Exercise, BBQ, Robotics, Martial Arts, Dryer
By Derek | November 19, 2019
A productive Tuesday. (19th)
Got up kind of late, but exercised first thing.
Lunch, then Robotics.
The kids decided to skip Wonder League today, due to the fact that we have a Vex competition coming up soon, and they need more time building on their robots.
Martial arts for our younger son.
Once we got back from that, our friend and I worked on converting our “new” dryer from a rear vent to a side vent. Had to go to Lowe’s and get a chisel. Forgot to buy duct tape while we were there and had to go to Walmart to get some. Lowe’s had already closed or we would have gone back, as they are closer.
Pulled the old dryer out, and slid the new dryer into place. Plugs in perfectly and fires up. The side vent slots right into the wall. As this wasn’t a new dryer for us, it was pre-owned, it had a bunch of dryer lint down in the trap that we had to scoop out. It’s filter is in the bottom front inside, but below the door.
Also, the door points the wrong way for the room we have it in. Reversing the door looks like a project for another day.
Time for bed, I have work & physical therapy tomorrow.
Topics: Entertainment, Family, Food, Friends, Health, Home Improvement, Me, Photos, Robotics, Technology | No Comments »
Movies, iPhone, Computer
By Derek | November 18, 2019
A good Monday. (18th)
Kicked around the house mostly.
Watched a couple of movies with Jill.
Went to help my older son get his new phone set up. He moved from an iPhone 5s to an iPhone 7 Plus.
Helped our friend tweak some more settings on his streaming PC.
Went to bed way too late.
Topics: Apple, Entertainment, Family, Friends, Me, Microsoft, Movies, Technology | No Comments »
Lunch, Pokemon, Tree
By Derek | November 17, 2019
A good Sunday. (17th)
Got up late-ish.
At some left over enchiladas for lunch, kind of skipped breakfast.
Went to play Pokemon Go with Jill, our younger son, and our friends from the BBQ restaurant we frequent. The owners are who got us into Pokemon Go in the first place.
Found a cool tree at a park where we were walking around at. I’ve posted some pics of it.
Side View 
Roots and Bones 
Hollow Under The Tree
Topics: Entertainment, Family, Friends, Games, Me, Photos | No Comments »
Work, Movies, Leisure Time
By Derek | November 16, 2019
A good Saturday. (16th)
Regular work day for me. Busy day, we still have people out for PTO since it’s getting near the end of the year.
Watched The Ice Pirates, a super cheesy 80s movie.
Finished Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle.
Started Godzilla: The Planet Eater.
Exercised late, but got it done.
Sat around and chatted for the rest of the evening. Went to bed kind of early (for us).
Topics: Entertainment, Family, Health, Me, Movies, TV, Work | No Comments »
Work, Godzilla, Pictures
By Derek | November 15, 2019
A good Friday. (15th)
Regular work day for me. As I was fairly busy yesterday, I flipped between my two projects today, best I could. Got a maint done on my primary project, and some assistance work done for my secondary project.
Watched Godzilla: Planet of Monsters. It’s a series, but each episode is movie-length, and they actually have different names. Weird. Started watching the second one, Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle, Godzilla: The Planet Eater is the third part. I don’t know if there are any more parts.
Jill went through a bunch of pictures this evening. I sat on the bed and hung out.
Topics: Entertainment, Family, Me, TV, Work | No Comments »
Enchiladas, Work, Martial Arts
By Derek | November 14, 2019
A good Thursday. (14th)
Stayed up too late last night. Got up early to get the enchiladas to Rackspace to set up. While the enchilada chili is cooked, the cheese is simply rolled into the enchiladas, and then cooks on-site. So, we set up serving pans and canned fuel (like Sterno) to heat up the food.
The enchiladas went fast. We had 10 pans and were completely out within the first hour.
Packed everything up and headed home.
Got home and logged onto work, today is a regular work day for me. Worked on improving some submitted documentation for my secondary project.
Had to leave to get the younger son to martial arts. After being on her feet for 12+ hours cooking yesterday, and then not sleeping well, Jill was in no shape to drive anywhere today.
