Vacation Train Day

This morning I got up early and spied on the hotel breakfast. It was a similar menu to yesterday. I reported the variety to Momoko. She asked me to bring her a plate. I had potatoes, hot sauce, and a bagel. Then we headed to the train yard.

This was Thomas the Train day. There were a lot of kids and parents. The ticket counter lady had trouble getting us a ticket. We had to go into the overflow first class parlor. There was no A/C in there. All the windows were open. The train started without warning with a jolt. Our car kept swaying back and forth a lot. The host told us a ghost would whistle at us. The host's timing was off. We had to drive to the ghost.

I stopped by Panera Bread to buy Momoko soup for lunch. She was not feeling well. I dropped her off at the hotel room. Then I got my Fuddruckers burger special. I came back to the hotel. We went to the New Balance shoe outlet. A worker showed us where Momoko's size was. She found some sneakers with MSRP $59.00. They had a yellow 30% off sticker. So, Momoko only paid $41.99. That was a steal. Right across the street from the outlet was Sonic. We got half priced drinks, including a real lemon slush for Momoko.

I was planning to go to Fuddruckers tomorrow. I called them to confirm they had the special on the weekend. They did not. Tonight, Momoko wanted a steak, green beans, and okra. We headed to Cracker Barrel. I wanted the veggie meal with all sides. However, that was just for classic sides. All the good ones were premium sides. I ended up getting a steak. It was tough with a ton of gristle.

Vacation Musical

Momoko and I woke up early to catch the Full Breakfast served at our hotel. When we got there, the place was empty. It was early. We got some small cheese omelets. I also tried a sausage link. Topped it off with potatoes. Momoko shared her bagel with Philadelphia cream cheese.

After a rest, we headed to Walmart. I did not pack undershirts. We also needed something to drink. The parking lot was treacherous with cars. The drive there was confusing with the GPS. I got a 6 pack of Hanes underwear for cheap. We also got Motts apple juice. Then we headed to Fuddruckers.

We both ordered the special. It did come with endless fries. But Momoko wanted to try a new restaurant. We never made it to any restaurant. We went to Pretty Woman - The Musical. We arrived early and ordered appetizers. We also got daiquiris which came with free drinking glasses. They were so good, Momoko got a second one. Two people who sat down across from us also followed in suit.

The musical had a skinny star who had pipes. The male lead was good looking but less talented at singing. It was a very long first act. Luckily, I had ran out to the car to store all our drinking glasses before the show started. Afterwards we ran to the car and drove out a secret exit. I made a bee line to McDonald's. We got a late-night snack and returned to eat it at our hotel. 

Fuddruckers Vacation

Since I finally obtained a new job, it was time to take a vacation. It was a little last. Summer has passed. We set a date that made the hotel costs lower (mid-week). On the day of departure, Momoko had to go to the doctor to get a knee injection. The doctor said we needed to come early. I had to settle for eating a pizza at home for lunch.

I read my book on Jimmy Carter in the waiting room. Then we headed North for vacation. A couple guys texted me while I was on the road. They were congratulating me on my job. There was some traffic. But nothing like the last backup that doubled our travel time.

When we arrived at the hotel, Momoko said it was the wrong one. It was not where we stayed last time. Apparently, we last stayed at the Holiday Inn. This time I had chosen Comfort Suites. I checked in. I could not get the controls on the A/C working. The front desk said to use the thermostat on the wall. Momoko tried that. It showed a low battery sign and died.

We rushed to Fuddruckers before they closed that night. They did not have any specials outside of lunch hours. The initial meal had a tiny portion of fries. I went to ask for more. It is unlimited fries. The guy did not reuse my burger basket. Instead, he gave me a whole new basket with a ton of fries. I struggled to finish them.

Back at the hotel, I told Wyatt at the front desk about our A/C problem. He came with battery replacements. He could pop the cover off the wall mounted thermostat. But he could not get the batteries out. He went back to the office to use a screw driver. He returned to pop in the controller with new batteries. The air blowing turned cold. At night I found the A/C working too well, making me cold.

Job Acquired

I have been out of work for a month. But I have been searching for a job for over two months. Many of these companies want you to go through three or four interviews. That takes a lot of time. Very few are in person interviews. Most of the time, you just do a video interview. Once in a while, it is still just a phone interview.

