Normally , when I wake up before my alarm goes off , I try to go back to sleep
Today , I was lying there and thought "oh yeah . happy birthday"
I decided to get out of bed and start the day early
I treated myself to a bowl of hot cereal and a long bath
When I got my first job , I swore that I would never work on my birthday
Now I'm kinda "meh" about it
Today's work was oddly enjoyable
I had to install twenty-five computers
but it was easy because I had spent the last two days working out the details with the user
and it was nice to actually do my job of installing hardware
I don't normally look at the junk mail that comes in , and just throw it away or shred it
I'm glad I looked at it this time
It was a coupon for a free pizza at Hungry Howies
I got my pizza and bought a large cookie
It fed me for a couple of days
I'm not as panicked about getting to the camp grounds early as I am about getting to LoF
I didn't start packing until this afternoon
and spent a large chunk of the day playing games
My mistake was not leaving until 5pm , rush hour
and there was a lot of construction going on
I got to the camp just before dark , and got set up
I had forgotten to bring my speakers , my measuring cup , and salad dressing
I'll have to re-work my camping checklist
I watched The Lego Movie , and Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders came out in 1981
I was surprised how bad of a movie it was compared to today's stuff
but it would have been amazing if it was released in the 1940s
I didn't go party hopping , and felt good about it
but I was hoping that somebody might come and watch the movie with me for a moment , but nobody did
I was buzzing pretty hard after four strong beers
I'd really prefer that White's dropped us off up river so we could drift back to the camp
I was one of the first people in the water
There weren't as many people floating as there are on the up-river side of the camps
I don't know this part of the river very well , so I kept waiting for a mid-river rock to show up
They call this a Five Hour Trip
but I was in the water before 10am
floated almost constantly the whole way
and still could have missed the last bus back at 6pm
There were a lot more river-side houses on this side of the river
Back to camp , shower , and dinner
I used the battery pack to power the laptop and projector last night
It only has half-charge for tonight
I tried charging it off of the car , but it didn't get much extra juice
The power died in the middle of Mad Max: Fury Road
I need to find a better sleeping arrangement
The inflatable matresses keep deflating over the night
and the blankets didn't keep me warm over the cold night
Whatever solution I find will have to accommidate any ladies that want to come into my tent for unexpected naked-sexy-fun time
I packed up and drove home
Taking I-75 is definitely the shorter route home , but is usually full of construction and traffic
I now prefer to take I-96 and M-23 until it hits I-75 , but that way is full of constuction too
This time I went down to I-94
It's fifteen miles longer , but less stressful
When I got home , I diligently put everything away , and cleaned everything
The tent was especially covered in dirt and sand
and I wanted to everything else cleaned at the laundromat
I need more to do at work
If I'm not going to be given much to do
Then the bosses can't get mad when I'm sitting around doing nothing
I got Oxygen Not Included
It's made by the same people that made Don't Starve
I'm not having much fun with it
There are so many fiddly little details you have to maintain to keep your people alive
oxygen , food , temperature , happiness
And it's really hard to get anything built , bcauase all you can do it is make vague suggestions to your minions and hope they do what you want
I think my job title of Field Technician is going away
There hasn't been a lot of call for desk side support since everybody is working from home now
And even before covid , the bosses were trying to get more renewals done remotely
I'm told that the FEUMT won't work with Windows11 , and I'll have to use Code42
I was looking forward to swapping out all of the computers at BLDG1
but they're giving the work to the Remote-Hybrid team
Whatever . . .
I'll just keep showing up and collecting a paycheck
As I get older , I worry about my mental facilties failing
I've always had problems remembering specific words
like 'acronym' and 'anagram'
but lately I've been talking with people and blanking on a specific word
and I can't get my brain to think of it
Is this how dementia starts ?
