Forgetful Fail

Momoko and I went to the casino for a mini vacation. We left the kids behind at home. Altogether we stayed four days and three nights there. It was nice to have a hotel room right above the casino. It let us gamble and they go upstairs for a rest when needed.

On the last night of our stay, Momoko went to her new favorite machine called Mermaids. She seemed to be able to play for a long time and even make some money off the thing. I had lost most of my money and decided to go upstairs to the room alone. I still had some homework for class to complete.

Momoko eventually returns to the room when she was tired. She got ready for bed and realized she left her jacket on the chair in front of the Mermaids machine. She had me go back down to retrieve it. Easy right? No such luck.

I did find Momoko's jacket on the chair. Then I grabbed a bit of free ginger ale before heading upstairs. I should have known I was in trouble when I followed a large crowd towards the elevators. They were all walking slow because a dude in a wheel chair was at the front.

Wheel chair guy got on an elevator. Was not much room in it for other people. We all waited for the next elevator. A couple got off the elevator, but stuck around waiting for another elevator. When quizzed, they replied that the elevator they got off was broken.

Unfortunately no other elevators came down for us. I went into the broke elevator and tried to get it to go up. No luck. They have some security device that requires you to use your key to make the elevator go up. Another lady came into the car and fooled around with the security device and got it to work.

Too bad the elevator would not stop at my floor. The thing was defective. I rode the elevator up and had to take the stairs back down to our level. I did not trust this elevator and wanted to avoid getting stuck in it all night. No wonder Momoko did not want to go down and retrieve her own jacket. Suspicious.

Target Trouble

Momoko had a great coupon at Target. She could buy a DVD for 55% off the normal price. Last I checked, Amazon was still selling the DVD at normal price. Guess that was because it was still a new release. Momoko talked me into driving her to Target.

I walked outside and had some trouble. I was wearing my comfortable shoes which have no protection against water. Due to the heavy rain, my shoes and socks got drenched. I sent Momoko in to Target alone to buy the DVD.

I locked up the car for safety in the parking lot. However I did not want Momoko to return to a locked door. So I kept an eye out for her. I watched as people kept going into Target. Guess they were starting their Christmas shopping early.

I started to get concerned when I spotted people leaving Target who had entered after Momoko. What was taking her so long? She only wanted to buy one DVD. Turns out she could not find the DVD. Then the checkout clerk would not give her the discount ont he bluRay version.

Momoko ended up going to customer service. They also could not find the DVD. They ended up giving her the 55% discount on the bluRay. Still took forever. I did not consider this a good value after having spent so much time waiting for Momoko. At least we have a good story from it.

Help a Brother Out

I used to work with a guy in my last company. We went out to lunch every day. I left the company. He was later let go from the company when there was no more work for him to do. I moved to a new company. I tried to get this buddy to come join my company. He passed on the opportunity. He knew my company was not for him. It is too crazy where I work.

My buddy has very specialized skills. Plus he is older. That combination, along with a somewhat weak job market, means he is unemployed. Luckily he collected unemployment for a few years. He also got an inheritance to help him out. But he can't stay like this forever. He has been out of work for a while. That fact too makes it hard for him to get employer.

I was encouraged to see that he got on Linked In.His profile looks good with a lot of connection. Now he is looking to get certified in databases. I did the cerfitification thing around five years ago. He asked me how my training went. I advised him to stay away from the computer program based trainng. Those were horrible. The in-class sessions were good but very expensive.

I told my buddy he could borrow all my course materials from the in-class sessions. I have not touched the documentation in 5 years. Was going to meet my buddy at my house today. But he is having car trouble. Hopefully I will see him next week and he can hit the books. It seems having the certification badge helps you get through some doors, and hopefully a job!

Type 3 Bulbs

Little Kat got the idea that he would be a griller. We started with a small propane grill. Little Kat thought he would be more efficient with a gas grill over a charcoal one. Then I bought him a large propane grill with a lot of burners. I always make sure we have a backup propane tank so he does not run out of fuel in the middle of a cookout.

Sometimes Little Kat grills out after sunset. So I bought a two-faced spotlight. Our handyman mounted outside over the patio. I guess it works for Little Kat. The other day I noticed one of the bulbs had burned out. I waited for Little Kat to mention this. He never did. Instead he moved the grill over to the side of the patio where one of the spotlights still shined. Super slacker.

I climbed up the ladder and through I saw a marking on the light that said it took Type 3 bulbs. I pulled the dead bulb out. Momoko said she could only find Type 5 bulbs at the store. Amazon to the rescue. I found something called Type T3 bulbs on sale. I bought a big pack of cheap ones. The first one I took out of the package slid right into the spotlight. But it was a dud. The second one worked like a charm.

Note to self: Make sure you know what kind of bulbs the lights you buy use. I made this mistake with the ceiling light in Little Kat's room. The fan above the light works great. However the light takes non-standard bulbs which are a pain to find. I am planning to have the handyman swap out that light for one that takes normal 60W fan bulbs with the medium base. You live. You learn.

Gutter Job

Little Kat was off from school today. And I was off from work. I let Little Kat sleep in until the afternoon. Then I woke him up so he could eat some lunch. After lunch, I had him help me with cleaning out the leaves from the second story gutter in the back yard.

You would think that one gutter would not be that much work. You would be wrong. The ground is uneven below that gutter. So as we moved the ladder along, we had to prop up one side of it with some wood.

Another problem was that the roof is two and a half stories high back there. Plus there is a radon removal system exhaust vent located between two windows. Hard to get a good ladder placement with all the stuff in the way.

I was thinking about doing the front gutters too today. Nope. I was worn out after just the high back gutters. I did get some time in to teach Little Kat some Algebra II after gutting cleaning. Then I passed out for a few hours.

The party was not over yet. I woke up for dinner, watched an episode of The Flash with the family, then headed down to my study to work on homework for class. So much fun. Not.

No Test Tonight

I finished getting ready for work tomorrow. Shirt is ironed. Bag is packed. Ready to go. I figured it was time to take my college exam. It is an online test. Was supposed to get it a week ago. The instructor had some trouble getting to us on time. But now it is ready.

Before the test I tried to read my college email. For some reason, I could not connect to the site. I then logged in to get my test. There was a big message on the school's home page: They are having network maintenance tonight and so services will be down.

What timing. Just when I want to get the test over with, they shut down the networks. Luckily class is not for another couple nights. Still I wanted this out of the way. I guess I will try again tomorrow night.