Another Quiet Weekend

This weekend was mostly spent recuperating from the last two weeks. Jacob went over to his father's house but found out Carol had the weekend off and didn't want him there. Andrea spent the weekend helping her grandparents. Kris took the weekend off and rested. I spent most of the weekend lounging and playing the Gamecube. Last week was busy and a quiet weekend seemed to be just what the doctor ordered.

Friday Buffalo Shoot-out
After work, Justin ( a co-worker) and I made a trip to Wally World. Justin doesn't have a car and needed a ride. I took the opportunity to buy muself a new wireless card as my boss, Mr. Gray had taken all of the wireless cards in the office. I used my office card when I needed to take bench work or if I wanted to take on of the cubes up front to work at.

I bought a Belkin 54g PCMCIA Wireless card for about $34. It was cheap, not really what I wanted, but it works. I really wanted a NetGear 54g, but Wally World doesn't sell NetGear, or at least not this store. Justin also wanted a wireless card as he lives right across the street and had just gotten his computer. Since I definitely needed mine and he wasn't sure about his, I told him to leave his in the box and we would use my laptop card to warddrive the area.

The parking lot was full of signals, but his room could only get one strong enough to register. This is most likely due to the building being of strong Brick construction. Signal from downstairs can pass through teh floor, but the signal outside could not pass through the wall - that's just lame. Also, the position of his apartment meant he couldn't get the signals throug his neighbor's walls. TS for Justin.

I had told him he might get a signal by running an antenna out his window. If he could get it outside, he would have plenty to choose from. He also spoke with Nate, who seems to think he might be able to rig something from the roof to help him out. I thought he might be able to run a length of USB cord to use the USB Wifi he bought. But I told him the PCI card probably would have been a better choice.

Late BWW Carnage
As soon as we were done shopping, I headed out. Justin was determined to get some quality drinking time in before the night was done. He also had to get back up to DNet to finish up a project for Bill.

When I got home, I found Jacob slouched on the couch watching Halloween Town on Disney.

"Where the hell did you come from?" I asked him.

"Carol said I couldn't spend the weekend there because she had the weekend off," Jake replied.

I immediately understood what that meant. Jacob's father is well-known for being irresponsible, insensitive, and, in general, an asshole. "Carol's weekend" implies that she has a free weekend off and did not want to spend it watching Jake while Rick was off drinking or playing bingo ro whatever else. It also meant that she did not want to spend the weekend with Jacob screaming at her to get him this and do that.

I understood completely. Rick did the same thing to Kris when they were married. His two daughters would fcome for their weekend to spend with their dad and he would leave them there for Kris to take care of. Then when they moved back to Eau Claire, they would come over every day to "help" Kris with Annie. Kris had enough of it and told Rick and the girls they could only come over when Rick was there, since they were there to spend the time with their father. Rick turned that around as "Kris doesn't want you here anymore." Typical. But it did work out.

So Jacob siting there alone on a Friday night made perfect sense. Of course, no one told us about these plans. Kris was out with her friends at a Larry the Cableguy show in LaCrosse while I was out until almost 7pm. He hadn't eaten anything since lunch - maybe some junk/snack food. I told him the next time his plans changed, he would need to call us immediately so we could make sure someone would be home or at least have something for him to eat for supper.

I'm sure that was wishful thinking on my part. If Rick ever had to suddenly stop and think about someone else for a change, his big, fat, stupid head would explode. I'm not cleaning up that crap.

Now for the BWW
Jake and I piled into the car at around 745 to go get something for supper. The original plan was to go to Cancun, where Jacob could flirt with a 18 year-old college girl who shared a love for all things Star Wars. Jacob is in love with her and we try to tease him about it whenever possible.

Cancun was packed, for some strange reason. Friday nights are usually kind of quiet for that area, but not this time. So we made our usual rounds, we stopped by the theatre but missed our movie by about 15 minutes. So we looped around and decided to take Jake to BWW for supper.

