Microsoft Certified

At my last job, one of the senior developers was let go. He told me the only database jobs he could find were Microsoft based. A year ago I was let go from that project too. The only jobs I was able to find that seemed interesting were with Microsoft SQL Server. I thought I saw the writing on the wall. So I decided to learn SQL Server.

Why not get a certification while I was doing this? Might as well. I decided on the SQL 2016 Database Development one. It is an MCSA cert. That stands for Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate. I needed to hurry up though. Microsoft is retiring this certification in January 2021.

Well today I went to take my second and final exam required for this MCSA cert. My normal testing centers are closed due to COVID-19. I tried an alternate site for the first test. The exam crashed in the middle, causing the admins to run around rebooting stuff for 30 minutes. That is not the optimal environment for exam taking.

So I tried a new testing site today. The windows on the front of the building were covered so you could not see through. The front door was locked. They did not have any lockers you could secure your belongings in. I decided to lock my valuables up in my car. Still have to check in my car key with a guy who would "put it in a filing cabinet".

This second exam was difficult. Lots of DBA questions. Turns out I was sufficiently prepared. I passed and am now a recognized MCSA. Next up, I need to determine what to learn next.

Duplicate Credit Card Charges

I needed to pick up my car from the dealership. Was having some maintenance done. Before going in, I decided to stop by Little Caesars to get some bread sticks. I pulled up to their drive through window and tried to pay by credit card.

The dude had trouble running my card through. He tried a number of times. Eventually he said he got it to work. And I thought everything was okay. Then I got my credit card bill. Turns out they charged me four times that day.

I called the credit card company up. Told them 3 of the 4 charges were not valid. They told me to call the vendor and try to get them to refund the bad charges. I called the store. They told me to call Little Caesars management.

I called the manager. They saw my charges. But they said that they did not collect the money due to communication problems with the credit card machine. I said that seemed strange as my credit card company was passing the charges on to me.

In the end, the vendor said they would not credit the charges back. So my credit card company had to charge the money back. Lesson learned it to pay online using their web site, and just pick the food up from the local store.

Career Proposals

Momoko and I searched Little Kat's college offerings. We looked for a program with minimal classes in an industry with good pay. We wanted a program that was not difficult to get into. We also did not one a program that required a lot of difficult classes.

Our first choice was 3D printing. You can get a certificate in it with a little as 3 semesters. The average salary in the field is very high. There are some concerns. 3D printing is not a mature field. Also, it requires a physical sciences class that seems difficult.

Next program is CAD. It also only requires a couple semesters of study to get a certificate. The average salary is no that high. Another drawback is both new students (like Little Kat) and people experienced in the field might be going for the certificate, putting the newbies at a disadvantage. Finally you need to take labs starting the the first semester, which will be challenging due to COVID-19.

Last up is Cyber Forensics. It needs a few semesters of study. The average salary is decent. However like CAD, it requires labs starting in the first semester. It also requires tough courses such as a Python programming class, along with a very tough networks class.

Once Little Kat is done with the current semester at school, Momoko and I will pitch our ideas to him for a new college prorgram and career.

In Search of a Career

Little Kat is trying to get into a specific program at his college. Word on the street is that it is a competitive program to enter.  I had thought Little Kat would have passed all his prerequisites before applying. However he might not pass one of the classes he is taking this semester. That would have an impact on his priority in getting into the program. It is not looking good right now.

Momoko and I started looking into backup programs that Little Kat could study at his college. I figured that since he has been going to college for a long time, the program would need to be short (i.e. 2 years). I was also looking for a program that gives you a career with a decent starting salary. It would be nice if there was room for advancement within the field. Finally, we need something Little Kat can get into and complete in college.

One of the interesting offering from his college was a certificate in Network Security Administration. The biggest draw was that the average salary for somebody in this field is $75k per year. Also, the certificate only requires 24 credits worth of courses. That around 8 courses, a light load. I figured there must be a trick. Indeed there is. This certificate is for people that have experience with computer operations and networks.

Back to the drawing board. Konner only has some experience serving people food in a nursing home. We need a program that will teach him all he needs for an entry level position.

Late Night Delivery

I forgot to give Little Kat the new insurance cards for the car I let him drive. Momoko also mentioned that he was running out of laundry detergent. I had given him a small bottle of Purex when he moved into his apartment. I had some extra bottles for him at our home.

I called up Little Kat, and scheduled a time to come by later at night. Asked him if he needed anything else. He said he was running out of paper towels and toilet paper. Oops. Luckily we always have some backup supplies at our house.

Put most of the stuff in a laundry basket, and drove off to Little Kat's apartment. By the time I got there, it was raining. I only came in my slippers. Parked in Little Kat's driveway. He came out and brought all the stuff into his apartment.

Of course Little Kat's housemate comes back to the house and parks in the driveway as I am parked there waiting for Little Kat. Oh well. Got to keep ahead of his supply needs. I ordered some more paper towels and toilet paper. Might also need to order some more Purex.

Trouble in Anatomy

Little Kat is finishing some of the prerequisites for the college program he wants to enter. He almost did not make it into the Math class he requires. But he somehow got them to approve him taking the required Math class. He is also taking Anatomy II.

In the middle of the semester, I caught wind that Little Kat was thinking about dropping his Anatomy II class. That raised the alarms for me. He needs that class to be able to apply to his program and have all prerequisites completed.

