Tag Archives: Plan In Everything

Everywhere I Don’t Want To Be

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When we got up this morning she had taken sick. Fever, aching, and chills. Our youngest hasn’t been feeling well and we decided both of them should stay home. The wife had no choice; a fever puts her out of work during regular times with her being in home health. She went for a Covid/Flu/RSV test today. One that has to be sent off and isn’t coming back for seventy-two hours.

She’s feeling much better right now. Still achy, but the fever is lower, possibly gone. She has an appetite. She’s not experiencing loss of taste or smell. She has been prescribed medicine.

We are nervous but hopeful.

I didn’t want to be at work today. I took solace in the fact that my son was home with my wife.

If there is one thing that kid loves more than video games, it’s his momma. He took care of her. I asked him to watch over her today. He had the house.

And it turns out that he checked on her so much he aggravated her. 😏

Love will do so many things to you. It will make you happy, sad, mad, and glad. It will take you to your highest and lowest points at times.

It can make you feel absolutely helpless. Our love for our children has taken us to our lowest points at times together. One moment in particular when he was still a baby.

Today I had to go through a low point alone.

But in your lowest of places, you realize things.

There’s loving someone, and then there’s being in love with someone. There’s a difference.

And that difference is that you’d do anything, trade anything for them, up to and including your own life.

If someone were to take her or hurt her, you would never hear of them again. I would obliterate not only their body and spirit but their history. They would never exist.

I would tear the world open to get to her.

But today, I was helpless when she told me her doctor was leaning towards Covid.

She has been vaccinated. It’s a requirement for her job. She made that decision with my input. She loves her career. She’s one of the few people I know who decided early in life (six years old) what they wanted to do because of an experience, and here she is, a physical therapy assistant.

She didn’t want to take the vaccine because of other medical concerns. But in the end, she did.

And now I’m helpless. Feeling like that was a bad decision.

Another part of our decision was that I wasn’t taking the vaccine. I’m basically just a healthy person. Nothing keeps me down long.

And if the worst happened due to being vaccinated or unvaccinated with all the questions surrounding both states, the kids would have one of us.

Yep, love will put you in strange places.

Sometimes it’s in the middle of a Walmart while you’re working, and you break down a bit.

And since you’re on your knees and your head is down anyway, you pray.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

SAK And A Zip Tie

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𝙸 𝚐𝚎𝚝 πš–πš’ πš πš›πš’πšπš’πš—πš πš™πš›πš˜πš–πš™πšπšœ πšπš›πš˜πš– πš πš‘πšŠπš πš‘πšŠπš™πš™πšŽπš—πšœ 𝚝𝚘 πš–πšŽ πšπšŠπš’πš•πš’. πš‚πš˜πš–πšŽ πšŠπš›πšŽ 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 πšœπš˜πš–πšŽ πšŠπš›πšŽ πš˜πš”πšŠπš’. π™Έπš πš’πšœ πš πš‘πšŠπš πš’πš πš’πšœ.

I had a rough start this morning just getting out of bed. My back has been bothering me, and my shoulder started giving me trouble this afternoon. I’m sitting here with coffee and my old friend the TENS unit right now.

I left the house at 7:00 and was on my way to being right on time to work when I took my second major turn, and the truck started shuddering. It didn’t want to pull, and my stomach just sank.

I left on time to be on time. And now, I was late.

We’re getting ready to go on our anniversary weekend trip soon. I do not need to put more money into Bruce right now.

Bruce is my truck. He’s green and temperamental. Marvel fans will get this.

Sometimes you need the right tools to fix a problem. But first, you need to define the problem.

My tool of choice for this situation is the OBDLink MX+. I have had it for a couple of years.

If you ever go to an auto parts store and have them figure out what’s making your check engine light come on, they are using a piece of equipment that does the same thing. This is a simplified version of that equipment that connects to my phone through Bluetooth.

I’ve deciphered more than a few problems with Bruce because of this piece of equipment. Today it was saying that the ignition coil had gone bad. But the ignition coil is only a couple of months old!