BWW is probably one of the least expensive places to eat in town, next to Cancun. Jake and I can eat there for under $25 most of the time. THis time, we splurged and spent $26. Jake ate an entire 18-piece Honey BBQ ing, himself. I was still hungry for Mexican food, so I got some Wild Chicken Fajitas. It all tasted wonderful, if not hot. And their Iced Tea was passable. We were both starving.

Kris' Funtime
Kris had a rough week last week. She had to move her desk...again. This time, she was moved so that another lady could take her place. Kris was not too happy about it. And by the end of the week, she was so angry about the entire mess, she decided to stay home over the weekend.

Kris was already in a foul mood on Friday, but decided to still go to her Larry the Cableguy show in LaCrosse. Originally, we were both going to go to it, but we could never get tickets for it. Then Kris' friend Cathy got tickets and decided that Kris just had to go with her.

Kris also is getting a "Christmas Present" to go see some concert with Cathy. She says she doesn't want to go, but she doesn't know how to tell Cathy she doesn't want to go. Apparently, flat out telling a woman "No" is impossible for other women. Always trying to find a subtle way of not directly communicating seems to be the way females communicate.

Or, is that really communicating? Not really. I'll say "My Left shoe needs to be tied, again." What everyone who hears that will imply is something completely different. I told Kris to just flat out lie to her. Since being direct is something she is incapable of, I told her to tell her that Annie has a concert that night and she can't miss it.

What if Cathy wants to come? So what. Just tell her it was moved at the last minute because of maintenance problems and then give her the correct date. Or just trail off and act like there were phone problems. Jeez, do I have to think of everything.

I told Kris to just tell Cathy I told her she couldn't go. That way, Kris can be spared the anger. And I can be blamed for it. I don't really care if Kris' friends think I'm horrible. It's Kris' fault she can't be honest with her own friends and that she lets them push her around and drag her off to stuff she doesn't want to do.

Or, that's what she says. It's horrible to be taken out one night every couple of months to get away from screaming kids to spend time with friends, go to a concert, and then eat at a restaurant. God, I'd hope that fate is reserved only for Republicans and Lawyers. When she griped about the trip last week, I told how sorry I felt for her that she would be taken by her friends to go see a comedian she enjoyed.

Oh, Please don't throw me in the briar patch.... That's about as believeable as forcing Kris to eat a piece of chocolate or making her take a nap. If that's her idea of torture...

Weekend of Horror

This weekend was a mind-numbing abysmal hell! Andrea celebrated her 14th Birthday by having a sleepover with three of her friends - Liz, Heather, and Rachel. I spent most of the weekend driving them between the house, the mall, and Wal-Mart. Jacob had the good sense to go to his dad's house while Kris mysteriously made herslef scarce.

Annie's Weekend
Friday afternoon, Annie's guests began to arrive. As usual, she did very little to actually prepare for the weekend but insisted that we do everything in our power to make it happen. She was also reminded of the original deal in which she had to have everything ready for her "guests" the night before they were to arrive. Ya know, something reasonable - have her room cleaned up; have the extra towels washed, dried, and put away; and have the basement and sleeping arrangements for each girl taken care of.

She didn't have anything done. And she was pissy with us for making her do it. So she was told there would be no more slumber parties at our place if she didn't have these things taken care of. Yeah, whatever.

The four girls went shopping and stayed up until 230am the first night. Because Anne had to have all three of them over, they were only allowed to stay one night. A fact she constantly tired to bend, but Kris held her ground.

Heather was her typical spoiled rotten self and continually picked on Annie and started a few tiffs with the other two girls. She was kinda the odd girl out because the others both go to school with Annie. On the way home, we all had a talk with Annie about Heather. She's not a very good friend, she always picks on Annie, she always makes Annie spend money on her, and she steals - in other words, she treats Annie the way Aniie treats her mom.

The mess al ended on Saturday afternoon, leaving us to deal with Andrea's incessant pouting and whining. She went to be early and we got a nice break from the noise. The Estrogen had to be scraped off the walls and hosed out the back door. This weekend weas truly a house full of bitches - Kris, Jada, Lily, Annie, Heather, Liz, and Rachel - with me chaufering everyone.