Momoko and I stepped in and told Little Kat that he needed to improve his grade in the Anatomy II course. There is a lecture and a lab. He was doing poor in both. We advised him to concentrate on the lecture. It counts twice as much towards the final grade in the course.

Unfortunately Little Kat failed his last quiz in Anatomy II. There is only one more quiz and a final left. There have been so many poor quiz grades that Little Kat is close to not being able to pass this class with a "C". The most likely end game from this is that Little Kat will not be able to get into his program of choice at college.

Soon it will be time to regroup, and figure out a new path towards a career for Little Kat.

Microsoft Certification Exam

I have a goal of getting a Microsoft certification this year. The one I want requires two exams. For the first one, I took a Udemy video course. It was not that helpful. Then I studied the Microsoft prep guide. A little better. The last thing I did was rent access to sample tests. They helped. But they were buggy.

My normal and backup testing sites were closed down due to COVID-19. So I found another open site near my house. The next available testing date was Saturday. I arrived there early, and read an eBook in my car. When I got in, the lobby of the testing suite was crowded. Eventually I got led back to the test room.

I read the first exam question. When I tried to answer it, the program crashed. The administrator tried a lot of things to get me back into the exam. He restarted the software a few times. He rebooted my PC a few times. I think he even rebooted the server. Eventually he got me in, but the software knew there had been an error. The admin had to call the testing company to unlock my exam.

The admin assured me I would get the allotted time for my exam. However the exam was a 2.5 hour one. My clock showed under 2 hours remaining when he got me back in. The testing company said there was nothing they could do. I said forget about the time, and got to work. There was one more surprise in the question format. Some questions had me writing code. Never saw that in any practice exams.

In the end I passed the test with flying colors. Now I am hitting the books for the second exam.

Grocery Shopping for Little Kat

 

Little Kat is living on his own in his basement apartment. Momoko and I have got him on a rigid schedule to improve the grade in his required Anatomy class. He works a long week at his job this week. So he has not been able to go grocery shopping by himself. He used to tag along with Momoko for family grocery shopping.

Momoko decided we should help Little Kat out. So this afternoon, Momoko and I drove up by his house and went grocery shopping while Little Kat was at work. We happened to shop at the grocery store we went to when we lived in our prior town house. Their county had just started requiring that they charge customers for plastic bags. Luckily we brought our own bags in the trunk.

We went to Little Kat's house. I parked in the driveway to unload the groceries. I used Little Kat's spare door key that we keep at our house to let us in. It came in handy. After unloading, I parked my car in Little Kat's spot on the street. I put some weed killer in his laundry room. Momoko put the cold stuff in Little Kat's fridge and freezer. The rest we left on his kitchen table.

Presidential Election Time

It is getting close to election time. As usual, I am voting by mail. Trump came in 4 years ago with a lot of promises. Don't think he followed through on any of them. The other big option is Biden. He seemed a bit weak on what to do with looters/rioters. He also wants to spend a lot of money on his own version of the Green New Deal. I checked his web site. All it seemed to do is have pop ups asking for donations.

I saw there were a lot of other candidates on the ballot for president. Jo Jorgensen is the Libertarian party candidate. I really like that she wants to end civil asset forfeiture. She is against more borrowing by the government. She wants to end the war on drugs. She backs free market health care instead of Medicare. She wants to replace social security with individually controlled retirement accounts. On Twitter, she said she would eliminate the department of education.

The Green Party candidate is Howie Gresham Hawkins. He was a founder of the 2010 Green New Deal. He has run for governor of New York many times. He has been a member of the Socialist Party since 1972. Although he was against the war in Viet Nam, he did server as a marine there. He was a Teamster at the UPS for a long time.

There is an interesting guy named Jerome Segal running for president too. He formed the Bread and Roses party. He wants to reduce the time everyone spends working at their jobs. He backs universal health care. He wants to eliminate any tax exemptions for the wealthy. He would like to expand local agriculture initiatives. The thing that turned me off from him was his teaching policy at UPenn. He made students choose to either pass/fail his class, or get a default "C". That is because he is opposed to competitive grading.

Failure is not an Option

Momoko went shopping with Little Kat today to look for a desk. They did not find a suitable one. Momoko mentioned that Little Kat was planning to drop his anatomy class if he thought he would fail it. This was disturbing news. He needs this class to complete the prerequisites for the program he is trying to get into at college.

I called Little Kat on the phone. Had him go over what the prerequisites for his program were. Helped him understand what  prerequisite means. Note to the reader - it means you need to complete the courses before hand. Momoko, Little Kat, and I came to an agreement that he needs to pass this course this semester.

Momoko said she needed a copy of the anatomy textbooks. Little Kat has copies at his apartment. We need some for our house. I checked on Chegg, where Little Kat rents his expensive textbook. They only seemed to have a similar book. But it cost a lot to buy (even used). Rental was expensive too.

In the end, I decided to call the college bookstore. They have new copies of the books. They cost a fortune. But if this makes the difference between Little Kat getting into his program at college or failing, we need to get them. There are COVID-19 restrictions on campus. I needed to make an appointment and pass security COVID checks to get into the bookstore. I will get those textbooks.

Little Kat Moves Out

The family packed Little Kat's belongings in a small cargo truck I rented from U-Haul. The next morning we went to his future apartment. It is the basement of a single family home. Met the landlord, who stayed up all night fixing and cleaning the apartment. We found a number of pre-existing issues with the apartment. Did not want to get blamed for them upon move out.

