The Longest Day
Mar. 10th, 2012 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
howeirdIt was sort of a relaxa-con day Friday. The original plan was to work till 1, go to lunch and drop the car off at 2 to have the JVC in-dash system removed and replaced with a Kenwood.
When I got to work the network was still hosed, I could not reach any of the servers I needed to from my desk machine (it's a laptop in a dock). Not by wired or wireless. Very strange. I went into the lab and found a machine which could reach the servers, and by some miracle I was able to remote to it from my desk and finish all but two items on the list. Those two needed me to log into my test unit, which was unreachable from anywhere. IT has been destructively playing with the routers, not telling anyone what is being affected. It's a small building, sneakernet would have worked when email is down.
I had the PC guy look at my machine, and after an hour of poking at it he decided it needed to go to the IT guys, because it was apparently being blocked on the internal network, but could get to the outside world just fine.
Somewhere in there I called Scottrade and T. Rowe Price and had them close the trust accounts and send me the pennies which had accumulated therein after I had dumped everything into BofA. One or two dividends which had been earned but not paid out. In the case of TRP cutting the check will cost more than the check is worth.
It was 12:30, no way I could do anything useful before lunch so I headed over to Best Buy to check in and do the paperwork (pay for the install). This is puzzling -- the guy in the car audio department with the reservations book had nothing open until this afternoon when I checked in two weeks ago, but the installer guy had no work to do, he took the car in at 12:45, and said it would be done in an hour. Really? The last three places I had this done it took 3 hours or more.
Walked way down the block and across the street to Starbucks, had a light lunch and watched a lot of eye candy. Walked next door to Safeway and applied for a replacement card with address change. Installer called before 2, so I walked back and got the car.
The first thing I noticed was the GPS on this system is VERY easy to read. Yay. That was the main reason for the replacement.
The second thing I noticed is there is no volume knob, and the attenuator was on. When I plugged in the iPod it was too faint to hear. I'm still parked at Best Buy, so I pull out the manual and am reminded that this unit has a motorized panel, and there is a way to make it angle up, which I do. And there are the volume widgets along the bottom of the frame. ATT is the first one on the left, real easy to hit by mistake. There are volume up/down widgets, as well as one for each major function (Telephone, Nav, Music, equalizer). They are not buttons, they are touch-sensitive areas which are not lit very well and the lettering is minuscule. With the panel in the flat position they cannot be seen hardly at all.
But they are very sensitive, and I keep hitting them by mistake and being sent to screens I don't want to be in.
Long story short, I was there for about half an hour discovering all the ways what is in the manual doesn't quite match what is on the screen. :-(
I had expected to be there till 5, but it's not even 3, so I drive to the nearest BofA, confirmed that all the wire transfers to my sisters had gone through, and had them cut me a check for my 1/4 share and close the account. I took the check to the CU and deposited it, then went home to see if I could finish work over VPN, but no, my test machine was still offline.
So I did some shopping on Amazon, browsed FB where I found out that there is a pizza party on Friday nights (I'm not sure if this is weekly or what) and the ringleader is one of my favorite directors. He said people show up after performances, so 10:30 at the earliest. I searched for the place under pizza on the new GPS, but it didn't find it. Searched for it under all foods, and there it was, right next door to one of my favorite massage parlors. I got there at 11. I saw the group, only 5 of them were there, including one person who FBed that she couldn't make it. Four people I know, I waved, but no one waved back. No one recognized me.
There was a HUGE line/mob to order, and many more arrived right after I did. Mostly middle school and high school kids. It got very claustrophobic. I tried to catch someone's eye at the table, failed, so I left. Back at the car I programmed in the radio station presets, which took a while, then looked back at the pizza place - the line was still out the door.
Plan C. Somehow I was not feeling sleepy at all. Headed home, and along the way there was nothing open. Except my local strip club, which I had not been in for a long time, so I parked and went in. This place is one of the non-sleaziest strip clubs anywhere, partly because the state liquor control board won't grant a license to a place where people are naked. I was surprised by the number of hetero couples and young women customers. And the quality of the entertainers. There was some very athletic pole dancing worthy of Cirque. Two of them somehow managed to remove their bikinis while sliding down a pole. We are talking about a pair of poles which are as tall as four women, so about 25 feet. It's a high ceiling.
Eventually someone was on stage whose only talent was for having plastic surgery. Watching her inspired me. It made me wonder "what if Tater Tots® were stuffed with brie?" When you heated them up, they would be Lactater Tots.
There was no clock in the place, I had stopped wearing a watch a few weeks ago and cell phones were verboten, but it seemed like it was time to go. Outside I checked and it was 1:11. I still did not feel sleepy.
Home, took two slices of pizza out of the freezer and reheated them, then went into the bedroom to plug in the cell phone and saw Domino had pooped on the carpet by the foot of the bed.
Scooped that up and dumped it in the litterbox, which was nowhere near needing changing. So Domino is now banned from the bedroom. I'll have to get some "no go" spray.
Went online, downloaded update firmware for both the main Kenwood unit and the GPS, and ordered a new map update.
Reheated the reheated pizza, ate it while watching an episode of Shark Tank.
Finally to bed, with the door closed. It's a lot darker that way, I may make it a habit. Domino has become too needy lately.
