

The customer wanted an early morning meeting today. So I was up early. After the meeting, it was still before my normal start time. Headed to McDonald's to get two bacon egg and cheese biscuits for $3. What a bargain.

Some people on my project needed some help around lunch time. Had a few meetings with them. Luckily I had a hearty breakfast. Decided to leave work early today. Waited until 3pm to eat my lunch.

Had a coupon at an all you can eat buffet. I hurried to make it there before lunch was over. Got there just in time. As I start eating, I get a call from Momoko. She could not get in touch with Little Kat. His cell phone had been confiscated due to slacking off.

When I returned home, Little Kat came down to my study to demonstrate that he did all his work. He read two chapters of the book the family is reading. He researched and presented me with two speeches: one on Don Quixote, and another on a town close to us with 10 villages within it.

The verdict is in. When Little Kat has his electronics taken away, he becomes most productive. Might have to employ this technique in the future if the slacking returns.

Slacking Off +1

We have Little Kat give a speech before the family every Sunday night. This past Sunday, Little Kat was unprepared. He was also unprepared on subsequent nights. Still no speech from the boy tonight.

We also read two chapters of a book by ourselves each week. Then the family comes together to read the following chapter together on Wednesdays. Little Kat had not finished his reading on time tonight.

It is not like the kid is too busy with work. He is too busy slacking off. Time to remove the obstacles. I took possession of his iPhone and two Nintendo game devices. Recently I allowed him access to my Netflix online access. He gets unlimited movie viewing on his game device. Guess that was too much temptation for Little Kat.

I told Little Kat he would get his electronics back when he does his work. It is a shame that he cannot manage his work by himself. We still need to teach the little guy some lessons for his own good.

Rain Gutter Pain

Today our handyman returned to complete most of the work on our house. He had a tough time matching paint to our library and kitchen ceilings. He successfully secured the towel ring in the kids' bathroom. By early afternoon he was done and took off. I saw him out of the house and realized that it was raining.

I heard some strange noise coming from the back of the house. After investigating, I found rain pouring down on the patio. The rain gutter had become dettached from the house. Luckily Kit Kat was home. She held the ladder as I climbed two stories to secure the gutter to the house.

On the ladder I saw the source of the problem. The gutter was filled with water because the downspout was clogged. I dragged the heavy ladder to the other side of the house. Then I climbed up two stories again. Had to reach up and pull the crud out of the gutter to get it to drain. Held my hand up there was more crud flowed down with the water. Did not want another clogging.

The front of the house had a similar problem. I thought we were in luck because the gutter over the carport is only one story high. That problem was solved quickly enough. But from there I saw the other gutter in front of the house was dislodged as well. I brought the big ladder out and climbed up again.

Had to move the ladder a few times as the gutter was pulling away from the house at multiple points. I was wet and tired. And some people from work were expecting a response from me soon. Did I mention that I had to skip lunch because I was waiting for my handy man to return? Yeah. Sucks to be me. Finally I moved the ladder to the end of the house and unclogged the drain. Then I had to keep moving the ladder back (climbing up and down the two stories) to secure the gutter and remove crud.

Needless to say, there will be no extra exercising tonight. Might be time to invest in one of these gutter covers. Although I do hear that they do not work. It might be worth a try. Anything is better than this life.

Repairs Day +1

Today I had my handymen come to take care of many small items in the house. I had to get up early as these guys start work early. Momoko did not go in to work today because of a doctor's appointment. She wanted to sleep in. Nope. The repair guys had some work to do in our bathroom. Main job was to replace the toilet. I had two plumbers try to fix the dripping water in the tank. They could not permanently fix it. Thus it was time for a new tank altogether.

The hand rail leading down the stair to the basement kept getting loose. I would not notice it until my hand got caught on the screws popping out. That's just a safety hazard. The guys secured the bolts and painted the thing. They also took care of some holes left in the ceiling from a light/fan fixture installed a long time ago. It was low priority. Time to get it done. While they were working on that, they noticed some cracks in the ceiling that they fixed as well.

I work all day in the basement. It is hard to hear the doorbell all the time. These guys put in a second doorbell chime in the basement. Now there is no chance someone is at the door without me knowing about it. They also put in some custom fixes to our kitchen drawer whose guide kept coming off track. All these little things add up over time. You got to address them sooner or later.

The handymen return tomorrow to finish up some painting and secure the towel holders in the kids bathroom. They will also return in a week once some parts come in for our other bathrooms.

