November 5, 2016

 I woke up earlier than I would have liked this morning so I could take a shower and be ready in case my mom had to leave and the dishwasher guy was still here. That ended up not being an issue but I was still up early. It was probably for the best because it allowed me to eat an early lunch and get out of the house at a decent time.

I went over to my house and did a quick count of outlet plate covers I wanted to change and headed to Home Depot. It took a bit of juggling to carry them all but I managed. When I got back to the house I went around and started switching out cover plates. The new ones look a lot better than the old ones and I immediately wished I had bought enough to replace all of the outlets and switches. When I got done I went around and made a list of all the ones that still need to be replaced and I'm going to go buy more tomorrow maybe. I also bought a couple switches and a new outlet but didn't get around to switching those out today. I still need to label the breaker box and I didn't want to figure that out today. I also didn't want to be in the middle of that when the internet guy showed up. Speaking of which.

My installation window was between one o'clock and three o'clock, hence why I couldn't go back to Home Depot once I realized I needed more stuff. Well, that window came and went. Around 3:45PM I got a call from the guy saying he was on his way. It was a very weird conversation because after each short statement he made he would pause and wait for me to say something. Even when what he had said didn't require a response. It was foreshadowing.

When he finally showed up he asked if he could enter the house, which immediately made me think he must be a vampire. The first thing he did when he got inside was start making shadow puppets with my projector (more on the projector in a minute). When we were down in the basement looking at the various cables running along the ceiling he said “If I were a betting man, and sadly I am...” and then trailed off. He came in from doing something outside and was kind of dancing around like a little kid and after a minute or two he asked if he could use the restroom. While he was still in the restroom he started the call to set up my modem. He was still talking when he got out and as he was giving the guy on the phone all the numbers and stuff on my modem he switched between four or five different accents. At one point he asked me if I could believe it was election day. I could not. And, when he needed me to sign some stuff he was sitting in front of the fireplace and asked me to sit down next to him unless I was homophobic. After spending an hour and a half with the guy I wasn't even phased by that statement. Such an odd duck.

And after all that I still don't have the internet. He was on speaker phone with another dispatcher and when she realized I bought my own modem she started going off on retail modems before he quickly took her off speaker phone. So that might have something to do with it. He also hooked it up to the cable that was coming out of the carpet in the living room. Not out from under the baseboard, but the carpet. Someone cut a hole in the carpet to put the cable through. And there is a cable outlet on the wall less than two feet away. Anyway, he said that was the only line he could find. I think it was the first/easiest line he could find. I want to set up a time for another tech to come out and see if they can just string a new line into the spare bedroom that will be my computer room. I can't remember what the fee was for the required professional installation but it definitely wasn't worth it. At the end of everything he told me about the survey I would be getting soon and that anything lower than a nine or ten would mean he'd get in trouble. The Dish guy said the same thing. I don't know if that is true or just a psychological way to get better scores, but it kind of defeats the purpose of a survey. He was an interesting dude but he was an hour later than the two hour window, he didn't put the modem in the room I wanted it in (in fact picking the worst possible spot), and after all of that I still didn't get the internet. Some of those things may have been beyond his control but not everything, and I will be honest on the survey.

Now, going back to the projector. While waiting for the internet guy to show up I set up the projector to see what it was like. When it first popped up on the wall with the language selection screen I was a little worried because I was across the living room with it and it showed up pretty small on the wall. After selecting the language, however, my computer desktop popped up really big, taking up the whole wall. It's pretty freaking cool. I through it up on the wall that I want to put a bookcase on but now I'm tempted not to just so I can have a huge wall-sized screen. I also thought that if I do go with a book case I can pin up a sheet in front of it. I still think I want the permanent spot to be in the basement but until I get the bookcase thing sorted out in the living room I think I'll continue using that giant wall.

My sister was in a car accident today when I guy decided a two-way stop was a four-way stop right as my sister was entering the intersection. She was able to turn and avoid t-boning the guy's truck but she did a number on the front passenger side corner of her vehicle. The car still drives but the front passenger side door won't open. Her husband said she should take some Aleve to try and get ahead of the pain and stiffness that will inevitably set in tomorrow but she was going to wait until it got dark because she didn't want people to see her car and judge her. I said I would go get it after the internet guy left but she didn't want me to worry about game day traffic.

After the internet guy finally left I went to Walgreens to get her Aleve. I also picked up some random drugs to start my medicine cabinet. I then picked up Sonic for dinner before heading to her house. We talked about the accident and other random things for awhile before I had to leave.

By that time the game was over and the traffic was real. It took me about fifteen minutes to travel a distance that usually takes less than a minute, and probably a little over a half an hour to get home when it usually takes well under ten minutes. I knew I was going to be late for the department craft party but thankfully I had my dinner in the car with me so I was able to eat that while I waited in the long line of cars, which saved me some time when I finally got home. The only good thing about the traffic was that when I was trying to switch lanes and someone was finally nice enough to let me in I was able to thank them by flashing my hazard lights. I saw some video on YouTube that mentioned that was a thing in Japan or somewhere and I thought that was a pretty cool idea but this was my first opportunity to try it.

When I got home I fed the dogs and got my stuff together to head to my bosses house. I also looked up my bosses address and where it was on Google Maps. Thanks to that and one of my coworker's cars parked outside, I was able to find the house on the first try. It was surprising.

I just sat on the floor in the living room but it was a fun party. In the dinning room they were working on perler bead stuff, on the couch in the living room there was knitting and crocheting, and I sat on the floor and worked on a cross stitch. It was nice. I felt awkward like I always do at parties but it was a very relaxed atmosphere and we all had things to do so when we weren't part of a conversation we could just work on our project. Good times. My cross stitch, by the way, is the one I'm making for the PR coordinator because she's giving me a microwave. I started it while waiting for the internet guy and made decent progress at the party. I should be able to finish it up relatively quickly when I have the time to work on it.

Now I'm going to go to bed because I'm freaking tired and it is late. Tomorrow I would like to get some more things done with the house. I also need work on my budget presentation. It's going to be a quick Sunday.