This one company moved fast. I spoke with the recruiter. Then I had a panel interview with around four guys. They mostly asked if I had experience in some Oracle related fields or scenario. When I said yes, they moved on to the next item. I worried that other candidates might just say yes whether or not they had the experience.

This job is 100% remote. The pay is terrible. $60k pay cut from my last job. I figured I could work there and study for certifications. Then, after a bunch of back and forth, I found they don't even pay for certifications there. My last company allowed me up to $10k a year for certs. Total downgrade on the compensation.

The company did have some leniency on their requirements. They wanted some weird cert that I never heard of. I researched it, and I already had a current cert that is similar. They rewrote their job description to say that my cert was sufficient. I got a verbal indicator that an offer was coming. Then I got an email that said look for the offer in their Workday system. They said give it 2 hours.

I checked after two hours. Then four. Then six. No job offer. I was patient. I did not want to bother the recruiter yet. In the middle of the night I checked one last time. There it was. I mulled over the lack of paying for certifications. I figured I might get just the crucial certs, and pay for them myself. I accepted the offer digitally.

Job Search Continues

I was laid off from my job a couple weeks ago. That is when I really stepped up my job search. I just passed the 1000 application mark. I also think I have been to at least 10 interviews. Statistically I thought that is about when I would see my first job offer.

There have been a lot of surprises in the job applications themselves. I just applied to a company. They sent a follow up form for me to fill out. It required my social security number. Nope. Another job asked me to write a Python function. The task was well formed. It even gave a telling example input/output. I banged out an answer in 11 lines of code.

Normally I skip applications that take too long. Exceptions are high paying companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Microsoft. I do think there is a benefit to applying to a company that requires you to write code. It weeds out a lot of the competition. I figure some people could just use AI. But I think if a human reviews the code submitted, they can tell it was AI. Another part of the task was to explain your code.

There was one question on an application that said for me to make a Loom video of myself. I don't even know what that is. I could find out. However, I just gave them a link to a funny YouTube video that said just hire me and then you are done.

Little Kat Job Shuffle

Last year, Momoko, Kit Kat, and Little Kat all worked at the same school. Little Kat taught technology to elementary school students. It was not a demanding job. The pay was good. And the job location was close to our home. Little Kat knows a lot of other teachers there, including some friends of the family.

The school district rezoned the area. A lot less students are now going to that school. Since the student head count was down-sizing, they had to adjust the number of teachers too. Momoko and Kit Kat were safe. Little Kat had to go. He is still employed by the county. He just needed to work at a different school.

Little Kat went to a county job fair. There was one job that was for teaching tech. But a lot of other tech teachers like Little Kat were gunning for that position. He was sure he would not get that job. So, the county needed to assign him a new school.

At first, they said they could not place him. So, he would report back to his old school. Little Kat was fine with that. Then they said he would teach at the local high school. That is his alma mater. He went to high school there. Little Kat looked into the details of his job online. Turns out his notice was a misprint. He is to teach at another high school far south of us.

I recognized the high school as the one next to the county community college. It is not that far away. But it is an early school. Little Kat will need to wake up early from now on.

Lunch with my old Friend

I go to lunch twice a month with a guy I went to college with. Today he came to my house to pick me up. I had not had Mexican in a while. So, I suggested we go up to the mall by Kit Kat's house. My friend agreed. We sat in a section that was served by a pretty waitress.

My friend chatted the waitress up about any sports she plays. We guess soccer. We were right. Then my friend quizzed the waitress on any injuries she might have got. She did mess up her ankle. My friend invited the waitress to sit with us. My friend tried to explain his own injuries, and how she might heal using physical therapy.

Some other waiter came and took the dirty dishes from our waitress. I figured that was the signal to get back to work. The waitress and my friend did not get the message. I did not say anything. Another waitress came to tell our waitress her other tables were asking for her. We settled our bill and waited a while for the waitress to return. Then we bolted.

My friend said he heard there were new restaurants on the lake nearby. We parked in a garage and took to walking. I saw some vacant restaurant buildings on the water. Only a sushi place remained that I could recall. There was one other new restaurant. We could not find the steak house my friend heard about. He even called the restaurant. But they could not guide us there.

Eventually my friend drove me home. On the way out to the main road, we finally saw the new restaurant. It was not on the water at all. My friend thought they might have some distant water views. Doubtful. We might still come back and try it.

