ohio

JusWondering… What Yesterday Wrought

Posted on by sgottahurt

Believe me when I say I was going to bore you with the details of my yesterday in comparison with what I expected it to be two days ago.  You know that whole random winter Tuesday/Wednesday gag.  So instead, I’m only going to bore you with highlights.

I’ll just note that things weren’t too far off from what I predicted as well as not at all the same!

  • I started moving at 6:01 am (alarm clock time), which means I ignored one whole minute.  Not a good start.
  • I ended up having a morning that was beyond snooze happy, and had to cut out some of the morning essentials.  I still ate a Pop Tart with  organic milk (Brown Sugar Cinnamon won).
  • On the road, the only construction I ran into was right by my house.  I did get sleepy around Bowling Green, so I stopped at Meijer for a candy bar.  (It was a Milky Way bar, since they were out of Reese’s Fast Breaks… I fear this treat’s days are numbered.)
  • I quickly gave up the notion of seeing a Denny’s for my free breakfast.  I thought they might not exist in Ohio.  I did end up getting a free lunch, though (the company’s VP bought me a bar burger from the joint next door).
  • Things were going well.  I only had to run two network cable lines.  There was a slight struggle getting the router and the modem to communicate, but overall, it looked like I was leaving early…
  • The Snag.  I knew in my gut that there was going to be one, but I figured it would have to do with the wiring or a pc issue.  Better yet.  The router I went down to Findlay to install was to unite the offices so their printers would work better.  This was the reason for the visit.  The router I had no longer came with this feature included.  In fact, it could no longer even be purchased as an add-on.  This meant I had to find a VPN router replacement stat.  Unfortunately, the closest store to carry it was in Toledo.  Here’s some maps:
Between office and store.

Between office and store.

 

Between office and home.
Between office and home.

 

  •  Bonus Potential Snag.  The key given to me to get back in since the workers would be gone was the wrong key.  Luckily someone was still there.  Whew!
  • While I was waiting for printer files to install, I did get to work on a post for Old Men at the Bar.  The computer seized up on me, and I feared all was lost!  Only a little was lost.
  • I finally got back on the road home about 7 pm.  It was three hours later than I anticipated.  On my way back I stopped in Bowling Green to get gas and a Mt. Dew from Meijer.  The Dew tasted like it was mixed with some paint thinner, or something, but I was thirsty. 
  • As I neared the Ohio/Michigan border, I saw a billboard for an upcoming Denny’s.  In Toledo.

JusWondering… What Will Tomorrow/Today Bring?

Posted on by sgottahurt

My experiment for the day (the day being Tuesday, or today as you may be reading this now, or long ago on a random winter Tuesday if you find this in the future – ah, you get the idea)…

I am going to guess the events of my tomorrow tonight.

For work, I am set to go on a road trip to Ohio, and it’s been yeeeaaaarssss since I’ve been able to do this.  I have my iPod charged, my Mt. Dew and water bottles ready for the drive, the car loaded with supplies, and… okay, I know Ohio isn’t far from me in Detroit and Findlay isn’t that far into Ohio, but it’s still great to get away.  Here’s my planned/hoped itinerary:

6 am – My alarm will start going off.  It’s actually 5:42 am because I set my alarm ahead 18 minutes to get me two extra nine minute snoozes (I’m a snooze addict).

7:12 am – I will consider starting to get moving, but I’ll remember the clock is fast and I know I can get another two snoozes in.

7:30 am – I will kick on the radio, grab a Pop Tart (I’ll consider the Hot Fudge Sundae, but will go with the Chocolate Fudge considering it’s not as messy), and pore some organic milk (see Theory Sheet up above for reason why).

8:15 am– A shower, a toothbrushing, a drying, and a dressing later, I will be hitting the road, and moving off alarm clock time.

early 9 o’clock hour – I will see a Denny’s restaurant and evaluate my hunger and time frame levels.  Denny’s is supposed to be giving out free Grand Slams from 6am to 2pm.  I will suspect that I am not hungry due to the Pop Tart and will keep on trucking.

dennys1

around 10 am – I’ll be arriving at the client, ready to perform the job at hand.  I’m slated for six hours of setting up equipment and running wires.

around 10:15 am – I will find out there is some catch to the wiring job, i.e. there is no ladder, no drop ceiling… something that will put a snag in the time frame.

around 10:20 am – I will come up with some workaround.

around noon – I’ll realize I haven’t eaten since 7:30 am (7:12 am real time).  I’ll consider leaving to grab a bite, but I’ll be in the middle of something and decide to work through it.

around 1 pm – I’ll call the Detroit office because the planned connection between locations will have some type of issue.

around 2 pm– Another surprise – spyware is on a pc!

around 3 pm – I’m really starving, but the end is in sight!

around 4 pm – I’ll be packing up equipment for the ride home.  I’ll be wishing I stopped at Denny’s.

around 5:30 pm – After making it through a slight traffic jam in near Bowling Green (and stopping at the Meijer store located there for no reason), I’ll see the Denny’s I should have stopped at, and stop at a Taco Bell instead.

around 7 pm– I’ll finally arrive home, and realize I didn’t get a chance to write an entry for my other blog, Old Men at the Bar, because I was too tired for it last night/right now (how meta).

around 8 pm – I’ll realize there’s nothing on TV I want to watch, and I’ll be glad that I saved the last DVD from the 3rd Season of Weeds for tonight.  I’ll hope there’s more than two episodes left, because I’m hoping that right now.  A few minutes into the show, I’ll pause it and grab my laptop and write a post to see how the day compared to my expectations.

See you again tomorrow!  (Wednesday!)  (That random winter Wednesday long ago!)