Little Kat worked with the landlord to set up his TV with the FIOS. We got connected to the WiFi there. Then we signed the lease. It is month to month rent. There is a private washer and driver. The kitchen is big and has a dishwasher. We called the rest of the family to join us for the move in.

I made use of my wheel barrel that I packed in my brother's truck. It served as a mega dolly for really large items. After everything got moved into the apartment, I called a local Italian mom and pops place to order lunch. We ate in Little Kat's kitchen, sitting on folding chairs we gave Little Kat.

We could not stay for long. Little Kat had to work that afternoon. Momoko wanted his bed made, and the kitchen unpacked before we left. My brother helped me return the U-Haul moving truck. For now Little Kat is away from home for this and part of the next school semester.

Apartment Tenant

Little Kat is planning to move out of the house. This is so he can go do a program (major) in his college. I have been looking around at apartments. They either want long leases, are far away, and/or cost a lot of money. We did find a basement for rent in a city to the North of us. Rent was reasonable. Commute is short. We might have a deal.

We had planned to meet the landlord this week. The current tenant was supposed to vacate last week. The landlord informed us that the tenant had not left the apartment. So we rescheduled. Hopefully the tenant will move out and we can sign a lease.

I already have a rental truck reserved for this weekend. Got a lot of bankers boxes from Amazon, which Little Kat has been filling up. He does not have that much furniture in his bedroom. We might also send him off with a recliner or two. Kit Kat's boyfriend has offered to help with the move.

I asked my brother if we could use his truck to supplement the small cargo truck I am renting. He agreed. The only trouble is that Little Kat is scheduled to work on moving day. He was not able to get the day off.

Testing Gutter Solutions

Our rain gutters get clogged seasonally due to lot of leaves falling into them. This results in water pouring over the side of the gutter towards the house. It also makes the gutters heavy, and prone to falling off the house.

I have deliberated over hiring somebody to install some sort of gutter solution. But reviews are always harsh. Often times the "fixes" make the problem worse. There are many reports of people installing such solutions with a guarantee, but when it comes time to come back to resolve problems, there is no help.

I saw an ad for a cheap solution. So I bought a plastic mesh product for around $10 from a mail order catalog. There were no instructions on how to install the thing. It was just a long mesh. Today I got up on the roof. I placed the mesh over one section of gutters in the back yard. I tied the mesh down to the nails that connect the gutter to the house.

Let's see if this helps any. If so, I can do the treacherous job of climbing to the second level to install this same fix.

New Air Compressor

Kit Kat always seems to have issues with tire pressure on her car. She recently was low on air. Her boyfriend let her borrow his air compressor. She filled up the car tires right in our driveway. It was a lot easier and cheaper than going to the gas station.

I ordered a new air compressor for Kit Kat. We got the same model as her boyfriend has. It came quickly in the mail. It sat on our coffee table. The package had not even been opened when my own car alerted me to low air on all 4 tires.

So I broke out the compressor. It plugs into the car's lighter socket. You program the compressor to the desired air pressure and let it go. It stops automatically when the tire is full. The only tricky part is that it lets some air out of the tire when you disconnect the air hose from the tire.

I think this gadget will come in handy for the family in the future. Sorry gas station. You can keep your air.

Apartment Shopping

Little Kat is looking to relocate into the county of his college. He needs to do this for a chance to get into the program of his choosing at school. At first, I thought we would just have him rent a room from some friends of the family. That is proving harder than I thought. So now we are looking at renting him an apartment.

Luckily there are some apartment shopping aggregators out there. Trying to find a place with a washer/dryer inside the rental unit. Would be easier if the apartment provided high speed Internet. Just found out today that Little Kat would like a lot of counter space in the kitchen.

I am worried that we might choose a dud. So I am looking for an initial short term lease. That way Little Kat can bolt if need be. It would be nice if he did not live too far away as well. For now, me and Momoko scouted out a few apartment neighborhoods. Just today, Little Kat and I took a drive around those neighborhoods too.

Dryer Mix Up

Our dryer started having troubles recently. It makes a funny noise when you start it up. Sometimes it does not dry clothes in a single cycle. The lint catcher broke, so I ordered a replacement part from the manufacturer. It did not fit correctly, causing the door not to close easily. For all these problems and more, we decided to get a new dryer.

We had a gas line run to behind the dryer. So we went shopping for a gas dryer. Lowes only seemed to have electric ones. So we ordered an electric dryer. The thing turned out to be back ordered, causing them to miss two delivery dates. Third time was the charm. The dryer got delivered.

The delivery guys said they could not unhook the old dryer. It was gas. Lo and behold, they were right. I guess I forgot that we previously upgraded from electric to gas. That's okay. I got my handyman to come and switch out the dryer. Turns out the new electric dryer does not have power any more. We reclaimed the big dryer line to power our window A/C units upstairs.

My handyman recommended I just go buy a gas dryer. That is what we wanted anyway. So now I got to return this electric dryer, and find a new gas one that I like. The only consolation is that my handyman can hook the new one up as soon as I acquire it.

Niece Returns Home For Summer

 

Momoko's niece came out to live with us this summer. She stayed in Momoko's study. We previously purchased a guest bed for her to sleep on. It fit nicely in the room. There was an Amazon fire stick in the room. However the niece came down to the family room to watch shows on the big TV.

 

This week was the last one for the summer visit. Momoko and Kit Kat woke up before the crack of dawn, and drove the niece to the airport. They stayed with her until she checked in her bags and got to security. Luckily there were a lot of food choices for breakfast just on the other side of the security checkpoint.