No Hot Water

I worked outside in the yard today. Clipped the bushes. Did weed trimming around the driveway. Cut the grass. Afterwards, I was spent. Drank a leftover McDonald's Coke. Then I went to take a shower. I let the water run for a few minutes. But when I got in the shower, the water was not hot. Even on the hottest setting, it was lukewarm at best.

Afterwards, I checked the vanity. The hot water was tepid there too. So, it was not specific to the shower handle. I went downstairs. The gas range produced a flame. So, it was not the gas supply to the house. I grabbed the hot water heater manual. Reviewed how to relight the pilot. The instructions seemed different from when I last read it.

In the basement, I saw the green light for the furnace was dim. That indicated the pilot light was indeed out. I thought you were supposed to click the lighter three times. Nope. The manual said keep clicking once a second for 90 seconds. I must have clicked for almost 30 seconds before I saw a blinking green light and hear the flame from inside the unit.

Last time I called a plumber and spent a lot of money for them to just relight my pilot flame. No can do that any more.

Air Quality Problems

Momoko and I went to Giant to do grocery shopping. Little Kat usually does this. But he is away on vacation. We then went to McDonald's to get happy meals with BT21 toys. We got to the drive through exactly when lunch started being served. We got parked for a long time. But we got the meals anyway. The toy was Mang again for the third time.

Momoko had noticed a lot of old people with masks on when we were out. I noticed a haze in the air. It was like a bad fog. Momoko knew this was due to fires in Canada. And the smoke traveled all the way down to us. Momoko said the air quality index was a whopping 300. It should be around 100. We were supposed to stay indoors, or wear a mask outside.

I was going to mow the lawn. But the air was too bad. I did mow the next day. But I wore a mask outside for that. The air quality got better the next day. It hovered between 160 and 175. We were scheduled to get rain. That should help the situation.

Search for a new Plumber

Little Kat discovered the kitchen sink faucet leaking again. This time he took a video. In the morning, I called the plumber. I ran to lunch while I waited for a call back. They called me while I was on the road. The plumber was coming.

Plumber found two problems in the spout. He did not have replacement parts. He thought I might get them from the manufacturer. But I remembered a separate problem coming from the handle last week. I opted to replace the whole apparatus. Bro said he could sell me the hardware for $1000. No thank you.

I ran to Lowes. I found my exact Moen faucet for $128. We like the look. I hope the quality is high. I called back the plumber to install. He provided multiple options for a quote. Some involved an extra $4000 water softener. Others tried to get me to sign up for a recurring maintenance plan. In the end, I just told him to get me a cost for just the install.

After he started the work, he said the hot water shutoff valve did not work. I asked if he could fix it. He said yes, but for another $300. Oh hell no. This guy is already the expensive option. He just shut off the main water valve for the house. He installed the new pieces and showed me a spout without any damage in it.

I am looking for a new plumber. Our last one just won't answer their phone. And this latest guy charges 50% higher than anybody else. So, the hunt is still on.

More Water Under the Sink

We previously had a problem with our sink sprayer. It was leaking. The fix involved replacing the kitchen sink faucet and sprayer. I thought we should be good for a while. This week, I noticed dirty water on the side of the kitchen sink. Then today, I also noticed some more water.

I looked under the sink. Water was pooling on the shelf under the sink. I asked Little Kat if he knew about anything. Maybe splashing in the kitchen or his bathroom upstairs. He said no. When the kitchen sink was turned on, water was leaking out the base.

I had to take everything out from under the sink and dry it off. Then I soaked up the water on the shelf using my dirty bath towels. I sprayed Fantastic on the shelf, cleaned it up, then dried it with paper towels. I had all the items from under the sink on top of newspapers on the kitchen floor.

Tomorrow, I need to call a plumber. Momoko will relocate the items on the floor that used to be under a sink. I told the family not to use the sink. Momoko will also put something up to deter family from using our kitchen sink.

Father's Day Postponed

Father's day came and went without a peep from the kids. What kind of unfilial children do we got here? Later in the week, Kit Kat came over and said they could take me out to eat. But it would be a delayed celebration. She asked me to pick a spot. Initially I said Fuddruckers in the city.

Momoko thought the trip to Fuddruckers was too much. Kit Kat did not think so. But I did choose Arby's instead. I wanted to try their new steak and cheese. We scheduled to go today. I called Little Kat 5 minutes before our trip. No answer. He did eventually wake up and be ready by himself. He drove me to Kit Kat's apartment.