Got some cool solar car parts in the mail.
Topics: Entertainment, Family, Food, Me, Work | No Comments »
Cooking, Work, Shopping, Friends
By Derek | November 13, 2019
A good Wednesday. (13th)
Yesterday: Once in a great while, when it’s very cold, Joe (Smokin Joe’s) will fire up the grill and make some of the best hamburgers. Robotics. Martial Arts. Then we went and bought the final ingredients for cooking the enchilada dinner. Sorry for no update.
Today: Regular work day for me. Now that Rackspace is in what we call “moratorium” — where we don’t make any non-emergency changes to our customer’s environments — I will be scheduling and performing maintenance on all the hosts I’ve been working on for my primary project. I had two host maintenances scheduled today.
Jill started cooking at 10am for our enchilada lunch tomorrow. She cooks for 10-12 hours once a year to make this lunch for my coworkers. She’s amazing!
We discovered that we need some more spices, so I had to make a quick trip to CostCo for more spices. And another quick trip to H-E-B for more jalapeños. And another quick trip to H-E-B for more beans.
Had some friends over, and had some of the enchiladas for dinner, they were great. Talked & hung out for a bit before bed.
Topics: Family, Food, Friends, Me, Work | No Comments »
PT, Shopping, Hot Cocoa, Movies
By Derek | November 11, 2019
A good Monday. (11th)
Got up just a bit late this morning. Had to call and reschedule my physical therapy. Luckily they had an appointment for just ½ hour later, so I took it. Made it on time just fine. They have me a couple of new exercise bands to take home, so. I can do some of the exercises on my own.
After I got back, we went and ran a few errands. Swung by Rackspace to learn about the Rackspace Exercise Center. Apparently they don’t allow souses, it’s strictly Rackers only. That’s dumb.
We also went to H-E-B in Schertz to get supplies for this years Enchilada dinner. This will be our 11th year serving at Rackspace for my team. This year, we’re doing it a bit differently. This year, for the first time, Rackspace is doing a Castle-wide Thanksgiving Potluck, so we’ve joined in with them, we’ll be serving this Thursday. So, buying stuff today, cooking Wednesday, serving Thursday.
Ate a good dinner of breakfast.
We decided due to the cold front that we would go out and hand out some thermal blankets and “hot hands” that we buy and leave in the car for just such occasions. We were able to locate several potentially homeless individuals who looked like they could benefit from them.
While we were out, we decided that we wanted to come home and have some hot chocolate.
Remembered we didn’t have any more hot cocoa, a quick trip to our local H-E-B remedied that. Then we had to swing by Specs and get some Baileys Irish Cream for the hot cocoa. Now we’re in for the night.
Watched a couple of late night movies. A mini Patrick Swayze marathon, even.
Topics: Entertainment, Family, Food, Health, Me, Movies | No Comments »
Sleep, Pokemon, Movies
By Derek | November 10, 2019
A good Sunday. (10th)
We were exhausted from yesterday, so we slept in.
First thing this morning we had a Pokémon EX Raid.
Watched a couple movies with the family. One was Maleficent, which we hadn’t seen before. Good movie.
Pretty quiet day.
Topics: Entertainment, Family, Games, Me, Movies | No Comments »
Core, Walking, Groceries, Pokemon
By Derek | November 9, 2019
A good Saturday (9th).
Took the day off work to go to a CORE4STEM event at Palo Alto college this morning.
Did a ton of walking at the college. It wasn’t so much a hands-on tech conference as it was more like just a career day.
Once we got home, I was exhausted, but I needed to do my exercise, so I did. Then I was really tired, so I took a quick nap before we went to CostCo.
Got back from CostCo, unloaded the groceries and then went to Whole Foods. Played Pokémon along the way to and from both stores.
I ended up with around 6,900 walking steps today, total.
Got to hang out with our traveling friend, his girlfriend and another friend. They were at the house when we got back.
Topics: Family, Friends, Health, Me | No Comments »