Air Force Museum

We drove in two cars tithe closest museum. I dropped Momoko off before parking. Grandma parked and needed a few rests on the walk to the front door. We went upstairs to the cafe to plan our day. A professional took our family picture.

I got a pizza before everyone arrived. Little Kat and I went to buy 3D movie tickets and simulator passes. After the simulator ride, Little Kat and I went with his cousin to explore the museum.

The space section Little Kat wanted to see was closed. We saw a bunch of huge planes instead. We took pictures and failed at piloting a landing simulator instead.

The 3D movie was not too crowded. One eye of the 3D glasses was dark. The movie exited on the second floor by the cafe. We bought some items in the gift shop. The day ended with snacks at Steak nShake.

New Adventures

After work, Kit Kat drove us across town to a new airport. Had to explore to find a working shuttle bus stop. Took a train from the main terminal to our gate. Small plane had a steep set of stairs.

Flight was short. Got an upgrade to a Dodge Journey for our rental car. My GPS did not work. Kit Kat's phone had to guide us. Some payment questions at hotel. Kids got their own room. WaffleHouse midnight run.

Trouble connecting my work computer to WiFi.

Failure Again

I had to visit the customer site this morning. However I only stayed for an hour or two. I returned home to finish up the work day. The phone rang. It was Little Kat's English teacher. I could not hear her well because there was static on the line. I called her back from my cell phone.

Apparently Little Kat had a 48% in her class. He was missing a lot of work. She had provided him the work. Little Kat had some arrangement to turn in the work late. But he had not done so yet. The semester is at an end, and the teacher wanted to close out the grades. She did not Little Kat to have such a low score.

Little Kat stayed home from school today. He was "ill." Yeah. I woke him up and got a status. He had five assignments, one project, and one test to do. He had completed any of it. I put him to work. By dinner I checked up him. He finished the project and an assignment. Not good enough. Dinner had to be postponed.

This guy is slacking big time. Why am I the one who has to step in and work him to prop up his grades? Sounds like we might need to cut out some games and movies. Time to hit the books maybe? I don't care if summer is starting.

Literally Screwed

My car started recently complaining about the tire pressure. I checked all four tires. Seemed okay. Then I drove Momoko out to eat. She heard a strange noise as we drove. I ignored it. Wrong move. I woke up one day this week. Planned to drive into the office. I had a flat tire. There was a screw in my tire. Putting air in it would do no good.

I needed to get to work. So I hopped in my other vehicle, the old truck. It has four brand new tires. I got to work fine. Worked all day and forgot about the tire until I got home. Went over to Mister Tire. They are crooks. But I thought I would give them a try. The kid behind the counter said the screw was too close to the side of the wheel to patch. But he would sell me a replacement for $150.

Nice try kid. I am not getting ripped off. In fact, I don't know why I even came to Mister Tire. Instead I went to this place that sells used tires. My brother has had some luck in such tire places. Kit Kat has had a tire or two replaced there. I pulled in. The guy behind the counter told me to talk to the technicians.

A tech took one look at my tire and said he could plug it for $15. And he could do it right then. That was the good news. The hard part was driving back home and putting the tire on the car. Actually I had done the hard work. I figured out where the spare tire is, and more importantly, how to release it from my car. I also jacked up the car using the stock jack that comes with the vehicle. I was sad I did not have my other car that Little Kat drives. It has an after market power jack in the trunk.

So far, the plug in the tire has held up. I am going to sell this car anyway after Little Kat learns how to drive manual transmission with it. So it only has to make it to about the end of the year.

All Work

The big boss at work said we needed to start coming into the office. Okay. I signed up for a room and headed there early this morning. I planned to meet a teammate there. The teammate shows up two hours later. He said traffic was horrible. To top it off, he could not find a free desk at work. We have a first come first server policy there. You just rent a desk like a hotel. They actually call it hotelling.

I had to go to lunch by myself since my teammate went home early. That's okay. I went to one of our old pizza hangouts near work. I left work an hour early because I accomplished a lot. Traffic was bad going home. I was all alone since the family was helping Momoko at school. I decided to do some work out in the yard.

My first task was to pick up sticks from the ground. They collect sticks tomorrow. Then I moved some fallen trees from the hill to behind our shed. I want to build a pile of large trees that need to be removed. That way when I hire the guys to cut down some trees, all the haul away trees can be ready or them.

Finally I cut the grass on the whole property. It was really hot outside. Luckily I prepared a huge thermos full of ice water. I am talking 64 ounces here. The thermos kept the water cooled. When I finished the water a few hours later, it was time to go in. I was too tired to go out to buy some food. So I heated up some ravioli and waited for the family to come home.

Story of Splatoon

Little Kat asked me to pre-order a Wii-U game called Splatoon. The game seemed good. But I don't believe in paying for products that might come out in the future. So I waited until it was available. On the first day out, the game was going for $60 on Amazon.

Now that is just the price that new games cost. I researched the game and found that it is not a multi-player game. Not in the sense that the whole family could play with one Wii-U. You can go online and play multi-player. But that is one family member against a bunch of strangers. No fun. Not fun enough for me to buy.