 

Yesterday we packed the mattress and box springs into their original plastic bags for protection. Then we stored then in the utility room in the basement. Momoko got her study back. Her desk was moved back in there today. There was a slight disturbance as Little Kat built his new over-the-toilet shelf in the kids bathroom. All the supplies were temporarily placed in Momoko's study.

Roof Install Troubles

The guys came early to install our roof. They started ripping the old roof off around 6:30am. I think that is illegal in our jurisdiction. I did not stop them, as the weather would only get hotter during the day. I went out and watched them tear off the old shingles. There were two layers of roofing up there. They also pulled out all the plywood under the shingles. They said it was too thin.

They asked me to look around as they were finishing up. I had to climb up to the second story to see the back of the house. Had them do more work on some of the flashing. One of the flashing over the apron behind the chimney was the wrong color. They said the roofing company sent them that color.

The main problem was that the roof was not at a uniform height where the edge of it met the rain gutters. This was defective on both the second and first story roofs. Also, there was an indentation in the middle of the roof over the front door.

The project manager called and said he would call back with a schedule for somebody to come, inspect, and resolved my problems. Never heard back from the guys. That was a few weeks ago. I called their production department. Got promises of calls. Never got them. Time to escalate to management. I am not too worried. I am withholding the final payment of over $10k. Somebody will eventually notice that and get in touch with me.

Law of Surprise

The roofers came really early today. I was ready. They were tearing off the roof by 6:30am. I think by law they are supposed to wait until 7:00am. However since there is a heat wave, I figure they needed to start early.

Luckily I had pre-negotiated that any sheathing plywood would be covered by my roofing estimate. Normally they charge by the 4x8 sheet. It ranges from $50 to $100 a sheet installed. My contract stipulated that the price for any sheathing replacement was covered. Turns out they roofers decided every existing sheet needed to be replaced on my roof. That could have cost me $3000++ extra.

During the removal of the second layer of existing roof, somebody must have slipped and fell through the roof. It punched a whole in Kat Kat's bedroom ceiling. She was disturbed to say the least. The main roofer was apologetic. He came in and cleaned up the mess from the puncture. They he called a guy to come patch the ceiling.

They color matched the ceiling. But the color would not match exactly. It was close enough for us. I did have to run after the contractor because he took the wood/lumber that we used to cover up and brace the whole temporarily. They offered to give me extra plywood that they will be throwing out. No thank you. I just wanted to keep what I started with.

As an aside, I have made a lot of charges this month with the kids bathroom renovation, plus Momoko's niece coming out to visit for the summer. While I am not at my limit yet, paying the balance on the roofing job would push me over the limit. I was able to call up my bank and get them to give me an instant credit increase. Now I hope we should be good (still have a beach trip to pay for later this month).

Roof Delivery

The roof installers arrived really early this morning. I guess they prepared to be pulling up the old roof prior to 7am. I asked them to not remove the rain gutters. The delivery people had not brought the roofing material the prior day as planned. The installers put in a call with them.

The installers put down tarps everywhere. They asked even the car in the carport to be moved away. The took the grill and black trash enclosure away from the house in the back patio. Ladders were extended up to the roof. Things looked ready to go.

After a while, I heard the ladders being retracted. One truck left. They the last installer told me they would have to come back tomorrow as they had no idea where my roofing materials were. I later got a call from the company that the delivery truck broke down.

In the afternoon, a truck with a huge crane on the back appeared. They dropped of a lot of plywood in the driveway. They also put some ridge venting material on top of it. The real impressive part was that they lifted the shingles right onto the roof. A guy secured a safety harness to the roof as he pulled the shingles off the pallet hoisted by the crane.

Afterwards I parked four cars to box in our materials. Better to hide it and make theft difficult.

Bathroom Redesign

The kids previously had a pink bathroom with a tub. They only took showers in it. Water kept escaping from the tub onto the floor. Not good for the house. I decided to get the tub converted to a shower only. The kids then asked for more updates to their bathroom.

They chose their shower wall and bathroom floor tiles plus colored grout. They chose a square shower handle. They chose a floating vanity with matching sink. They chose a tall medicine cabinet and a modern LED light above it. They also got accessories in brushed nickel. Their shower door was a frosted glass which turned out to only have half of it which would open/move.

With Momoko's niece over for the summer, plus the redesigned bathroom, it was time to get our hot water problem resolved. The water would only remain hot for 10 minutes. Second person taking a shower usually got cold water. After trying a couple fixes, I decided to replace the hot water heater.

Initial estimate for a new 75-gallon gas hot water heater was $4.5k. Went through my handyman to get one installed for less than half of that. Unfortunately the top of the new expansion tank has water coming out of it slowly. Waiting for that to be repaired.

Timber

Our next door neighbor alerted us that he was having people come and cut the trees around his house. Previously he had a big branch fall and damage his house. He was worried it would happen again. The tree cutters were going to start early in the morning.

I hearing the beeping of the crane truck as it backed into the neighbor's yard. The operator of the crane sounded the manual horn every time he wanted to get another worker's attention. I presume somebody climbed up and cut branches. They would tie the branch to the crane.

The crane reached over the house to the trees in the back yard. Then it would rotate the trees out to the street. There the workers used chain saws to cut the branches off the trees. They fed most branches into a wood chipper that ground up the wood.