Helping Momoko +1

Momoko needed Little Kat to help her in the classroom. So after school, I was to drive Little Kat to Momoko's work. Little Kat had forgotten about it. Good thing I remembered. Before Little Kat came home, I was busy at work trying to wrap up for the week. I thought I heard something upstairs. But it was too early for Little Kat to be out of school. So I ignored it.

When Little Kat came home, I found out what the noise was. Fed-Ex had delivered a large package to our house. Slackers did not even ring the doorbell. Momoko's desk chair in her study was coming apart. It is a nice chair. We actually bought it used many years ago. It was time for a replacement. The place where we bought the old chair had long gone out of business. So we placed an order online.

The box it came in was large and bulky. Little Kat manned up and carried it into the house. Or he dragged it in. Then he did his chores so we could take a ride to see Momoko. His only concern was whether I was buying Momoko some food (and in effect, buying him some food). Luckily Momoko had previously placed an order with me to pick up Arbys. Little Kat approved.

When we were leaving, Little Kat asked if we could drive the truck. Why not? I don't drive it often. Turns out we left in the middle of rush hour. Took a long time for us to get to Arby's. While there, I found the sandwich Momoko wanted was no longer on the menu. I substituted another that looked the same. Turns out it was not Momoko's favorite. Little Kat got a sandwich with large fries and large drink. Their large sized drink was huge. Little Kat said it would come in handy as he was going to work in the classroom for a few hours.

At Momoko's school, I saw a Volkswagon Beetle that reminded me of my own Beetle that is stuck in the repair shop. I dropped off Little Kat and headed back home to see what Kit Kat and I would do for dinner. But that is a story for another time.

The Missing Wheel

I went to visit a customer site today. Was on the road very early. Came home early too since my meeting ended early. I decided to finally cut the grass. It was long overdue. Now my weekend might be pretty lazy.

After spending a couple hours cutting the grass, I was ready for a shower before heading to school. I slid the shower door open to turn on the water. That's when I heard the sound of something falling down. A screw had come off the door.

This was a crucial screw that holds a wheel onto the top right hand corner of one shower door. The wheel holds the door up, and keeps it on track. Without the wheel, the door does not slide. It also wants to fall off the track. Big time fail.

I quickly found the screw. Could not locate the wheel. Momoko came in and could not find it either. The thing is too large to go down the drain. Used some Sherlock Holmes skills. If the thing did not fall, perhaps it could still be in the track. It took a lot of searching to find the darn wheel stuck on the upper track of the door jamb.

After screwing the wheel back on, the shower door was back in operation. Just in time to take a shower, dry off, and run to school.

Team Award +1

Today I had to go to one of our company offices across town. There was a meeting for everyone on the project. I saw a lot of team members I don't see often. Also met some people on my team I had not seen in person before. They passed out glass plaques to everyone on the team. This was based on a company award the team won. The plaque was actually pretty nice.

Afterwards, we headed to a restaurant to celebrate. The company was paying. I must have drank around 10 cokes there. The waiter dude kept coming back asking me if I wanted a refill. I hardly ever turned him down. Also chowed down a few mini burgers. They have devilled eggs. But there was some strange seafood in the mix. This restaurant also had weird looking pizza that I avoided.

I was able to catch up with some guys on the team that I usually don't have time to talk with for long. Stayed there a few hours. But I had to rush home to make it back in time for family reading night. Got to keep Little Kat reading aloud to improve his skills.

Free Lunch +1

Today I had to visit the customer's site at work. There was a meeting and they needed me there. I always hate going there. Even though the meeting started at 9:00 am, I had to get there early to beat rush hour traffic and get a parking spot. I was successful on that front. Got there is good time even though it was raining.

Last time I was there, a security guard told me I could finally skip going through the metal detector since I had a badge. Yes. As I entered past the metal detector, some guy called out my name. His voice sounded familiar. But I did not recognize him. Then I found out he was a coworker I have been working with for a year. Only talked with him on the phone before. Never saw him until now.

Good thing this guy somehow recognized me. His badge expired and he was stuck at the front door. It was early and there was nobody to sign him it. I escorted him onto the site. We had a long morning meeting. One of our managers showed up and offered to buy us lunch. He did not have to offer twice.

I got my normal salad. They have this mongo salad bar in the cafeteria with fresh fixings. I also tried out some veggie dumplings. They were nothing special. All in all, I probably had a $10 lunch paid for by the company. Not a huge deal. But it was a nice gesture. The real bonus came when we were able to leave 2 hours earlier than expected. I rushed home to miss rush hour.

Unfortunately I need to travel two more days this week. Not fun.