The Time Sink

Okay, this was one three-day weekend that just went all sorts of according to plan, not according to plan, got sidetracked, and still ended up just jam packed with way too much going on but a whole lot accomplished. Sure, that's a lot to say, but hey...

Friday we got cut loose from work a little early, so Brad and I decided to knock out the lawns after dinner to free us up for some front patio prep work on Saturday. We got that done, but we pushed up against the darkness since it was so darned hot. Saturday we recleared debris from the work areas and I started the taping on the drains and gluing the new drip line feed together.

...but when that work was done, or as done as it was going to be before the heat and sun chased me off, I decide to trouble shoot whatever was causing the extra noise when the garage door opener cycled. After ruling out the usual suspects I tracked it down to the drive gear itself: it looked to me like the thurst bearing failed. Well that wouldn't be any fun to try to order and replace so I figured to go get a replacement and work on the 'inside' during the heat of the day...

Somehome that trip ended up with with both me and Shelley; she wanted me to check out a Nordic Track trainer for the house that would let her cost shift the gym membership fees (unused since school started) over to a system we could use inside the house. Okay. ...and a few hours later we were home with an elliptical trainer, a garage door opener, two hoses, a replacement lock, a pumpkin decoration and a new cage for the partridge...

Daniel's take on the trainer after we removed and removed and removed and removed it from the box: "Man, we could just haul all of this stuff back and forth the the bedroom everyday and shine setting it up!" Quite frankly, I had to agree. Three hours later, I realized it was dark and I wasn't going to be able to blade. I also realized I'd gotten enough of a workout carrying the parts in and putting the blasted thing together that I really didn't need a workout!

...and other than one 'break' to solder a wire that we damaged, it was every bit of those three hours to get the thing put togeter and working properly. ...but it kicks serious tail. ...and it even has a cup holder! What more could you want? ...and it likely will be used by everyone in the family. I won't give up blading even with the knee problems, but this can fill in when the rain is falling outside.

Hmmm... The weather photos from today are from the remnants of Hurricane Dean as they passed through the valley. We went from 100+ to 90 with the odd shower in the morning (and predictions of 'clearing by noon') to cloudbursts in the afternoon. ...and once things cleared, we hit the three day weekend with the 108 stuff.

Tuesday started a cooloff into the 90's but we're heading back up again. That's okay; it cannot last forever, and after a few days of the 106-108 gig, the 90s are positively relaxing...

Okay, I have one that will make all the programmers out there either cringe or be happy it's never happened to them: Tuesday, the local school district's substitute scheduling computer decided it had enough of the heat over the holidays and proceeded to go through its database and remove all of the substitute assignments for Wednesday through the balance of the week. Not 'lose' them, it cancelled the assignments. Joy...

You can see where that may cause a problem here and there, but then it did things one better: it started contacting substitute teachers to ask them to take the vacated jobs. Okay... Since many of those teachers were already assigned (or thought they were) or were working, they either couldn't accept the jobs or didn't get the notice until they got off work.

Hang with me here... Later that afternoon, the same system started calling the teachers it had cancelled during the morning glitch and notifying them their jobs were cancelled. So you're a subsitute teacher who maybe has your work week pretty well planned out and you've turned down a job because you already have one, only that one is cancelled for reasons unknown? Nah, not good. ...but what about the hyper planners who have 'scheduled' jobs locked in with confirmation numbers and know darned well the job wasn't cancelled because they just spoke with the teacher they are working for and they sure as heck need a sub. Maybe your paperwork has a problem. I-9? Homeland security?

...and this on a system so stable there's only one IT guy tasked to it and only one clerk to do manual data entry as needed. ...and she needs the system up to be able to assign subs. ...all the while watching the machine making calls to tell people they aren't working tomorrow.

Well, darn. It was supposed to cool down enough last night to make opening up the windows and blowing the house out a good thing to do. ...only when I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to open the place up, I had to cancel that idea rather quickly: there are two wildfires burning up north, and this valley (300 miles long by 100 wide) is storing up the smoke from both of them until the winds spill it over into the LA basin.

On the way to work I expect to here the radio tell which school sports are cancelled (and PE) and how things are looking for the weekend. The outside projects may be on hold for a bit. Shelley says the early TV news was talking about through the weekend.

It's going to be an 'enforced' relaxing weekend. ...or at least an indoor one: that smoke from up in northern CaliLand has been joined by smoke from another fire over to the West in the coast range. Oh yeah, words like "particulate matter" are now reported in every news cast...

Oh man, oh man, oh man! Heads up, Cecil; it could be an interesting year in football. The local guys went into Texas A&M's house and took them to triple overtime before losing. ...and it didn't look good at halftime: at Kyle Field and behind 19:0? ...and to tie it and then lose on the mandatory 'go for two' in the third overtime? Sure, we'll have to see what happens at Oregon next week to see if they can sustain that poise, but there was some leadership and some serious talent showing way down south during that second half.

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"Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke, "Technology and the Future"

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