Plans for Saturday:
Manicure
Kaiser - drop off sharps & collect an insulin prescription
When I got to work the network was still hosed, I could not reach any of the servers I needed to from my desk machine (it's a laptop in a dock). Not by wired or wireless. Very strange. I went into the lab and found a machine which could reach the servers, and by some miracle I was able to remote to it from my desk and finish all but two items on the list. Those two needed me to log into my test unit, which was unreachable from anywhere. IT has been destructively playing with the routers, not telling anyone what is being affected. It's a small building, sneakernet would have worked when email is down.
I had the PC guy look at my machine, and after an hour of poking at it he decided it needed to go to the IT guys, because it was apparently being blocked on the internal network, but could get to the outside world just fine.
Somewhere in there I called Scottrade and T. Rowe Price and had them close the trust accounts and send me the pennies which had accumulated therein after I had dumped everything into BofA. One or two dividends which had been earned but not paid out. In the case of TRP cutting the check will cost more than the check is worth.
It was 12:30, no way I could do anything useful before lunch so I headed over to Best Buy to check in and do the paperwork (pay for the install). This is puzzling -- the guy in the car audio department with the reservations book had nothing open until this afternoon when I checked in two weeks ago, but the installer guy had no work to do, he took the car in at 12:45, and said it would be done in an hour. Really? The last three places I had this done it took 3 hours or more.
Walked way down the block and across the street to Starbucks, had a light lunch and watched a lot of eye candy. Walked next door to Safeway and applied for a replacement card with address change. Installer called before 2, so I walked back and got the car.
The first thing I noticed was the GPS on this system is VERY easy to read. Yay. That was the main reason for the replacement.
The second thing I noticed is there is no volume knob, and the attenuator was on. When I plugged in the iPod it was too faint to hear. I'm still parked at Best Buy, so I pull out the manual and am reminded that this unit has a motorized panel, and there is a way to make it angle up, which I do. And there are the volume widgets along the bottom of the frame. ATT is the first one on the left, real easy to hit by mistake. There are volume up/down widgets, as well as one for each major function (Telephone, Nav, Music, equalizer). They are not buttons, they are touch-sensitive areas which are not lit very well and the lettering is minuscule. With the panel in the flat position they cannot be seen hardly at all.
But they are very sensitive, and I keep hitting them by mistake and being sent to screens I don't want to be in.
Long story short, I was there for about half an hour discovering all the ways what is in the manual doesn't quite match what is on the screen. :-(
I had expected to be there till 5, but it's not even 3, so I drive to the nearest BofA, confirmed that all the wire transfers to my sisters had gone through, and had them cut me a check for my 1/4 share and close the account. I took the check to the CU and deposited it, then went home to see if I could finish work over VPN, but no, my test machine was still offline.
So I did some shopping on Amazon, browsed FB where I found out that there is a pizza party on Friday nights (I'm not sure if this is weekly or what) and the ringleader is one of my favorite directors. He said people show up after performances, so 10:30 at the earliest. I searched for the place under pizza on the new GPS, but it didn't find it. Searched for it under all foods, and there it was, right next door to one of my favorite massage parlors. I got there at 11. I saw the group, only 5 of them were there, including one person who FBed that she couldn't make it. Four people I know, I waved, but no one waved back. No one recognized me.
There was a HUGE line/mob to order, and many more arrived right after I did. Mostly middle school and high school kids. It got very claustrophobic. I tried to catch someone's eye at the table, failed, so I left. Back at the car I programmed in the radio station presets, which took a while, then looked back at the pizza place - the line was still out the door.
Plan C. Somehow I was not feeling sleepy at all. Headed home, and along the way there was nothing open. Except my local strip club, which I had not been in for a long time, so I parked and went in. This place is one of the non-sleaziest strip clubs anywhere, partly because the state liquor control board won't grant a license to a place where people are naked. I was surprised by the number of hetero couples and young women customers. And the quality of the entertainers. There was some very athletic pole dancing worthy of Cirque. Two of them somehow managed to remove their bikinis while sliding down a pole. We are talking about a pair of poles which are as tall as four women, so about 25 feet. It's a high ceiling.
Eventually someone was on stage whose only talent was for having plastic surgery. Watching her inspired me. It made me wonder "what if Tater Tots® were stuffed with brie?" When you heated them up, they would be Lactater Tots.
There was no clock in the place, I had stopped wearing a watch a few weeks ago and cell phones were verboten, but it seemed like it was time to go. Outside I checked and it was 1:11. I still did not feel sleepy.
Home, took two slices of pizza out of the freezer and reheated them, then went into the bedroom to plug in the cell phone and saw Domino had pooped on the carpet by the foot of the bed.
Scooped that up and dumped it in the litterbox, which was nowhere near needing changing. So Domino is now banned from the bedroom. I'll have to get some "no go" spray.
Went online, downloaded update firmware for both the main Kenwood unit and the GPS, and ordered a new map update.
Reheated the reheated pizza, ate it while watching an episode of Shark Tank.
Finally to bed, with the door closed. It's a lot darker that way, I may make it a habit. Domino has become too needy lately.
Plans for Saturday:
Manicure
Kaiser - drop off sharps & collect an insulin prescription
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