Birthday Party Rocking

This weekend, Momoko's friend from work was having a belated birthday party. This one was a double occasion, as this friend also bought a new house 1 year ago. This was the big reveal of the new house to most of us.

Momoko, Little Kat, and Kit Kat decided to go to the party. Little Kat brought some liquor along as a gift. This house was not new to Kit Kat. She works with this friend too, and had previously took care of the friend's cats while the friend went out of town.

I was the designated driver. Momoko does not liking driving when it is dark out. And the kids planned on drinking alcohol at the party. I used Google Maps with my Apple Carplay to get to the place. Kit Kat gave me some helpful tips, as it was very dark outside.

Near the friend's house, Google Maps got confused. Kit Kat navigated me to the doorstep. I parked in the driveway and let the family out. Then I proceeded to drive home. Had some trouble turning Google Maps off. Now I sit and wait until the family needs taxi service home. Momoko said she would probably come home early. And this time, Kit Kat thought she would not stay into the AM hours at the party.

COVID Scare

Little Kat works with the elderly at his job. So they test him for COVID frequently. Last Friday, he tested positive for COVID. We immediately put him into a quarantine at home. He stayed in his room at all times except when he needed to go to the bathroom.

Kit Kat normally shares a bathroom with Little Kat. She had to start taking showers in my and Momoko's room. Luckily, she seldom showers. She did, however, move a lot of shower products onto our shower shelves.

We put a small table in front of Little Kat's bedroom door. We would place meals on that table which he would later eat. Most items were disposable (paper plates, plastic utensils, etc). I gave Little Kat a box of large trash bags and he started to manage his trash himself.

Normally Little Kat cooks dinner on Wednesdays and Thursdays for the family. We had to get take out for both of those days. It was costly and a big deal to get everybody's order.

Today Little Kat went back to work to get retested. He tested negative. So we are okay for now. Little Kat plans to work later this afternoon. I don't think anybody else in the family contracted COVID from his. Our theory is that he got it when on vacation.

Cash Register Fail Turns Into Dinner Win

Earlier this week, Little Kat and I went to pick up some dinner. We went to Subway. There were no other customers there. When we entered, someone from the back yelled hello. There was an annoying sound coming from the cash register.

I decided to go with the cheapest sub I could find. Little Kat ordered one of his normal subs. And I placed an order for grandpa. When the employee went to ring us up, she could not get the cash register to work. Her boss came into the store. He could not get it working either.

The boss called the regional manager. They gave the manager some tricks to try. None of them worked. The regional manager said they would eventually come into the store. They stopped taking orders from other customers who came in.

They wrote down what types of subs we got. Then they said we could leave without paying. I guess they could not take a credit card nor make change for cash. Worked for me. I hustled out of there before they changed their mind. I just wished I opted for a more expensive dinner.

Fast Food Fail

Today I went out to dinner with Little Kat. He whined when I asked him to drive. He said he already drove his cousin from her work today. I told him I had already driven twice today (breakfast and lunch). However we needed dinner. So I took the wheel.

We went to a Mexican fast food joint because that is what Little Kat wanted. He ordered a big meal. I got a large queso and chips, plus some beans and rice. I was not that hungry. My lunch sandwich was big. We went through the drive-through. I handed the bag to Little Kat. He said it looked good. I asked for jalapenos and extra salsa.

When we got home, Little Kat said they did not put any tortilla chips in our bag. WTF? My main meal is queso and chips. Without the chips, I was doomed. We had to go back to the restaurant. I forgot my mask but went inside anyway. I explained the problem and the guy behind the counter said he would give us extra chips. He put 3 chip bags in our food bag. Umm between both of our orders, we should have got 3 chips at a minimum. So I gave the employee the stink eye, and he gave us another 3 bags of chips.

Moral of the story is to trust but verify every fast food order. We need to go into the store, get our order, lay it out on a table, and verify every item.