My handyman had to tell them to get out of the way when he came to our house. Luckily, they were in between tree cuts when we went out for lunch. By the end of the day, all that was left was a couple tiny twigs here and there in the street.

Getting Shower Shelves

The kids and I went to purchase some shelves for their new updated shower. We wanted to get the permanent kinds that are physically connected to the wall. The kids did some research online. Kit Kat wanted some that have a bar to hang a wash cloth on. Little Kat wanted a different style. We decided to go purchase both.

At our home improvement store, we asked an employee to direct us to the shelves. That got us to closet shelves. No luck though. Kit Kat tried to install the store app. There was bad Internet reception. So we headed over to the bath aisles. I found some old school shower caddies that go from floor to ceiling with a tension rod. Bought two for the master bedroom shower. We will be having kids in there taking showers while their bathroom is being remodeled.

The kids finally found Kit Kat's shelves in the aisle with faucets. However we could not find Little Kat's shelves. We left the store and headed for another location on the other side of town. It was overcast and seemed like it was going to rain when we got there. I felt like we were in the neighborhood of my friend Ben.

We rushed to the faucet aisle and found Little Kat's shelves. Then we made a bee line the self check our register and purchased the shelves. As we were leaving, the store lost power. I rushed to the exit so we would not get stuck inside. Little Kat ran for the car. The rain was coming down in huge drops. There was much water on the sides of the roads during the drive home.

Gerbil Relocation

The kids are about to get a massive bathroom renovation started this week. Our handyman is going to rip out almost everything from their bathroom. The bath will be converted to a shower only. That will seal up any water that currently escapes their tub. There is one drawback. The demolition is expected to cause a lot of noise. Our poor gerbils!

The plan is to temporarily relocate the gerbils to the basement while the demo is underway. Kit Kat bought a small secondary gerbil cage today. It will be placed in my study, which is in the basement of the house. Still will be some noise heard down there. Hopefully it will be a lot less than what will be audible on the main level.

Kit Kat plans to bring the gerbils downstairs each day when our handyman arrives. And she will return them to their main cage when he leaves each day. I am at work downstairs during handyman hours. So these gerbils will at least have some company. I guess I can hook them up with nearly unlimited cardboard to chew during the dayh.

Niece Visit

Momoko and I are thinking about inviting her niece to stay with us for the summer. The niece is out of a job at the moment. And her college career is on hold. This might be the perfect time for her to come for an extended stay.

First question is where will she sleep? We have an extra bedroom upstairs with the rest of the bedroom. However this bedroom serves as Momoko's study. It could be converted. I also have a den in the basement. It serves as my study. It is pretty large. Then we also have a library upstairs. There is a lot of traffic through it by the family though.

So if the niece is game, we can fly her out soon. There is one disadvantage. She will be arriving right before we undertake a massive renovation of the kids' bathroom upstairs. I guess she will have to live with the noise during demolition.

Student Loans for Little Kat

Little Kat finished his spring semester at community college. He signed up for summer and fall classes. Now he needed to figure out how to pay for college. Previously he took out some personal loans. The problem with them is that he has to immediately start making payments on the loan. That is not fun as he is still in school.

So Little Kat inquired with the college how he could get some loans that you don't have to start paying until you graduate. He found a bank that would lend him money under such an agreement. The only problem is that the bank said that Momoko's credit was tapped out. She could not co-sign for him.

This is where I enter the picture. Little Kat has a plan. He wants to get into a lucrative program at community college. If he does, he can get a certificate in 2 years and get a good job directly after that. I had to co-sign his loan so he could move forward with this plan. The loan is just for the summer and fall of this year. There will be further loans in the future.

Dishwasher out of Service

Little Kat ran the dishes this afternoon. Momoko saw the lights on the dishwasher this evening. Apparently the dishes were not run. Little Kat pressed the start button. The dishwasher lit up but did not do its job. Neither Momoko nor Little Kat can get the thing running.

I am going to call the manufacturer to get an authorized repair guy to look at the dishwasher. Momoko and I are going shopping for a new dishwasher tomorrow as well. Momoko is worried about washing dishes by hand. So Kit Kat has replaced the dishes and glasses in our cupboards with paper and plastic ones.

We are cancelling the cooking of dinners for the time being. It is going to be fend for yourself. Little Kat said he is broke. So Momoko will subsidize the funds for his dinners. Hopefully we can get the dishwasher running again soon. For now, ingredients for dinners planned this week are being frozen.

Doordash is a Rip

Momoko and I were busy for work. So Momoko had Kit Kat order us some Arby's. She used DoorDash for the delivery. Normally Momoko and I drive to Arby's and walk in. We often use coupons. We get a ton for food for under $20 total.

With Kit Kat eating too, I figured the bill would cost around $30. She has a subscription to DoorDash that I thought would eliminate extra feeds. Nope. Turns out that only removes the DoorDash fee. There is still a service fee and a tip involved. Our total turned out to be $51+.

The moral of the story is that delivery is expensive, even if you subscribe and pay a monthly fee to DoorDash. Now I know these kids should not be having food delivered to them. They just don't make the money needed to truly afford this type of living.

Full Recycle Bin

Momoko is teleworking now due to COVID-19 restrictions. She used to sit on her chaise and use a folding table. The table broke. And the chaise is bad for her back. Therefore she ordered some furniture. She got a smaller desk to fit in her study. She also got a chair with no arms to slide under the desk. Plus she got some accessories to put on top of the desk.

