Happy Trails!

I guess I should start getting used to it, since the school year is starting here pretty quick, but dayum I hate getting up so early. x.X; Since D has been getting up earlier to get to work early (and she's not what I would necessarily call stealthy first thing in the morning), I've just been dragging to get up and washed, pry Colin out of bed and medicated and prep Clara for the day, with just enough time to kick them out of my car as I speed in to work in New Braufels. "I'll slow down to about 30mph so you can jump outta the car. Got your drag parachute strapped on right, Colin? Make sure Clara is harnessed in right!" >.>;

Work at the assignment is pretty standard to what it has been most of the other times I've been here. It's very busy, but it's a different kind of busy from what I have back at the office. It's the kind of busy that I can actually multitask to, so I've been busy catching up with my tickets back at headquarters, my email, the forums and, of course, my blog. Nice to be finally all caught up. ^^/

Last night, after I got back from work, I decided to wash out the wastebin from the computer office. Backing up a second: our ant problem started with this wastebin. I noticed, the first day I was back, that there were ants swarming around it in our office. There was something stuck to the inside of the can and they were just eating it up. I found several other scouts around the house, just looking for a reason to bring all their friends. :( So I decided that it was time to get this bin washed up and bring it back inside. I set it upside down on top of the spinning sprinkler and turned that sucker up full blast! >:D Was kinda cool to watch. I left it that way all through dinner, came back out to set it aside and let it dry and went inside to game a bit.

But when I came back, there they were again. They had started several trails and were crawling all over it. D:! Well, if it's a fight they want... I collected the remaining untouched ant traps and set two of them right next to the trails. It wasn't long before they found the bait. And built a freaking railroad to it. I'm not joking, they cleaned the two poison traps out in under an hour, I changed them out and they cleaned them out again, and I laid 2 fresh ones down again before locking up for the night. They were still at it this morning on my way out to work, albeit in significantly lower numbers. Happy trails!

Keri and I came decided to level BLM tonight and make a push for 70. We get Water IV and can start holding our own in merit manaburn parties at that level. What's nice about us duoing is that we don't need to have the best gear, best food or follow best practices in party etiquette when it's just us. If we need to go AFK, we go AFK. If I pull something stupid, it's not such a big deal. Communication is better without really flooding party chat. Although the level 70 ding didn't quite happen, we got to about 2k from 70, so it'll happen next time.

I've had a long 10 days this week, so I'm really looking forward to the weekend. I'll try as best I can to fill you in on Monday, but knowing how the office works on Mondays, that's about the best guarantee I can give. :P

Mountain Climbing

The South Texas Blood and Tissue Center has been working on opening a new Donor Pavilion behind their headquarters. My company services all their IT needs, so we're been very busy out there. Monday and Tuesday was their soft opening, so I was sent out there to help make sure everything was running smoothly. The little glitches from my previous post followed into Tuesday: lots of printing issues and one of the production-side databases went down in a blaze of glory. D:! By the end of the day, though, I was pretty satisfied with how things were working before I left for the day.

Tuesday night, we gathered a bunch of people up and climbed the Spires of Mea and Holla for the slivers needed for Apoc Nigh. Keri didn't have the Jeuno cutscene done, so she missed Mea. ; ; We're planning to go again next Tuesday and get Dem and make a run at Mea again for Kerith. And depending on how we do on time (assuming we get started on time), we might actually try the Apoc Nigh fight. :D

So, I was told after I had gotten to the center that I was supposed to be back out at my previous assignment, as they were short-handed for the rest of the week. On the road again! ^^ Too bad I left my lunch at home... D:!

Ants and Little Men

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Weekend Intelligence to bring you this special report...

Actually, I've been sureally busy. Like, waaay beyond ye olde busy. Orlando was crazy busy: there was so much work to do in two little days. We worked a twelve-and-a-half hour day that first day and there was still more work to do. And the flights to and from there were all packed. On the way there, I was practically sitting on one guy's lap while his daughter took up two seats: he wouldn't let me just have my own seat... It was still a great learning experience.

Slept most of the day away on Saturday and went out with D for our anniversary that night. Benihana's was packed, so we went to Tiago's for their margaritas and let Clara swim in her food. >.>; I was voluntold to work on Sunday to help out with the new donor building move project: hooking up computers and making sure most things worked before leaving for the night.

Monday I was sent back out to the center as reinforcement for the calls that they were getting on the service line. Just the typical glitches of a new location, new phone system and new network. Printers were the big thing: we couldn't get the two main printers in the telerecruiting area to stay online at the same time. x.X

There was major maintenance on FFXI tonight, so I wasn't able to get online. Instead, we reworked our budget and expenses. We're actually not doing too bad, but D loses her job in the end of September and we need to brace for impact if she can't find another one. I have faith that we'll be taken care of and she'll find something.

In other news, we're being invaded... D noticed something crawing in the dirty laundry and they were ANTS. And there was a whole hoarde of them. We vacuumed the first wave up and washed the clothes, only to have the second wave comeback and bite us up. We vacuumed them up as well and D held them off until I could go get some ant traps from HEB. While there, I was trying to dodge a little boy running around and being a general hazard. He was yelling random sylables and running into walls and doors. I just couldn't stay out of his way and he ran into me. What follows is the verbatim account of the exchange between his mother and I...

Mom: EXCUSE ME! Watch where you're walking!
Me: I was. Your boy was was bouncing off the walls...
Mom: Who are you calling a 'boy'?
Me: Um... The male child over there. I assumed he was human.
Mom: That's my 'little man'!
Me: He's... 8. And not a midget. That would make him a boy.

By this time, the mother was giving me a highly incendiary look that could stop a train, but she was *gasp* speechless! Imagine that! >.>; The security guard had also started to take notice at the dramafest and started meandering over.

Me: Look, he ran into me. Either put some discipline on your boy, put a leash on your boy, or accept the fact that he's going to run into people and doors like dee-duh-dee.
Guard: Is there anything I can help you two with?
Me: Nope, I think all that needs to be said has been said. Have a good night!

For some reason, I only run into this brand of stupidity at this HEB. At least the stupids at WalMart are quiet about it. Anyway, I got my ant traps and we laid them out when I got home. Just in time for me to write this blog post and realize that it is entirely too late and I need to be up early tomorrow morning... -.- Can it maybe be Friday Night tiems naow pls? T.T