I thought I could then hope in the back seat so we could have Kit Kat with us. Little Kat said his back seat was too full. Kit Kat would have to drive. Her navigation took us the long way via highways, which were backed up for some reason.

The steak and cheese was not tiny and some Tiktokers have stated. Little Kat got the Reuben. I planned to purchase two apple turnovers to go for Momoko and myself. They only had cherry ones. I passed. We stopped by Kit Kat's apartment on the way home to see her cats. They liked when Little Kat picked them up.

PC Troubles

I was doing some work with my desktop computer. All of a sudden, Windows file explorer would not work. I killed it and restarted the application. Still would not work. Okay. I guess I needed a full PC reboot. Problem is the machine would no longer boot up.

I tried a Windows repair. It said it could not repair Windows. Something fatal must have happened to Windows. I really needed the data off my PC. All my job search data was on there. I need that daily. I thought I might be able to take out the hard drive and put it in another working PC.

Google AI recommended I do take out the hard drive. But instead, I should just connect it to something that would link it to a USB port. I was going to buy such an adapter. I asked Little Kat for advice. He said he had an advanced solution. We took out my hard drive. He then put it in some enclosure that had a USB connection. I was able to copy my files to our family computer.

I ordered a minicomputer to replace my desktop. I have copied the crucial files to my new computer. I had trouble installing Microsoft Office. It said I used up all my copies. And I could not make a call to resolve that. I ordered a new copy of Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate. Hopefully that will come soon.

Job Search

I was working on a project at work. We do software maintenance. The yearly option for the contract was coming to an end. Usually, the customer just turns us on for another year. This time around they said they were not renewing. In theory, some government people could take over. The hope was that a new system would be in place. Then they would not even need maintenance for the old system.

The money on the end of the project was tight. I was forced to take some vacation days. Our company is working on the replacement system. I thought I could slide to that project. My boss said he could see me working there for at least a couple weeks. I was only given one week. Then I had no project. The boss said without me, they could not deliver. So, he tried to get me to come back for a couple weeks to wrap up. He was only able to get money for a week and a half. After that, I am again without a project.

I am looking far and wide. Applied for 7 jobs at the company so far. Couple of them rejected me. I think my best bet is to go outside the company. I found one that pays even better than my company. They gave me a link to an online assessment. The company running that was unable to process a copy of my ID with a picture taken from my video camera. I went and tried to get a scanned copy of my ID. By then, the exam got disconnected.

Eventually I got the company to request another exam for me. At first, I was taken aback. It wanted me to code in the JavaScript programming language. Don't think I have used that for 14 years. I did find a way to switch it to python. There were only 4 questions on the exam. They all required writing a program to pass all the tests. I got the first 3 questions right 100% passing all tests. I did not have enough time to finish the last one. It only passed 4 out of 10 tests.

I was supposed to have an interview with my recruiter at the company today. He said he had to cancel because I failed the assessment. LOL wut? I got an 85%. Maybe because they offer so much money, they require 100% passing. My recruiter told me I would need to wait 6 months before they would consider me again. Back to the drawing board.

Portable A/C to the Rescue

A friend of the family had her A/C system fail recently. She has a geothermal one. The repair guys said the required part to fix it was on back order. Although it is still spring, the weather is getting hot. The friend and her cats were suffering in the hot house.

Momoko suggested we could loan a portable A/C to the friend. Little Kat used to use a portable A/C in his bedroom. It has since been replaced by a mini-split A/C. Little Kat dug the old portable out of the closet. He located the accessories. Then he gave them to our friend.

The friend called and said the unit was blowing hot air. We had a second unit in our home. But we sort of hard wired it into our dining room window. Little Kat was able to disconnect the hose leading to the window. But he was too busy with friends to deliver the unit.

Momoko and I drove to our friend's house. Momoko made me stand the unit upright in my car. I carried the thing up the stairs to the master bedroom. It was a huge room. I swapped it for the broken unit, which I took back down to my car.

Initially it was 83 degrees in the master bedroom. After an hour, it was 78 degrees and falling. I hope the cats know to come upstairs to the master bedroom to sleep tonight. I figure by midnight, it should be 68 degrees or lower.

McDonald's $4 breakfast meal deal

 

Our handyman was coming over this morning to finish up some work on a bathroom fan. So, I ran out early to get McDonald's. There were a lot of cars in both drive through lanes. A truck with stuff sticking out the bed was in the left lane. I went right. The car two ahead of me took forever.