All this new furniture has resulted in a lot of cardboard to get rid of. Momoko is slacking. She just folds up the cardboard and puts it in the county recycle bin. The problem is that we generate a lot of other recyclable materials each week. Our bin is overflowing.

I got a new furnace filter. It can in a big box. I had to get to work. I tore up all the big boxes that Momoko tried to stuff in the bin. Kept each piece to 9x12 inches or so. When chopped up, all the cardboard fit fine in the recycle bin. Not sure if that will help them recycle the material. I know it will help us put all of our material in there before they haul it away.

Windows 10 Printing Trouble

Both kids are having problems printing from their Windows 10 devices to our Brother laser printer. I sent them some links to web pages that help resolve the problem. The original trouble was that the pages came out all black. That got resolved. However printing is now just garbled.

I figured somebody needed to dig in and solve this problem. At first I thought I would just buy a Windows 10 compatible printer. The problem is that everyone says their printer is Windows 10 compatible, including my printer's manufacturer.

Next I thought I would try to upgrade one of my laptops to Windows 10. I chose a machine that I had Windows 8 on. Tried three times to upgrade it to Windows 10. The upgrade failed every time. This is a total waste of time.

I think it is time for me to just purchase a new Windows 10 computer. Then I can make the problem happen on my machine, and work through to a solution. The new machine could serve some other purposes as well. Time to go shopping.

Negative Steak Surprises

Momoko asked me what I wanted to eat for dinner. Steak of course. She tried to place an order via Door Dash. It would not let her choose a side of mushrooms. So she called the restaurant at 3:30pm. Asked to have them deliver the steaks at 6:40pm.

Well 6:40pm comes and goes. No steaks. Ten minutes later, she calls the restaurant. They told her our food was done. But it would not be delivered for another hour and a half. WTF? Momoko decided to drive down to the restaurant to pick it up herself.

Upon arrival, she was told the no longer sell mushrooms. This was after speaking with 3 employees over the phone who said they would ensure the mushrooms were included in the order. Luckily Momoko chewed out the manager. She got the meal charge reversed, and allegedly would be getting some additional credits back.

The food tasted good. The experience left a sour taste in our mouth. Later, Kit Kat said that steak house was the worst ever. Now we know.

New Car Acquired

I broke down and purchased a new vehicle. It is a luxury model. I used a web site to find the cheapest one in town. Turns out the back seat in it is very spacious as long as there is no sunroof installed. I took it for a test drive. It was zippy.

The local dealership was willing to knock a few grand off the price. They also offered 0% interest for 36 months financing. Only problem was their cheap model was white. I really wanted a black exterior.

So I found the right color at another dealership on the other side of the city. I asked them to give me a walk-out price. The also knocked a couple grand off. But there were more options on that car. So the total was a lot higher than the other offer. I asked the guy to match the other offer, but conceded that his car had more options. We settled with me paying the matched price, plus the cost for an expensive option.

At this second dealership, I saw a few folks in the parking lot. Initially they seemed like salespeople. Nope. They were sales trainees. My guy was the sales manager. He was tied up. Eventually he shuffled me off to a side saleswoman. I did a test drive and was ready to buy. Their initial offer on my trade-in was low. So I kept my Chevy Spark.

Momoko had to drive me back to the dealership to pick up my Spark. Now I got a new model vehicle that I love. There are way too many bells and whistles on this thing. Tomorrow I go take a class to learn about the vehicle. Let's hope I can keep this car for a very long time.

Hunt for a New Car

A got a little cash from the sale of some stock options. So I thought it might be time to get a new car. My Chevy Spark has minimal features. No power lock, power windows, or CD player. Tall people cannot fit in the back seat. Shorter people don't like the back seat. Only real benefit of the car was that it was cheap.

I spied a deal on a 2019 Jeep Renegade. The sale price was $13k. It was a bit suspicious, as the MSRP is well over $20k. However even if I had to pay another grand or two, it seemed like a deal. I suspect tall people can fit in the back due to the boxy roofline.

Doing some research, I heard that the Renegade had terrible blind spots. I had flashbacks to my Fiat 500, which was fun, but dangerous due to the blind spots. Therefore I just about gave up on the car. The price rose to $14k. Still a deal. Then the car got sold.

I might still test drive a Renegade, just to verify the claims about the blind spots. But I got a lead on a new model from Hyundai - The Venue. It is essentially a reconfigured Hyundai Accent. But the roofline seems adequate due to its boxy shape. If tall people can fit in the back, I might just get one. Local dealer has one listed for $13k. The price is a scam, but if I could get it for under $15k, I am in.

Supplies in Demand due to COVID-19

I had heard that the governor was going to shut down non-essential businesses. This motivated me to make that trip to the home garden center. Picked up the paper bags that the county requires us to use to dispose of yard clippings. Got some weed-n-feed to take care of that colorless grass in the front yard. I also picked up bug killer and weed killer.

Momoko went grocery shopping. The only item I needed her to get was soft soap. We were running low. After I came home and was about to unload my supplies, Momoko said she could not find soft soap. She only checked the grocery store. The governor's orders were going to be in effect soon. So she needed me to come along to go look for the soap refill.

We tried Walgreens. No soft soap. We tried one CVS as the kids tried another. No soft soap. Then I recalled the last time I was searching for toilet paper when there was a run on it. Walmart was the only option back then. We dropped by. They did had soft soap. Just no huge refill bottles. We piled up a bunch of small soft soap dispensers. They were all scented. But hey. Scented small bottles are better than nothing.

