2015-11-27:

Fri:
Mystery solved. We'll get to that.

Anyway, got my machine loaded by using the "custom" installer, pulling the network cable, and taking out the IP address of the update server so it didn't do that no more.

Went through my bugs, only like two were invalidated because of my odd configuration. Whew.

Had the meeting, and went back to testing. Found a few more things, finished the test cases I had with like an hour to spare. A lot of them are still "future" but at least some of the things work.

Went shopping, got oil for the oil change that's popped up on my dash. Of course they didn't have the oil filter for my car, I had to have it ordered. Also got some ramps to drive the car up onto, make it a little easier for me.

Went shopping, then over to my parent's house. Had dinner there, thanks guys, invited my father over for Dr Who tomorrow as no Sean.

Then came back here. Mailed my Silver Xis guy about why I've only seen one paycheck despite working there a month, got an immediate reply. Apparently they pay the 15th and the 30th. Ah.

Got caught up on my websites, made my one phone call, she wants two weeks from now Saturday. Oh, okay, whatever.

Heather picked me up the last Starcraft II expansion, but you know I'm too deep into Skyrim now to start something else. Vampire and all that. I just made it back to the "real" world and have to now start managing it. We'll see how that goes.

Let's go back and play!

Sat:
Busy day today. Got the place straightened up for this evening when my father comes over. Then my first job at 10:00. That took a bit of time. Stupid windows and its stupid custom keyboards. But I got it done.

Back here for lunch, then out at 1:00. Just checking his machine over after he called some random dude on the internet thinking it was malwarebytes. His machine didn't seem compromised though.

As I had gotten the keyboard I went over there.
Whoops, it isn't the keyboard. Changed it, and nothing happened. It still didn't work.
That was fine from my perspective, as I sold her the system I didn't get paid for from ebay. Nifty. But I'll have to drop that off, so I get to go back yet again!

Picked up the oil filter on the way home, and food for tonight.

Got everything set up, and waited for my father to arrive.

Then he did!
We watched Dr Who, the very reason he arrived. Burritos so good.

Sun:
Changed the oil in Susan first thing. Ugh. Could NOT get the oil filter off. The adjustable wrench thing I bought? Useless! The small one was too loose, it just kept slipping right off. The neck of the thing is too loose, it wouldn't hold the rubber strap in place enough to keep it on. The big one? Too big! I could get it around the filter but then it wouldn't move at all. Gurr.

Finally went from the top of the car instead of the bottom, standing behind it and using my left hand I managed to get enough of a grip to loosen it. Success! I reset the counter and that was that. Only took an hour. The ramp though, that worked just great. Next time it'll go much smoother.

Went on to, uh, play Skyrim. Feeding on Falmer at the moment. They aren't even human! You can't feel bad for them.

Then out at 1:30. Answered various questions for him, no big deal really.
Then delivered the laptop to the lady. Also no real issues.

Back here I did more gift buying. I think all my holiday shopping is done. It all just has to arrive now, though I have most of it.

With the part number for my oil filter in hand, I looked it up on ebay. I got a case of 6 of them for $32. That's $5 apiece! I paid $13 for this one. Ugh!
And now I'll have enough for like three years or so?

Loaded Win10 on the Toshiba with the bad keyboard. I'll give the lady a few days and then wipe this one, put win10 on directly. With a keyboard it can become my new loaner machine, replace that awful XP laptop I carry around now.

Watched most of my shows, Supergirl is playing out of order so I'll wait and watch it in order next week. Didn't watch Dr Who. Maybe dad will come back and finish the rest of the episodes before I go back to Sean's.

Interesting- the upgrade didn't cure the trackpad not working problem. Huh.

Mon:
A somewhat typical monday now, went in to work as usual. There was snow on the ground, yuck. Didn't really stay around though. Supposed to warm up a little too, before it starts getting colder again.

Had the morning meeting, then basically came home for lunch right after, as it went a bit long.

Got Mizzy's gift, and it came out pretty good. Should have made part of it a little bigger. Just like I should have made the earrings a little smaller. It's tough to judge the size of something virtual.

My 5:30 canceled, she thinks she'll get a better deal waiting until after thanksgiving. Good luck.

Back to work I got ready to test the next thing. Went through the fixed bugs I was assigned to verify, and made a bunch of the documents that were called for in the next test. Got them made, it shouldn't take too long to finish this section, I basically just have to submit them and make sure the pricing works okay.

A cute new coder started, so that's a plus.

Back here with no job I called the other two people that had called me. Neither wanted tonight. The guy wanted 7:00 tomorrow, ugh.

I said I would go over to the outreach place after my 5:00 wednesday one, as that's just a printer setup. They have a "slow machine." Yeah, all your machines are ancient windows boxes donated who knows how long ago. Of course they're slow. What do you expect?

So nothing tonight. Which just means more running around later. And that's the week until Friday, so anyone that calls in the next two days is out of luck. Oh well.

Visited my pages, got ready for tomorrow, and played some skyrim.

Tues:
Got some good news today. They want to extend my contract until at least May. It still has to be approved by "finance." You know, that guy. But that should happen next week.

So, whew, I guess? I do like the fact at least some of the uncertainty is gone. And with the repair business so dead, I need it. Guess it came at just the right time, and when does that happen?

Right, exactly, just before something terrible. :-)

Anyway, work wise I nearly finished the latest test cases. Probably would have, if the thing didn't keep acting stupid and dying on me. Us, really, as it's been happening to others all day as well. Still, a couple more to finish up and that's done. Not many bugs. It was just submitting jobs and making sure the totals added up, hardly a stretch.

Came back here, ate dinner. Played a bit of Skyrim, and went out to my 7:00. Just setting his new laptop up. May I remind you I was just at this guy's place 3 days ago? If he knew he was getting a new machine why not just wait? If he didn't know he was getting a new machine… why? Why DID he get a new machine? His current one isn't that old. Ah, who knows.

Got back here about 8:15. No calls today, which is good I guess, so I got ready for tomorrow. Wrote this up, and here we are.

I've got an hour, guess I'll do that thing…

Wed:
And so the vacation begins.

Not much work went on at Xerox… anywhere. The parking lot was so empty. Susan had to be all lonesome on her own.

I did finish up the testing from yesterday, no meeting as everyone was gone, so instead I worked on trying some of those test cases I was writing before the reliability test.

Then set up the printer, so easy.

As I believed the outreach system was crap. Didn't even have a SATA hard drive. I ordered them a new machine.

Then came back here. This was about 7:00. So I ate dinner, and now I'm off to play skyrim.

Thurs:
Which continues throughout today.

Of course there was a wonderful holiday meal in there is well. Got to see my grandfather, eat too much, and the weather wasn't even too terrible.

Not much else to report, really. Hope you all had a great day as well and I'll see you all in December.