Rental Car Time

This weekend we are going to visit a college that Kit Kat is interested in. While the college is in our state, it is a couple hour drive to get there. We invited two of Kit Kat's friends to come with us. Together with Momoko and Little Kat, our party will have six people.

We could take 2 cars on the trip. But nobody wants to drive the long trip. So I got tasked with renting an SUV that seats at least six people. I got a deal through Hotwire dot com. The only catch was that I needed to pick the car up from the airport.

I had my parents come get me up early in the afternoon. We drove to the airport and parked in daily parking. I thought the rental car place was in the airport terminal. Nope. We had to take a shuttle to the satellite rental offices.

When I got into their parking lot, the rental car company asked what type of SUV I preferred. I requested a Chrevrolet Suburban. Good choice. They had one that was tricked out. It had leather seating. I spied a DVD system to play movies. This is going to be a sweet ride.

Work and School

I had some forms to fill out and sign at work. Then I needed to get them to someone in another office. Easy. I would just scan them in and email them. Doh. They replaced the printer/scanners with new ones. The new ones don't work. Fail.

I did not let that stop me. I tracked down a FAX number and FAXed my forms away. Then I saw a small note on the bottom of the FAX machine saying they are going to replace that too. No. Don't do it people. I need to stay in touch with the remote team.

Tonight is my college class night. I debated when to leave work. Sometimes I like grabbing a bite to eat before my night class. The class runs late sometimes. Today I got some emails and text stating that the school lost power and classes were cancelled. Good thing I signed up for this alert system. I was sad because we are already a bit behind in class. This week's chapter was confusing. I needed to have that class.

Painting Surprise

Previously I bleached the ceiling of our bathroom. That got all the mold off. Momoko thought we should paint the ceiling with mold resistant paint. Tonight she assigned Kit Kat to this task. I asked Momoko to go up and supervise the job. She decided to chat or play some games. When it was time to check Kit Kat's work, Momoko found that Kit Kat did not put down painter's tape on the wallpaper. Oh oh. Now we got a "trim" of white paint on the top part of the wallpaper. Momoko said she was going to get something to remove this paint tomorrow.

In other news, I just spent the last week at home learning a new programming language. I previously wanted to take a college course to learn this JavaScript language. But my college cancelled the class. I negotiated with my company to let me learn it on my own. The gave me a week off to do it. It was not a big deal. I get one week a year to do training. So this counts as my training. It was harder than I thought it would be. When I got stuck, there was no teacher or other students to help out. I only had Google at my fingertips. I got through 5 chapters of a textbook. Got to keep learning though.

Life of the Patrol

Momoko had to go to college class today. So I had to leave work early to get Little Kat from school. I was working as fast as I could. And I made sure I did not volunteer for any new work to be done today.

I got to Little Kat's school and waited at his safety patrol spot. The weather was very hot. I was directly under the sun. My work shoes are black. The sun heated them up so much during my wait for Little Kat that my foot hurt.

While waiting for Little Kat's patrol duty to end, I read the paper and practiced a presentation I need to give at work later this week. However I still spied on Little Kat in action.

Some kid tried to exit out the wrong door. The kid told Little Kat that somebody else told him he could exit. Little Kat informed this guy that Little Kat was telling him that he could not. Some other kid tried to cut through the line and go the wrong way. Little Kat directed him back into the line. The bus driver got out of the bus and told Little Kat that the rules made no sense.

Normally we teach kids such as Little Kat to obey all direction from adults. Luckily I am sure that the teacher in charge of patrols laid down the rules for kid movement after school. And that teacher's rules trump any bus driver opinions. It was interesting to see how Little Kat ignored the bus driver's commentary. Perhaps I will get Little Kat to inform the bus driver that the rules are determined by the teacher in charge of patrols, and that any complaints need to be taken up with the boss.

Class Cancelled

I had a message on the answering machine when I got home today. It was from my college. They cancelled the class I planned to take this Spring. And there was no other section being offered. What a bummer.

Now I had already got approval from my company to take the course. Then I got the company to give me the cash for the course. I went and signed up. The only thing I did not do was buy my book (it cost a whopping $125).

Should I try to hurry and sign up for another class? I read somewhere that the best programmers don't need anybody to teach them skills. They are supposed to learn on their own. Maybe I will try that for a semester or two.

Pawn Stars

Momoko stayed home from work today. She had worked real hard this weekend on her college class. Tonight was the last class of the semester. So I drove Little Kat to school today. He was still asleep when I woke up. The old alarm was not set.

Kit Kat and I watched a series on the History Channel called Pawn Stars today. It is a family business in Las Vegas. The show is very interesting. You hear a lot about the history of the items brought in to be sold. There is a lot of bickering among the family. And the main owner does a lot of negotiating with people selling him items.

Low on Tech

I got an email from my college reminding me that my online class starts soon. There was a bunch of steps listed to get ready for the class. One step was to take a test to see if I am fit for an online class. It seemed a bit late for that (I already signed up). But I took the test anyway.

Surprise surprise. The test told me I was not that strong in technology. What? I am a computer programmer. I should score tops in technology. Or maybe I don't score high compared to normal college aged kids. They grew up with the tech.

Staying up Late

I stay up late each night, studying for my college class, and also for a certification test I need to take. The loss of sleep catches up with me though. Yesterday I ate an early dinner and took a nap. Little Kat knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to watch a movie. In my dreams I mumbled, "No thanks".

By the time I did get up, I found that my work had called me. It is never good to get a call from work after hours. They had a serious problem and needed help. I told them I needed to be in the training I was attending. Their solution was for me to go in to work before training.

I stayed up late again studying. Around 2:00am, I heard some noise upstairs. So I finished up my work and went up to check it out. There were no lights on. So I went to bed. Mamma Kat said she had just gone to bead after staying up late to read. I got a couple hours of shut eye, then was the first to wake up and leave for work. It is a tough schedule.

Quiz and Test

I attend a community college class on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Today class night. After work I dropped by the house. Kit Kat was sleeping. I did some errands. Then I drove to class.

The instructor seemed to rush through his presentation. I asked a few questions. One other cat asked a question too. We had another hour and a half left. The instructor said that if there were no further questions, we would have a quiz.

This caused a few groans in the class. I get the feeling that the students are not studying. Next Thursday is our first test. This must have been the wake up call to get students serious about studying. Good luck to all the school cats.