Little Kat decided he really wanted the game. So he pitched me an offer. He would use his gift card to pay for some of the game. And then he and I would split the difference. Sounded good to me. Turns out Little Kat bought the game from Game Stop (where he had a gift card). It should arrive soon.

Good deal Little Kat. That's the way to negotiate your way into game acquisition.

Going Shopping

My company laptop was having problems. Our help desk could not fix the problem over the phone. They told me to go into the office. I was busy last week. This morning I found some time to go into the office. The IT guy there told me to leave my laptop with him for an hour. I had some time on my hands.

I decided to go visit a gun shop that was close to my office. Had a tough time finding the place. I got close using the GPS. But it was in a strip mall that was hard to get to from the road. Inside, I found that in our state you need to get a license to buy a gun. Oh boy.

Seems I need to do some certified training and get my fingerprints taken. Then I can apply for the license. The gun store had the Ruger SP101 that I was thinking about buying. The 22 caliber version of this guns holds eight bullets at once. I like the sounds og that. I felt the gun. It had a good weight to it. The handle looked with with a combo of lwood and rubber.

I tried holding a Smith and Wesson. It felt too light for my likes. It also looked cheap with a full rubber handle. It was also more expensive than the Ruger. It feels like Ruger is the way for me to go initially. Once I bought my first gun, I will be able to get some weapons that can stop the bad guys. This first one is just to go through the process of getting a gun, and using it for target practice.

Bodygrooming

Some time back, I gave Little Kat an electric shaver as a gift. It was just a cheap item. He said he preferred using an electric shaver over a razor. I use a Gilette razor myself. It seems the best not to get nicks. But I know a lot of guys that use electric shavers.

Recently Little Kat said he shaver does not work well. He told Momoko he needed some type of bodygroomer. Well I normally buy the kids the things that they need. Little Kat sent me a link to the item he wanted on Amazon. Ooops. The thing costs sixty bucks. Oh well. The guy needs to be groomed I guess.

Let's hope this thing does the job. Little Kat is going to be a big kat now.

Early Summer Trip

Momoko's grandmother passed away. Her body was/is being sent to Ohio to be buried next to her husband. The family is planning to go visit the grave this month. Momoko and Little Kat get off of school for the summer in a few weeks.
Ohio is an eight hour drive from our house. That might make for a good adventure for the kids. They have not driven long distance yet. However I cannot get off from work that week. Therefore I decided it would be better if we flew out to Ohio.

I used Expedia to make all my reservations. We could not get a direct flight there from our closest airport. So we shall travel to the other side of town to get a direct flight. We are also deviating from our normal SouthWest airlines. The good news is that we get to choose a seat on our plane - no more general adminssion.

I studied the area around our destnation. It is kind of like our hometown. A big city surrounded by a bunch of suburbs. I got a good deal on a rental car. Mid size SUV for $50 a day before taxes/fees. Normally we pay closer to $100/day for the big SUVs.

It took a while to sift through the hotel choices. I wanted a room with a king size bed for Momoko and me. Also wanted another room with two beds for Kit Kat and one other family member. Did not want to go too cheap and get a sketchy place. Also did not want to go too high. I think I found a good compromise that is close to our destination.

This trip has a somber purpose. But it is always good to see family. Plus we will be trying out a new airport and airline. The only caveat is that Little Kat wants to visit his dad for the summer. So it looks like he will not be coming with us. I told him if his plans fall through, I could still get him a ticket on the plane late.

Kitchen Error

Today I wrapped up an emergency software delivery. It was kind of hectic. I paired up with the guy that leads my team. Somehow he got confused in the middle of the task. I got him back on track.

I also had a physical workout today. Brought in a bunch of trash cans I put out last night. That is harder than it sounds because they got filled with water from the rain. Then I filled up a couple trash cans with sticks and branches from the yard.

After work I spent 30 minutes on the stationary exercise bike. Also pumped some iron on Little Kat's weight bench. I was going to go to the store after a shower. I never made it. Took a snooze in bed. When I came down for dinner, something smelled bad.

Kit Kat told me she had an accident in the kitchen. She forgot to put the water in the pot with the vegetables. They burned. Kit Kat panicked and pulled the pot off the stove. She dumped it on the counters. The counters burned a bit. Burned through the surface. Now what are we to do?

Momoko looked up some ideas on the internet. We could just cover the holes with some pot holders. That will kill two birds with one stone. Cover up the ugly mess. Make a place to put hot pots in the future. I might have my handyman come and do the work on the counter.

Summer Vacation

Momoko said she wanted to have a summer vacation before she reports back to school. Her idea of a vacation was to go to the beach. I told my cousin I might be going there. My cousin asked what had happened to my foreign travels. Oh yeah...

Well what happened was Kit Kat had a spring break that was different than the rest of the family. So we could not go overseas and leave Kit Kat behind. Summer seems like a good time for the family to travel abroad.

I would like to go to Canada. It gets us through customs. Plus it is not that far away. I found that Toronto is a short 1hr45min flight away. There seem to be a ton of hotels in Toronta. Little Kat has a good friend who lives within an hour's drive from Canada.

The only weird thing is that SouthWest Airlines does not fly to Toronto. I guess it does not fit into the Southwest. My thought was to use United Air. But Little Kat thought we would be safer on Air Canada. Sounds legit to me.