Sunday Morning
On Sunday, I got a nice call from Kris at Kwik Trip. The truck had died and she needed me to push it around to the far side of the store -- FUN! I picked her up and we waited for her brother, Kerry to check it out. I thought it sounded like a fuse going out but the truck was getting full power. We had to have it towed to BJ's - one of Harold's longtime buddies.

THis latest funtime will cost us about $270. Extra fun, we're never gonna get anything paid off long enough to get ahead.

Airsoft Funtime
Thursday night, I had decided to pop my chopped front back onto my AK and take it downstairs. When I chopped the barrel, I had not remembered the crown the barrel with my bar file and it ended up causing some problems. The result was a broken gear, tappet plate and a lightly stripped piston. I took the gun in to have Jason toss them in - I don't have any work space to work on a mechbox anyway.

Now that the gun is back, I will probably toss the longer barrel back on and get rid of all the excess parts. This will go along with the metal body I have ordered, which will basically finish the project. All of this will be finished by the November 5th game. So I'm really looking forward to getting this out of the way.

Little Chocolate Donuts...The Breakfast of Champions

This week was busy at work. I had some billing mess to file and a flurry of mundane calls. Kris was busy running kids around while trying to deal with her own work mess. Andrea surprised everyone with a 95 average in English. Jacob finishes up his 3-week tour as Safety Patrolman. Jacob and I spend the weekend playing a new GameCube game.

Safety Patrolman Faanes
Jacob finished up his first three week stint with the Elementary Safety Patrol. This job had him getting up early and dashing off to school to man one of the crosswalks. This job is following a proud family tradition as Kris used to be on the Safety Patrol when she was in Elementary School - a fact I tease her on, regularly.

Jacob works three weeks on, three off. HE gets to sleep a little later over the next three weeks. I'm sure he'll spend that extra thirty minutes watching TV, as usual. Hey, as long as he doesn't dance around drunk in his underwear and punch a mirror, that's fine.

Kris' Fandango
Kris spent the week running aournd town. She had doctor's appointments, shopping, and several other errands. She also got a few sick days off to catch up on her sleep. This weekend, she had the honor of running Annie around town - fun. She also got to attend parent-teach conferences and have a whole Friday afternoon to nap.

Annie's Schoolwork
Andrea has been doing very well in 8th Grade English, this year. She attributes that fact to her teacher not making them do "that stupid conjunction English crap" and "reading that gay poetry." I asked her what "gay" poetry and she said that "touchy-feely crap" she had to read last year.

I told her, "but Annie, that "gay poetry" is what girls have traditionally read. She told me it was all "gay" and that she hated it. So, without having to read "gay" poetry and doing "stupid..English crap," I asked her what they actually did do. "We watch movies and cartoons, and read stories." -- Yeah. So when she actually does have to do that "English Crap" that require homework, I'm sure her grades will drop back down.

Little Chocolate Donuts
Thursday was payday for me. I was given a second raise the previous week and this was the first pay period to see it. It's not too bad for an extra 25 cents an hour. I was promised an additional raise at my February review. I'm not exactly sure where this came from because at this point, I'm happy with what I'm making. Gas prices have dropped back down so that I can actually afford a tank of gas. And with my airsoft gun finished, I don't have any real significant drain on my financial resources.

Thursday was also the day I had to take Jake to Wally World to get food for his field trip. I gave Justin, my co-worker a ride, as well. He lives in a little efficiency apartment across the street from work and doesn't have a car yet. He wanted to go pick up some stuff for his apartment and to entertain himself. Poor guy. I hope he gets his shit together because he's damned fine worker and we really would be lost without him at work.

After dropping Justin off, I took the kids to Great Wall Buffet for dinner. They Serve passable Chinese food that both the kids wreally love. Jacob ate 6 BBQ pork skewers! They are pork rib meat on skewers without the bone. That kids can eat thos things like there's no tomorrow. He aslo pigged out on Lo mein noodles. He followed that up with a small bowl of ice cream.