I'm trying to avoid playing Oxygen Not Included
It is an immense time suck
I forced myself to make today a chore day
So normal weekly chores of shopping and laundry
I shredded a bunch of paper in the garage
I shifted all of my junk in the living room into the dining nook
Then I emptied everything from my bed room into the living room
except for my bed and computers , so I could play and sleep tonight
In the morning , I finished moving the rest of the furniture out of the bedroom
I don't know how I got my computer table into the room without dismantling it
but this time I had to take it apart to get it out
It's been four years since I moved in
and the dust dirt and grime have really piled up in my bedroom
I dirtied many washcloths as I scooped up the filth
I went sailing in the afternoon
The wind was really annoying today
The forecast said it would blow out of the southwest
which it was as I tried to sail away from the shore (into the wind)
Then when I got out into the middle of the lake , the wind stopped
I didn't let it bother me , and I found myself literally lying down in my boat as I waited for the wind
It finally picked up just as I got to the party area
There were a lot more motor boats on the water today
When I started sailing back , I found the wind had shifted out of the north
So I'm sailing directly into the wind again as I tried to get back to shore
This time I was super annoyed
I knew I was too tired and inebriated to do any wood work
but I had to reinforce the bed's legs before I could go to sleep
So I was up late as I screwed in some diagonal braces to keep the bed's legs from twisting
I moved the furniture back into the bedroom
Before putting the computer's back in , I blew the dust out of them
This is when I discovered the dumbest thing I have ever done
I was trying to blow the dust out of the video card
when I found that the vent on the back of the computer was still blocked
When I built the computer , I didn't remove one of the back plates
So my video card has never had proper air flow
I can't believe that I never noticed this over the past ten years
Maybe the extra cooling will give me a few more FPS now
My car's radio has always been a pain
I don't listen to broadcast radio , nor use the CD player
I just connect my phone to the bluetooth and listen to Youtube or audio books
but after a while it would just disconnect in the middle of driving
and wouldn't reconnect
It didn't bother me too much because I could use the headphone jack to listen to my phone
A few weeks ago , I lost all functionality in my radio
I couldn't bring up any of the SYNC menus
No bluetooth , no headphone jack , not even the USB charger would work
I've been surviving with plugging in headphones or just holding the phone up to my ear
Today, I decided to get my radio fixed
I found a Youtube video that exactly explained my problem
So I removed a few panels from the car's dashboard
and pulled out the radio box
Then I went up to the Ford repair shop and order a new one
It cost $275 and they took the old radio box from me
I learned something new about making paper briquettes
You need a lot more water in the paper to water ratio
I had to spread the mush into twice as many buckets
I pressed a lot of briquettes , but only made through half of it
Before, I had tried to let them dry in the sun under a clear plastic box
but they were still getting a bit wet from the morning dew and rain
This time I let them sit in the garage on the work bench
The lawn needed mowing , but I only mowed the front lawn
because the neighbors were sitting in their back yard
and I didn't want to disturb them so much
The apple tree in the front yard has low hanging branches
I've been using the hedge trimmer to cut them back
I hold the trimmer over my head to keep things up above six feet
So nothing hits my head or people walking down the sidewalk or the neighbor's car
I had done this earlier in the spring
but I think the new fruit is weighing the branches down again
I trimmed the lower branches back again today
When seen from a distance , the tree looks neat with a flat 'bottom' and wild growing top
I picked up my new radio from the shop
I immediately plugged it in in the parking lot
and found it was having the same problems
I marched back inside and was told that I'd have to have the radio re-programmed
and it'll cost me about $150
I got SUPER frustrated and tried not to scream at everybody I talked to
I decided to not have it done today
I finished the current batch of briquettes
The ones from the other day aren't very dry
Tonight , I heard the sirens going off
Tornado warnings
It rained and the wind blew
but not as hard as I've experienced before
There were warnings about the Rouge River flowing fast
So I went down to the boat launch by the house
and saw the water flowing faster than it ever has before
I wish it would flow that fast every day
I went to the Mickey Shore radio store to see what they could do about my non-functional new radio
They said only Ford could re-program it
In the short time I was in the store , a commotion arose
Apparently, some random (possibly homeless) guy had pissed on the floor , and some shouting started
I commented that I've only seen stuff like that happen on the internet
Spy x Family
The internet was hyping up this show
It's a bit silly at times
I'm just wondering if the family will ever discover the other's secrets
I pulled out the wood chipper and chopped up the branches that have been piling up
I spent the morning in the repair shop while they programmed my radio
After just a few hours , they said it was ready
Before driving away , I tried to turn on the bluetooth
Same problem , nothing but the radio works
I went straight back inside and asked , "do i not know how to work my radio ?"
The guy said it's probably the SYNC module
Great , I've probably just wasted $500 on a new part that I didn't need
That's what I get for trying to diagnose and repair my own car in a no-right-to-repair world
I left my car with them , and had the shuttle take me home
Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated Into a Total Fantasy Knockout
The show felt overly silly as these two 'guys' worked through their (b)romance
It became more interesting and made more sense when i discovered it was written by a woman
It's a 3.3 mile walk to PDC
You become very aware of how stupidly the sidewalks are arranged when you don't have a car
After installing a few computers , I walked to the repair shop
It cost me another $100 for them to tell me that it was going to cost me another $1000 to get another SYNC module and program it
I said "ha ha . no . i'm not throwing good money after bad on a part i don't really need
I went into the office and complained to everybody about the no-right-to-repair garbage
All that walking yesterday put a lot of strain on my hips
My joints and muscles are yelling at me
Uncle Ray had to get a hip replacement
I've been worried that that might be something that runs in the family
I can't afford the surgery
nor would I have anybody to help me as I recovered