Dale Miller

Some people give you strange looks when you’re sitting in a coffee house in Little Rock, looking at a laptop, talking on a cell phone, and giving someone turn-by-turn driving instructions to reach an address in Pittsburgh.

While browsing the new uploads on Flickr, I was amused to find this picture immediately next to this one. Whatever man does, nature has already done it better.

So my water went off again this afternoon. Fortunately it was after I had a shower and before I started laundry, so I wasn’t too concerned. However, after about three hours I thought I should call about it. It seems that there was no system-wide problem, and that it was just my house. That’s both good and bad. The gentleman on the phone said that my regulator was probably clogged (and likely corroded) and would likely have to be replaced. He suggested that if I could find it (by digging) that tapping it with a hammer would probably free it up for a while. You have to love percussive maintenance. So, I headed out to the street with a shovel and my water-meter wrench. Knowing myself as I do, I wanted to shut off the water before I started digging for a pipe. When I did so, I thought to myself that I should apply the first rule of fixing computer problems. I turned the water off and back on a couple of times, and it started flowing again. Now I still don’t know if the problem is the regulator, and relieving pressure cleared it temporarily, or the valve or meter. Nonetheless, I have water again, and have some idea what to do when next it quits. I think I should get out some cool morning and find the pressure regulator so I’ll know what size it is and how to replace it if needed.

Yesterday was interesting. While I was cleaning the bathroom, my water quit. Living at the end of a road on a rural water system, that’s not unknown, but it’s the first time it’s happened in the three years I’ve lived here. The water came back on about 15 minutes later, and I didn’t think any more about it (other than to flush the toilets a few times to get the rust out — that happens when the pipes get empty and everything gets stirred up.

In the afternoon as I was getting ready to go out, I was in the middle of a shower, with one leg covered in shaving cream and mostly unwashed when the water quit again. This was not good. I waited around for a few minutes to see if it would come back on to no avail. I finally grabbed a bucket and scooped water out of the toilet tanks to rinse off, wash my hair, and generally make myself clean and presentable. I suppose you don’t really appreciate running water until you don’t have it.

My dinner with Vanessa was pleasant. Unfortunately, she had plans to attend a party later in the evening, so we didn’t spend a lot of time together. I am hoping to see more of her, though. We shall see. We had dinner at Terrace on the Green, which was nice. I don’t know if I’ll make a habit of eating there, but I had a $30.00 voucher, courtesy of KOLL radio, so I can consider it reasonably priced. :)

My house is neither clean nor neat, but it is both cleaner and neater than it has been in quite some time.

I didn’t sleep too well last night, and woke up with a headache. Despite that, I got up and cleaned house today. While I never particularly enjoy cleaning, I do enjoy the results.

Another week draws to a close. This one has been interesting, partially in a good way, and partially not so good.

I have been rather worried about Mark, but I think he may be doing a bit better now. That’s a good thing.

My car air conditioner decided to die on Thursday and take the power steering with it. Given the horribly high temperatures we have been having, the shop can’t fit it in until next week. So, it’s not pleasant to drive around. That’s a bad thing.

It’s trying to rain at the moment. That’s a good thing.

I’ve been eating too much and am heavier than I have been in several months. That’s a bad thing.

I have a date tomorrow night. That’s a very good thing.

I’m rather nervous about said date. That’s a bad thing.

All-in-all, I think the good far outweighs the bad, so the week is a net plus.

I was introduced to LibraryThing, and have uploaded about 2/3 of my paperbacks (those I already had ISBNs for). It could be useful, I guess.

If you’re interested…

I had a fairly boring weekend, but today made up for it. I started out worrying about Mark. He seems to be getting even more depressed than he has recently, and I don’t know what I can do about it. That’s one of the things that makes me feel just so useless. One problem is that I’m hardly a role-model for a well-adjusted person. It’s possible that if he found a good psychologist/counselor that it would help, but so far he hasn’t had much luck there. So I worried about him most of the day.

In addition, the work day was rather hectic. Everything from disks filling up to DCHP issues to fixing LDAP problems, to … There was nothing that was a truly serious problem, nor any that even to an inordinate amount of time, but they just kept coming. I missed my planned workout at lunch because I didn’t even realize that noon had passed until it was almost 1:00. I was just simply tired by the time I left to come home.

On top of everything else, it’s hot out there.

Thanks to Archway broadcasting and their web bonuses, I now have passes to Wild River Country, tickets to the upcoming Bonnie Raitt concert, and a free dinner at Terrace on the Green (well, actually a discount coupon, it depends on how much I eat). Now if I only had someone to take to those events.

I’m beginning to hate weekends. My 3-day work week had its moments of frustration, but at least I stayed busy. Today I’m sitting at home because I can’t think of anywhere that I want to go or anything I want to do. I’m even bored with reading, which is rather odd for me.

Mark has apparently decided that he doesn’t want anything to do with me and that I’m a terrible dad. While I disagree with some of his reasoning, I can’t really fault his conclusion. I can argue that I didn’t have a particularly good model to work from, but that’s no excuse. I tend to stay too wrapped up in my own problems to pay attention to others. Selfish of me? Yes, but I’m a selfish person.

I need to write more of my feelings here rather than just facts. I don’t like to do that because I come across as whining. Okay, I *am* whining. It’s what I do.

I need to talk to Rogers this next week and clear the air about my disappointment in not getting a decent raise. That’s festering underneath everything I do at the office. Even when I do something good I don’t feel like I’m appreciated — at least by those who pay my salary. I wish I could afford to go to work for Tammy, but I simply can’t. I should spend the weekend working on my resume and send it off to RedHat. I think that might be even worse, because then I wouldn’t even have the social interaction of the office.

I suck at life.