Airline Woes

Little Kat and I were scheduled to visit grandpa yesterday. Momoko, under protest, drove us to the airport really early. We checked our bags. went through security, and got breakfast. Little Kat wanted to see what restaurants were open. After walking around for a while, we settled on Subway. I got a breakfast sandwich. But Little Kat went with a lunch sub.

After breakfast, I asked Little Kat if we should stick around the restaurant, or go to our gate. He decided going to the gate was best. I spied on a kiosk that showed our flight was cancelled. We headed to the gate to speak with an airline rep. There was a line of 10 people already waiting. The rep got on the intercom and was irate.

When we got to the front of the line, we found that they could not get us another flight until the day after. We took what we could get, and planned to return. They kept our luggage. Later that night, our rescheduled flight got cancelled too. Little Kat called the airlines, and came up with the idea that we would leave from another airport.

Kit Kat drove us to a nearby train station. Little Kat and I took the train to an airport far south of us. My train card got money added, but would not work. I had to purchase another. There were only two places to eat in this airport. Lines were long and food was expensive. We were in the last group of people to board the plane. Luckily Little Kat and I both got aisle seats. Everything else was middle seats.

There was a delay to pull the plane out from the gate. Eventually we took off and had a quiet ride. I read my book. This flight was actually a direct flight (which we could previously not find). We checked with the airline. Our luggage was at an intermediate city that we originally would have a layover in. I got a Mitsubishi Outlander Sport rental car. Little Kat is still too young to drive it.

At grandpa's house, Little Kat found my Chevy Spark covered with dirt. But it was ready with current registration and insurance. He was immediately off to the races to visit his female friend in town. I doubt we will be seeing him tonight (he will crash at his friend's house after partying). I got to eat some Sonic for dinner with grandpa.

Fast Food Woes

Momoko wanted to go to lunch on the weekend. So we decided to get some fast food from Wendy's. I figured I could get a cheese cup with their new fries. Before we took off, Momoko thought she instead wanted to go to KFC for their chicken. She said we could drive through both restaurants. That would take too much time. So we headed to KFC.

Momoko got her original recipe chicken ordered. It is an almost baked style chicken with 11 herbs and spices. I tried to get a chicken sandwich, but they were out of sandwiches. So I tried to get some crispy crust chicken. They were out of that too. Imagine that. A chicken fast food joint out of chicken.

I ended up getting a taco meal, as this was a KFC / Taco Bell combination restaurant. It was still an epic fail. The only win was that Momoko's chicken box came with two sides. She opted for both of them to be their cole slaw.

Getting Certified

This year I have been studing the Python programming language. I passed two entry level exams (one from Microsoft, the other from the Python Institute). Today was the day for me to take my mid-level exam. I wanted to take the test while on vacation. However the local community college in my vacation town only offers the test once a month. The dates did not line up. So I took the exam near home at bit early.

I scheduled the exam for a day off from work. I chose the earliest possible time. Woke up early today. Shaved my beard so it would not mess with the mask I had to wear. Then I headed to the exam center. I filled my car up with gas first. When I got to the parking lot, there was one other guy parked there. He got out of his truck and went into the building.

I stayed in my car. I did some last minute studying. Then I headed in. The guy from earlier was waiting in the hall. The exam center had not opened yet. They other guy was taking a SANS exam. I told them their training was really expensive. He said he took the training, which provided him with a book he could carry into the exam. He said the GI Bill wsa paying for everyhone.

During the test, I found a couple tricky questions. I think I answered them correctly. However there were a few questions that I actually missed. When I had completed all questions, the exam computer did not tell me score or whether I passed. It said to see the instructor at the front desk. The instructor recognized me from my prior exam, and said I always pass. He sounds like he is getting to know me.

Momoko and I went out for a Mexican lunch to passing of the exam. I now am digging in deep to my Statistics class from an online school. This will allow me to skip the stats course in my college, which is filled with group projects and group grading which I abhor.