It turns out that wasn’t the problem.

It was too early in the morning for something complicated, so we always K.I.S.S.

KISS is an acronym; the letters stand for “Keep it simple, stupid.”.

And simple it was. On the ignition coil is a plug that carries the power to the ignition coil and allows God only knows what to happen in the engine. I can fix stuff on a simple level. I don’t even pretend to understand how the magic happens.

The plug has a small retention clip. This being a twenty-two-year-old truck, that clip had broken. This kept the magic from transferring to the ignition coil, which transforms the magic into something else. I know, pretty technical.

Now, I’m a terrible half mechanic. I don’t always have the right tools with me. My toolbox has work stuff in it. I don’t half mechanic for a living.

What I do, quite effectively, is troubleshoot at life. You can fix most anything just by getting your head to a place where you can think through the problem calmly.

Two fictitious characters from the 80s brought me to this, Hannibal Smith and MacGyver.

Troubleshooting is all about imagination. You have to be able to, and I actually hate this saying, think outside the box.

“Imagination is the most important thing the human mind has.” – MacGyver

I always have three things with me.

1. Duct Tape. Most of life’s problems can be solved by a liberal application of duct tape.

2. A Swiss Army Knife. (Thanks, MacGyver). Incredibly versatile tools that can be found in almost any configuration you want.

3. Zip Ties. I use these a lot at work. Fast and easy to secure a wide variety of things.

The simple fix was to use a zip tie to secure the plug to the ignition coil. Problem solved.

I had called Mags, and Dad had told her he’d come to me when she was dropping off the kids at his house for the day. I told her to have him call our guy with the flatbed before I got my head straight and figured what needed doing.

By the time he’d shown up, I was getting ready to fix it, but since he came, I let him get under the hood. And this was all about respect.

I’ve spent no small part of my life holding the flashlight, getting yelled at while he turned the wrench. But I’ve learned a lot from him. At 72, he’s still a formidable man. Arms like tree trunks and one of the best shade tree mechanics I know. He has forgotten more than I’ll ever learn about an engine.

All of this went down within forty-five minutes. And just like that, I was back on the road.

And that was this morning. It wasn’t the plan, but it was what happened.

A twenty-five-cent zip tie saved me a 150 dollar bill on a flatbed ride.

And at that point, Hannibal Smith steps in.

There’s a plan in everything, kid. And I love it when a plan comes together. – H. Smith

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

In My Way

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I woke up at 4:30 AM today. I couldn’t sleep anymore. I was exhausted last night and crashed a little after ten.

I was dreading today. I really wanted to just call in and do it tomorrow. But then I’d have to give up my Saturday, and that just won’t do.

So I made the coffee and was sitting there reading through a few things wishing I’d set a camera up for nightlapse because of the Lyrids meteor shower and getting ready for the day.

When you don’t want to go, you make yourself go.

God puts things and people in your way.

By in your way I don’t mean that as necessarily a bad thing.

Sometimes it’s a hurdle to get over. Sometimes it’s someone who is kind to you.

Sometimes it’s just a thing. A thing you need at the moment.

I was driving along the same road I use most everyday to get to my first stop. Doing my windshield time. I can do this drive with my eyes closed. And I looked up and saw this.

At first I thought it was part of the Lyrids. I found out later from the wife that it was so much cooler. It was the SpaceX launch this morning.

This brought a huge grin to my face. I needed to be right there, right then.

I needed to see this this morning, to capture it, to make my morning better. To make my whole day better.

And it did.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Knights To Nomads: Interlude

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So we’re at a stall in the story. Nothing going on at all out on site this week. I have reached out to the Kershaw County School District to try and find out if I should get a picture of what it’s going to look like, or a peek at the plans. So today I strung together some of the old footage and included a short flyby of where were at today. Enjoy.

A lot of wind today and I think I have a warped propeller on the drone so that needs looking into.

Seegars

I Have To Try

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I’m going to try a little something new.

I’m going to remove virtually all social media from my phone. I’ll leave social media apps on my iPad, but on my phone it’s just a distraction during the day.