Vacation Plans Change due to Coronavirus

We had scheduled to visit Momoko's dad for spring break. Had the time off, airplane tickets, and everything. Now the Coronavirus has hit. Momoko's dad did not want us to catch the virus on the plane and pass it to him. Reading between the lines, he thought we should postpone our flight.

Yesterday our state declared that schools will be closed for the next two weeks. Most likely they will cancel spring break to make up for the time off due to the coronavirus. I asked my boss if I could change my vacation plans. There was some negotiating. But my boss agreed.

So now Momoko and I might just take a right to the shore. We love having a hotel room facing the beach. The waves are very calming. The water is too cold to go near. But just being on the shore is medicinal. Rooms are relatively reasonable this early in the season. They cost a couple times higher in the summer.

Bright Side to Coronavirus

I got a lot of work due this week. Unfortunately my boss at my company scheduled a long in-person meeting today. I was supposed to go downtown at attend this meeting in person. I told my team leader about this. Another guy I work with on my team had his own meeting to attend this morning. The result is that we can't work together until tomorrow. Oops. Delays.

This morning I got a break. Due to Coronavirus fears, we have the option to do a video call into the meeting. That means I get to stay home and skip all the traffic and time it takes to go downtown. I used this time to get a head start on my next task, which is due in two days. Ah. Finally catching a break here.

In other news, I have had problems logging into my virtual workstation at work. This has been a pain. The problem was further compounded by my account for logging into that machine being scheduled to be deleted. Go figure. An administrator rebooted my virtual machine. Seems like I can log into it now. If I could only get them to stop the deletion of my account, I might be good to go.

Going to see Amateur Hockey

We got invited to watch Momoko and Kit Kat's coworker play a hockey game. Kit Kat got a ride to the rink with her boyfriend. Another coworker from school came to pick up Little Kat. Momoko and I drove together. We arrived at 9:00pm, when we thought the game was going to start.

There were two rinks at the location. One was for general skating. And the other was an NFL style hockey rink. We waited in the lobby for the prior hockey game to end. The snack bar seemed to close right at 9:00pm. So we just missed it.

After the prior game ended, we headed to the stands next to the opponent's team. We watched as a Zamboni smoothed out the ice. There was a heater above our heads, blowing down warm air. The seat were made of plastic, so they were not too cold. There were not too comfortable though. A glass shield was directly in front of us, with fine netting up higher.

The guy playing had his wife and brother join us in the crowd. He seemed to be the one to do face offs when he was in the game. There were frequent player substitutions. Both teams had a player in the penalty box at different times. The teams seem well matched. The opposing team got ahead by the end, and our guy's team took our the goalie for maximum offensive players.

Microsoft Certification - Not Meant To Be

I had taken two Microsoft courses to learn about their Azure cloud platform. These courses were to deign and implement a data solution. They were offered on the other side of town. I talked my boss into having the company pay for a local hotel to stay in.

The courses were taught by people who seemed to know the Microsoft cloud well. The first class was implementing a data solution. They had us doing very specific exercises with the actual cloud. It was hard to get a frame of reference for what exactly that was teaching us.

The design course was second. It felt like it should have been taken first. Design and then implement, right? The study material for the design class was simpler and lesser in volume. I studied it. But there was not much to study.

Microsoft provided me vouchers to take the implementation and design certification exams. I took one at the local community college. And I took the other at a local testing site. I failed both of them. You need 70% to pass both tests. I got a 66% and 67% respectively for the implementation and design tests.

Normally I have the company purchase some exam prep books before I sit for an exam. No such books seem to exist for these exams. There are people who will sell you practice questions, including the company recommended by Microsoft. That does not seem like it would help much.

I guess I could buckle down and improve my knowledge by 10%, and thereby squeak past the tests to get the certification. But my heart is just not into it. I am not really that interested into becoming a Data Engineer. At least not for the Microsoft cloud platform. I think I will choose another specialty in the Microsoft universe, and get a slam dunk passing grade on those exams.

Squirrel Near Death

My buddy was coming over my house to meet for lunch. I decided to move Little Kat's car out of the way, in case I needed to drive my car to lunch. There was a squirrel on the driveway. I knew something was wrong. The flies were landing on it. I knew it was alive, because I saw the squirrel's eye blink. But I suspected it was near death.

The squirrel did not move as I drove the car by it. I gathered the family together and told them to be on the lookout. I did not want them running over the squirrel. I planned to collect the body after the squirrel died. Before my friend arrived, the squirrel hobbled over to the side of the driveway. It was sad. I hope the squirrel lived a long life.

I had recently wrapped up another dead squirrel that was in front of our house. I initially thought maybe it died of the cold. However the body was not stiff. So it must have just died that day. I don't recall having to do something like this before for a squirrel. Maybe for a frozen mouse. But not for a squirrel.

Microsoft Certification

Microsoft offered free training to employees in my company. The courses we related to Azure, their cloud computing offering. I recently started getting vouchers to take the Microsoft certification exams for free too.

So I signed up for the first exam. It was the one for Azure basics. I chose a testing center relatively close to my house. I had been to that testing center before. They made me read this long set of rules first. I asked the receptionist some questions about who my TA would be.

Then I stored all my belongings in a locker. The receptionist made me turn out my pockets before entering the test room. Even though it was early (8:00 am), there were a couple people in there already taking other tests.