Annie, on the other hand, pissed off one of the servers by slopping lo mein noodles all over the buffet table and floor. As Andrea walked away, I heard the server cursing her in Mandarin/Engrish - "stoopid fat American bitch" - yeah, the Mandarin glare sounded about the same. I made a point to remind Annie that it was a buffet and not a contest to see how much crap she could pile onto her plate. Besides, she could make another trip. I was wasting my breath.

On the way home from supper, we stopped at K-Mart to do a little lite shopping. Annie got her birthday present form me - a Jessie McCartney CD that just came out. I also bought a copy of Timesplitters: Future Perfect for the Gamecube. The game is really cool and I love the MapMaker function. The previous game had the same feature and I'm trying to find another copy of it.

All in all, it's been an interesting weekend. And the Little Chocoloate Donuts have been a rather tasty treat all of us have enjoyed. Maybe next pay period, I can buy a tub of them instead of a small box.

Another Busy Week

This week was pretty wild at work and at home. Sunday, I went to Osseo to play at the first Chippewa Valley airsoft event. Monday I was given a Project to help research Broadband options for an area our company plans to begin offering wireless to. Andrea and Jacob wrap up their fundraising for school. Kris has a busy week running kids and herself around town. And the family spends one full weekend together for the first time in several months.

Battlefield Paintball - Osseo, WI
Sunday, I got up around 630 to leave for my game in Osseo. The field was roughly 30 miles and I also had to help on of the organizers get packed up. We arrived at the field around 930 and began gearing up for the morning's game.

I played as a ref for the first round, but told the organizers I also would like to play. They were able to grab a few other refs so I could play the second two events. The game was a little rough as the field required full masks for everyone. Most airsofters are accustomed to playing with onlyt he goggle requirements, but it ended up working out. I brought an OD Balaclava as it breaths a little better than a paintball mask.

We play three games and then called the day. The event organizer left around 430 and the rest of us played around until about 7pm. The games were alot of fun, but I really enjoyed just getting some trigger time with several other electic and gas guns, courtesy Jason's Airsoft store.

Despite the low numbers, we still consider the game to be a tremendous success. The game was well organized, despite being hastily thrown together in a month. We immediately made plans for a second even at the beginning of November. I am slightly worried we will lose the good weather, but most of us just want to get something together anyway.

Internet Research Project
Monday, I was given a list of roughly 110 towns to look up and determine their Broadband capabilities. DIscover-Net plans to offer these communities a wireless service around the beginning of 2007. My work required me to find out what competing services, if any, are available, who provides it, and give a rough idea of what pricing would be.

Well, Monday was spent researching the FCC and Wisconsin PSC for provider information. Then I had to use a few tools to determine actual availability of services in each community, which took most of Tuesday. Wednesday, Bill asked for my results, despite the fact I was promised Friday to finish up. I gave him everything I had and he was immediately impressed. Within thirty minutes, he had me working on phase two, which wasn't supposed to begin until around November. I was to research tower availability for each fo the communities. I finished that on Thursday and handed it in.

Right now, I'm waiting to be handed an additional project. I don't really mind, but it would be nice to have a little more warning or to have people stick with their projected timetable. It might make everything run a little smoother.

Kids' School FundRaising
Both of the kids spent the last two weeks trying to hawk their fundraising crap. Rather than actually diverting state money to spend on school, they are forced to make the students go out and sell crap. I think its rediculous the state makes the kids pay for everything. But I guess that's Wisconsin for you.

Andrea was selling candy bars while Jacob was selling nuts, candies, and other chocolate crap. Both of the kids had magazines to sell, also. True to form, all the kids could talk about for the last few weeks was how they were gonna sell such and such and get an MP3 player or CD player. That's all they really cared about. Neither one of them really sold anything, instead, insisting we take the forms to work and get our co-workers to buy from us.

Yeah. No effort out of either of them. I flatly refused because I have all of five co-workers. I really didn't want to have to sell their crap either.

Kris' Week
Kris also had a busy week running all over town this week. She had doctor appointments, parent/teacher meetings. She was exhausted and spent a little time napping. On top of that, Kris had to help Annie with her homework on particularly hard nights. Kris spent a good deal of this weekend trying to catch up on rest.