Case of the Broken Chair

I picked up some Chinese take out for lunch today. Brought it back home. Tried to eat it in our library. Momoko's chair there kept leaning forward. Upon inspection, one of the legs had broke. I swapped the chair out for a sturdy wooden one. Then I turned the broke chair upside down in front of the fireplace.

Momoko called me during lunch to schedule a time to buy a new chair. Little Kat was busy right after Momoko's work. So we scheduled a trip to the store after dinner. I was going to pay for the chair if it was not too expensive. Therefore I was not going to drive. Momoko got Little Kat to drive. He complained of a leg injury.

When we got outside the house, Momoko and Little Kat were not sure if the chair would fit into his car. I ended up borrowing my brother's truck and we took two vehicles. The store looked deserted. But it was upon. We decided on a chair. The sales guy tried to explain about a 3 year warranty. I saw through it and declined any extended warranties.

Back at home, I put the broke chair behind the shed for a future dump run. Little Kat assembled the chair. Momoko chopped up the copious cardboard for recycling. The only mystery is who broke the chair. Currently Little Kat is acting like it was a surprise to him.

Service Failure Due to Snow

We got two rounds of snow in the past week. Both were a couple inches worth of snow. The trash truck did not come down our street for trash pickup day. I tried calling the county. I ended up submitting trouble tickets for missed trash and recycling online.

The recycle guys came the next day. However the trash came to our street, but only picked up a couple houses at the end of the street. Things were supposed to be resolved by yesterday. But my trash cans are still full on the curb. I keep adding new trash bags.

Yesterday the mail truck came. But they zoomed past my house. I had the flag up with outgoing mail in my box. They just drove by. My neighbor dug out a foot path in front of our mail boxes. Slacker mail delivery just passed by.

Today I dug out all the snow by the mail boxes. Any truck could drive up and service our mail. The mail truck never seemed to show up. These service people are just slacking, presumably due to snow. They need to up their game.

Lunch in the Snow

I had mentioned to Momoko that we could go to lunch if she was off from school. Her county closed school. She cooked us ham and eggs for breakfast. Therefore we ate a late lunch. I proposed we go to Little Caesars. There was a disagreement about who would do which tasks to get this food. Momoko would not drive. She would not go in. She was not going to order. She would only pay. No good.

Instead she proposed we go to McDonald's. I still had to drive. And I had to order. But she would pay. I turned down her idea of us getting Little Kat lunch. That would mean more ordering by me. We got our food and found a surprise extra large french fries in the bag. That allowed us to both have a lot of fries.

Tomorrow we normally will go to Chick Fil A for lunch. But Momoko proposed we could go to Little Caesars instead. I think this may work out.

Chair Shopping

While I was on vacation, Little Kat's desk chair broke. He borrowed Momoko's desk chair. I figured we needed to go shopping for a replacement. Little Kat said he could not afford a new chair. I told him I could buy it for him. We headed to our local Staples.

Little Kat sat in a bunch of display model chairs while I perused assorted desks. In the end, Little Kat said there were two chairs he liked. One was for big and tall men. However it cost $350. So he knew that was not in the budget. The only other chair he liked was the same one he has now. It was a good deal at $150.

They did not have the gray one he liked in stock. I asked them to order it for us. The lady at the front checkout had a lot of problems. At first she could not find the chair online. Then she concluded it was out of stock online. She tried calling some other stores. They were also out of the gray chair.

In the end, we opted for a blue colored chair. It is the same chair Little Kat has now. But it is a different color. The sales lady got the chair from the back. She rolled it to the curb with a dolly. Little Kat pulled the car up and we were on our way. Little Kat plans to buy an expensive chair once he graduates college and gets a job. This new chair should last him way past that.

Shopping While on Vacation

I must have been tired due to illness and travel. I went to bed early and slept in late. My first order of business was to try and find my favorite taco restaurant. Apple Carplay would not list it. I skipped the close locations that I knew sucked. I tried the next closest store. Turns out my favorite place is still there. Its address is not the highway it is next to. It is listed under the cross street.

I got burritos and queso. Brought my own coke that I kept out in the car. Then I headed to Walmart to shop for a jacket and pants. The pants selection was poor. I found one that had zippered pockets, a strange camo design, and was overpriced. I put it back on the rack.

I did find some $15 hoodies. Initially I picked up two. But I only decided to buy the gray one. I found a corduroy jacket for $30 that was heavier. I also picked up one new ball cap for working in the yard. I could not pass up a $7 tee shirt. This mission was half way successful. 

Vacation - Have to Get Away

Although I had COVID for a while, it did not prevent me from taking my planned vacation. I had half price SouthWest airline tickets. Little Kat has been staying at Kit Kat's apartment to prevent getting COVID himself. He came home just in time to drive me to the train station. He followed a slow Tahoe on the highway that just stopped on our exit.

I got on the train and had to switch lines to get to the airport. I got off too early, and had to get back on the same train I started from. Then at the next station, I changed lines and had a good ride to the airport. My pants were falling down when I took off my suspenders to get through security. I called an old friend I used to work with. He is busy working on robots in his retirement. He will take a cruise next month to the Panama Canal.

In the airport, I got hungry and decided to try a burger joint. At least they had a kiosk I could order from, and pay there. The sub shop makes you download an app and find a cashier somewhere else in the airport. I ordered a $10 burger that sucked. Luckily I added $4 fries which were delicious dipped in hot sauce. The flight was delayed because too few people worked on loading the luggage.

Some small guy came and sat right next to me early in the boarding. It turned out okay. I undid the becro on my shoes and took them on in flight. I read my entire "She's Gone" novel, and had to just sit around for the remainder of the flight. A shuttle took me to the rental car place. Some guys in front of me rented an Expedition for 2 weeks at $1500.

I chose a black Chevy Malibu, as I knew it would have car play. It smelled of smoke. I tried to find my favorite taco place. But Apple CarPlay did not list it. Instead I chose the closest store to the airport. Momoko's dad wanted soft tacos. They only had crispy shells. I got my queso, and cleaned the fixins bar out of jalapenos.

Certification Setback

I sat for my Oracle Certified Professional exam while I was sick. I wanted to take the exam on the last Friday of the year. There were no testing slots available. I had to sign up to take it on a Thursday night. I had my 2 forms of ID ready.

The test started fine. There was some material I had never seen before. As I was trying to pace myself, I noticed that finishing on time was going to be an issue. So I had to hustle through most of the problems. I felt okay when I was done.

You need a 66% to pass this exam. I got a 52%. This was disappointing as I had studied with a prep book. I took notes and studied them. I did a lot of hands on practice with my Oracle 18 database on my desktop. The only thing I did not do is purchase practice exams. I will try again soon.