The test started out really hard. The questions were confusing. But hey, I had to keep my cool. Later I saw some questions that made more sense. Since the exam was hard, I used some tactics to maximize my chances of passing.

In the end, I barely passed. Now I am worried and I have a much hard exam test on Monday. I had planned to be out of the office this morning since I was testing. But they needed me at work. Since the test was finished quick, I decided to take the afternoon off instead to study up for the next test.

Mice Invasion

Momoko and I took a vacation and went to her dad's house. He told us that he caught 5 mice in his house since the last time I was there. Whoa. He needed extra mouse traps. So we picked some up from Walmart.

Momoko decided to clean out the condiments drawer in his kitchen. She found that the mice had already eaten the sauces in all the packets. Had to clean out that drawer and leave a trap in there. Chinese food crispy noodles seemed like a good bait.

Apparently some mice were just running around on the kitchen counter. So we had traps set up there. Caught a few little mice. They were running around during the daytime hours!

Training Week

My company announced that we could receive free training during the month of January. It had to be related to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. The training was being held at sites from a training company I used to frequent. Sign me up!


One problem was that most of the training was being offered on the other side of town. The commute would be murderous. So I asked my boss if the company could pay for a hotel. The training itself was free after all. After some haggling, I got approved to get a hotel.


This morning I took the back roads to the first training site. It was strange when I arrived. Looked like there was only 1 class being offered. And there were only 2 other students present, both from my company. Turns out the other 30+ students were dialing in and learning remotely. At least they still had an option to order lunch and have it delivered.


The instructor ran a bit late in the afternoon, trying to coach the class on how to pass the optional exam. I was not interested in any exam. But his coaching was still instructional. Afterwards, I got into traffic and traveled to the second training location. Over an hour later, I pulled up to the hotel.


The hotel did not look like a hotel at all. I confirmed the address. Was surprised that the hold on my card was more than the amount I expected. Seems they also hold some for incidentals. I checked out their complimentary light dinner. Ate a lot of pizza. So much that they ran out. Tried to drink what I thought was apple juice. One taste and I knew it was wine. Yikes.

MegaBus to the NYC

Kit Kat and her boyfriend were scheduled to go to New York City this weekend. The only hitch was that they needed a ride to the bus depot. I was the only guy available to take them. I punched the destination into my Apple Car Play, and we were off.

We travelled the way Kit Kat used to go to her 4 year college. Then we passed it to get to the mall where she meets her friends from the North. I found the park and ride easily. However locating where Kit Kat was going to take the bus was not so easy. It did not help that half the parking lot was fenced in for construction.

We found the spot where the bus boards. Kit Kat and her boyfriend stayed in the car with me until closer to their departure time. We thought we saw they bus come. But it only let people off and left. The theory is that it went to gas up prior to boarding the next set of passengers.

The bus eventually came back. But it was 30 minutes after the scheduled departure time. I stuck around just in case Kit Kat needed a ride to some other transportation. She texted me when they got in and were seated. Then I was off for home. I took the toll road for speed, and ended up going through a long tunnel.

Coming Home

Little Kat and I wrapped up our trip to see Grandpa. I had all my bags packed before 10am. We were not leaving for the airport until 11am. So I decided to go out and get one last breakfast. I was worried that my favorite taco store would not be open. I looked them up online. They opened at 9:30am.

I got some small burritos and my favorite chips and queso. Brought a coke with me from home. I had to slow down on the road by Momoko's high school. School was in session and the speed limit was drastically reduced.

Both Little Kat and I had good boarding passes. As we stood in line to board the plan, and old man was screaming about "Islamic pigs". Where is airport security when you need them. Our plan was to go to the back of the plane to sit as normal. Little Kat instead opted to sit near the wing. Darn the luck. The old man who was screaming in the terminal sat directly in front of me.

I heard a cat meowing as other passengers boarded. We were lucky. The plane was small and there were many travelers. But nobody sat in between Little Kat and I. When large people board the plane, I sent out a "no no no" vibe to them.

There were some small kids directly behind us that made a lot of noise. Every time they put toys in their mouth, their mom took them away. Chaos ensued. I saw a dog in the terminal, presumably waiting to board my plane. Never heard or saw him after that. The landing was very smooth at our home airport.

Going out to Eat

I was laid off from my project at work last week. So for a while, my goal was to find a new gig, preferably at my company. I treated this like a mini-vacation. Therefore I was eating out for lunch. The goal was to eat at restaurants I normally don't go to.


First up was Sonic. I tried their new Biggie cheeseburger. It is like a Big Mac, but without the special sauce. It was okay. I think I prefer their double burger instead.


Then I tried Taco Bueno. The closest location closed down last year. But the next closest one was not far away. I used to get multiple orders of chips & queso. However the price had gone up. So instead I settled for a large queso and chips. It did not have enough chips. No problem. I ordered a couple party tacos to dip into the cheese.


Finally I tried Church's Chicken. I remember them from when I was young. I liked the flavor of their chicken, and some of their sides. They did not have the boneless wings from their menu available. They also did not have the chicken sandwich. WTF? Chicken place without all the chicken? They tried to upsell me to a large drink. Good thing I passed since most of their soda fountains were dead. Their spicy rice was delicious.


Last place I tried to far was Bram's ice cream. I got breakfast there. The hash rounds were nice and crispy. The egg sandwich was average. The best part was that I got a strawberry milkshake as my drink. Little Kat chose coffee. Might have to go to breakfast there more often.