I planned on getting the sausage McMuffin $4 meal deal. It comes with a sausage and cheese McMuffin, a hash brown, and drink. I chose a large Coke no ice for a $0.50 upcharge. The person taking my order was slow and seemed distracted. When I got to the window to pay, they thought I ordered a biscuit. I corrected them.

When I got to the second window, they handed me a biscuit. I told them the sandwich was wrong. They then proceeded to give me a sausage, egg, and cheese McMuffin. I did not complain. I found a bonus of an extra hash brown in my bag.

All in all, it was a hassle to order. But I got two bonus items in the end.

Getting Rid of the Chaise

Momoko said she needs more desk space in her study. It is time to get rid of her chaise. I recall having a really hard time getting it into her study. So, this weekend I decided to cut the thing in half. I turned the thing over to get access. I put two boards underneath to protect the carpet.

I used a chainsaw to cut through. It took a while to get all the way through. Some steel wires popped out. A lot of fluff fell on the floor. I called my brother. He said he could be home in 10 minutes to help carry the stuff out. We started with the biggest piece. It was half a chaise, but was hard to get through the doors.

At first we put both halves in our carport. But the big piece was sticking out. So, I moved it to the patio outside our sliding glass door. There was one square cushion that came apart. I ran the sweeper when we were done removing the chaise. There should be a lot of room for another desk, or at least a longer one.

Introduction to KATSEYE

Momoko and I watched a series on Netflix called "The Debut: Dream Academy". This was an 8 part series of hour long shows where they found the members of the band KATSEYE. The training was based out of Los Angeles. They weeded out a girl or two, ending up with a list of 20 candidates.

One of the first people to be booted was Adela, a strong blonde singer from Slovakia. She did not fare well with fans. I thought the judges would overrule the crowd voting. However, they sent her home early. I thought she was the best singer in the initial group. Her dancing skills were mid.

Then they started adding new candidate girls even as late as 12 months into the show. One was Lara, a girl from LA who was Indian. She made the final list. There was another girl I liked named Emily. She was a short blonde girl good at dance. She made it to the final 10, but was but when they determined the final group of 6.

Big Thrifting

I have been watching shows like Storage Wars and Pawn Stars. So, I got the bug to acquire second hand things of value. I figured I could return to the local thrift store in town to do so. I waited until Momoko had a day off. And we went early, around an hour after they opened.

The parking lot seemed full for a weekday. Up front they had jewelry. Off to the side, they had home ware wrapped in small plastic bags. I made a bee line to the first couple rows that had sporadic art. Another shopper told us the art was in the front corner of the building. Momoko grabbed a cart.

I first surveyed all the art there. I kept an eye on price. Did not want anything for $20. Felt like $10 was near the top of my range. I did pick up one item for $12.99. The cheapest was $1.99. Momoko and I paid separately. It was all self checkout. Momoko had trouble with the credit card taker. She paid cash.

The shopping cart had a pole preventing you from wheeling it out of the store. I carried stuff to the curb in front of the store. The exit door was one way and locked. I pulled the car up and loaded my goods in a no parking zone. Here are some treasure I picked up:

• A large framed portrait of dogs playing billiards. On the back was another of dog playing poker.
• A heavy mid-sized frame picture of an owl
• A black stretched outline of a baseball playing made out of words
• A photo album with an old time cover image, dirty but still nice
• A huge artwork that Momoko through looked nice
• An open top tool box with our local baseball team logo on it
  

Desk Chair Swap

I was working out in the yard. I saw some delivery guy come to our house. So, when I was done working, I went in front to see what we got. There was a large box in front of our door. It was for Little Kat. I figured I would bring it into our house. The thing was heavy. I needed the dolly to wheel it in.

Momoko thought that Little Kat broke his chair. All of a sudden, a chair appeared in our library. It did not appear to be broken. Momoko thought maybe Little Kat assembled his new chair in our library. That made no sense. Why would he not build it in his room where he needs the chair.

Later, I quizzed Little Kat. He said he upgraded his chair to one with more lumbar support. He was giving away his old chair. My brother did not want it. Little Kat thought it did not fit Momoko. I just happened to start noticing my desk chair in my study was not comfortable. So, I took the old chair and am sitting on it now. Let's see if it is comfortable in the long run.