Work to do, family to be with.

I’m keeping Instagram and Twitter.

Instagram is more the pics for me. If things start getting too political or woke on an account I’ll stop following. I love some of the people I follow and the way they see the world. Plus, I have some actual friends on there.

Twitter…

Twitter isn’t social media. Twitter is anti-social for the most part. Sure you’ll run across the odd egg that’s genuine and wants to interact, I experienced that this week. Besides the fact that Twitter is short and fast, hardly a distraction. I might check that on a break but not during work all day.

Man I miss the Plus. Shows how old this pic is.

So anyway, it’s a plan. Not a fully realized β€œyes this will work” plan, but a plan.

β€”β€”-

This is coming from some old experiences and some more recent. The groups I’ve joined on FB are okay but you hit that occasional one where everybody in the group thinks they know exactly how the world should work. And they’re wrong. I’m fifty-two years old and I STILL don’t know how the world works. I still don’t understand women. But that’s another story.

The whole world is a German Circus.

Seegars

The whole world is mad…

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An old Facebook memory that made me think again...

I’m on the road a lot every day for work. The other day coming home, a car driving by me either kicked something up or something flew off the car, the result for me was a busted driver side mirror.

We live in a wonderful time. I pulled over to check and make sure there was no other damage. Then I whipped out my iPhone (always connected to the internet and the rest of you) jumped over to Amazon where my truck is already saved in my garage and ordered a new mirror.

Two days and five minutes later all is good. Used to be we would have had to hitch up the mules and drive two days into town and order the part, ride the mules back home, wait two weeks to go back to town again and get the part then trade one of the mules for it.

Life is so easy, why is everybody in the world so mad all the time?

Seegars

From Knights To Nomads: The Tear Down Part 1

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This isn’t going to mean a thing to a lot of people that might come across it but I’m documenting the demolition of our high school here and there.

If you’re just joining us we were hit by a tornado several months ago and the school is being torn down to make way for the new construction.

And I bought a DJI Mavic Mini yesterday. I have a few slight complaints but I’m impressed with the quality of the drone and the video.

Seegars

Square One or I’ve Been Here Before…

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I’m was at home yesterday because my wife’s car broke down and we are limited to one vehicle for a couple of days, so she works during the day and (I AM THE NIGHT!) I get the car after she gets home The thing is she’s out helping people as she’s in the medical field. My job, while important to the household, isn’t improving or saving lives. Luckily, my position with my company is extremely flexible (even though I’m not, physically).

I’m going to have to work evenings the rest of the week, which sucks. But I don’t like just being at home waiting, it doesn’t feel right. Sitting here during the day waiting to be tired enough to sleep. Switching my sleep schedule in the middle of the week. I’ve got to be able to go to work and get stuff done. So it’s going to be a long boring couple of days for me.

But you do what you have to for your family, yeah? I haven’t found one thing that I wouldn’t do for mine. Nothing. They’re all I have.

Dinner al fresco. Fancy.

So work wise I’m back at square one, hence the title.

I’ve got a new trainee, part time. The company hired him while he has a full time job as well which makes it extremely hard to train him as he can’t match schedule with me most days. We will see what we will see.

The other part time help has taken another job which is fine, but as predicted they up and quit in the middle of their notice. Which leaves extra work for me.

So here I am, back at square one.

Meeting Day

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I’m heading off to a meeting this morning. It’s the first tome I’ve met many of these folk and I’m having a little anxiety about that. Some I only know through conference calls and some I’ve met.

Four.

I’ve met four. I don’t like not having a proper read on people before I’m thrown into a major social situation with them.

I’m a merchandiser for a large national chain and as it is we don’t get to meet everyone on our team. Some are lifers, some we never meet because they just don’t last. It’s weird that I’ve met a lot of these people’s part time help and have worked with them. I’ve been to a lot of their stores and seen their work. But I’ve not met them.

I’m hoping for a very positive experience. I’m hoping we iron out some of the kinks just by voicing our opinions. We shall see.

About time to get on the road.

And so it goes…

SNSC

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