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Peptolk

I felt pretty sick to my stomach all night, and it didn’t get a whole lot better this morning. I actually slept about half an hour late since I planned to power through my morning routine after showering so late in the evening. I foolishly thought I was ahead and could stop by Starbucks on the way out of town, but I was actually the latest I’ve ever been. Maggie and Jay were the only ones in the office though, as the old men were outside smoking.

Maggie ended up leaving early to take her kid to the dentist, so I was actually in the office by myself for nearly the entire day. I grabbed some McDonald’s for lunch to try their Chicken Big Mac. It was fine, but it really just made me want a regular Big Mac more.

The afternoon was dull until I finally left a little bit early. I stopped in Blackwell for some beer and then made it home. I took the dogs out for a longer run than usual, stopping to visit with Dad, then out to sniff around the pond. We went past the basin and then turned back around to go through it again on the way home. We passed another girl, her baby, and two large off-leash dogs that came by for a sniff. They made my dogs pretty jumpy, but they weren’t bad.

We made it home and they did super well, so they each got their own hot dog after dinner. Then I had a couple burritos before settling in. I cleaned up a little, got a couple more security cameras up, and then did some shopping before bed.

The worst kind of liquidity.

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Productive Household

Summer had to go to Greenbrier this morning, and I woke up with a pretty bad stomach ache before she left. I just stayed up, hoping I would be able to get to bed early in the evening, but procrastination finds a way. I spent the morning paying a bunch of bills and then trying to clean up around the house. Summer wasn’t gone terribly long, and then we hung the towel rack in Eaddie’s bathroom.

I made burritos for Eaddie and myself since Summer had already eaten and was cleaning her side of the house. Noah came over after work and generally made himself at home. I took the dogs out for a run around the block a couple times, and eventually got wound down for bed after everyone else beat me to it.

Sure, help yourself.

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Oldies, but Goodies

The girls both had homecoming things they wanted to do today, so I had most of the day to myself. Summer went to the gym in the morning, but when she finished, I had to take the Pathfinder to give her a jump because the battery was too weak to start the Murano. I don’t know why she didn’t take the Model Y, but it was just as well, so we could get the battery on the charger. When we got back home, we took the dogs for an early ride with her on her bike and me on the Onewheel. We visited my parents, then took them to the pond for a splash.

When we got home, Eaddie had left for Tech’s homecoming and Summer got ready to meet her old classmates at Fat Daddy’s for the afternoon. I cleaned up a bit around the house and took a shower, and then Becky and Jennifer invited me out to IHOP. Summer got home just as I was walking out, so I took her car.

Becky was already waiting in the lobby, so we chatted while we waited for Jennifer. Then we visited over pancakes and coffee. On the way out, we saw Antonia and her family coming in. It was a quiet night after that. I laid with Summer and watched TV for a bit before getting ready for bed myself.

Muddy Buddies

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Robeauven

I remembered the “We, Robot” Tesla event last night as I went to bed, so I stayed up and watched it as it started late. Overall I was pretty frustrated with what was offered. It seemed like buzzword vocabulary with a short tech demo that was only useful for people that were there in person. I immediately went to sleep, and then woke up to get to work.

The office was empty today, aside from a couple people swinging through. I just sat in the dark and did my thing, messing with some PRTG and SCCM. Then one of the ladies in the office made a baked potato bar for lunch, and a bunch of us paid $5 to join in. She had some leftover ribs and barbecue from the other day to go with it, so it was a good meal.

After work, I left a couple minutes early and seemed to miss a lot of traffic, but then the Interstate slowed to a standstill around Plumerville because of a wreck around Morrilton. I exited and drove to one of the onramps in Morrilton, which bypassed all of that, but I wondered how much time I really saved, if any at all.

On the way to the old house, I noticed they had leveled the old Hardee’s building, which broke my heart. I love their breakfast, but Summer was with some classmates at Old Bank for homecoming and said they were rebuilding a Hardee’s and Chipotle in its place.

Once I got home, Noah and his friend Wade came by so Noah could take a shower. I chatted with Wade outside for a bit while I cleaned up all the cardboard the dogs chewed up on the porch. Then I took the dogs out for a fairly good run. We took an odd route to see my parents, and then went through the basin trail before making it home. They were still distracted by squirrels, but they didn’t try to take off like they have in the past. We made it home without incident.

Eaddie was at the game late, but Summer came home after watching them play. I had spent some frustrating time fighting with my Ember mugs after a major app update that disconnected them all. I had a second anxiety attack in bed watching YouTube, but I got over it fairly quickly. I had one earlier in the day as well when I had to try and contact a board member to help with email.

Links for Later

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So Many Thoughts

Traffic was dumb all day, but to my knowledge, nobody died. I was the first one into the office, and I basically spent the whole morning tinkering with things as they came to me. Nobody was around for lunch, so I ran to Rally’s for my usual, plus some surprisingly good funnel cake fries. The afternoon dragged a bit, and I spent some time in SCCM. At some point in the day, James texted, presumably for help with Savvas and the Milestone cameras. I pointed him in a direction, but there wasn’t a lot I could do for him specifically, and I wouldn’t without pay.

Traffic was thick the whole way home, and Summer was cooking since Noah was coming over. I got home and changed, then had to go to the store for tortillas and beans. I ran the dogs to my parents’ house when I got back home, and then the three of us ate since Eaddie was out late for something again.

The week went by really fast, but it’s not over yet. It’s just me by myself in the office all day tomorrow, so we’ll see who comes around.

Don’t bank on it.

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I Am the Director Now

I had another chicken biscuit this morning on my way to work. Conference food made me pretty queasy all night, but fortunately today went okay. I was surprised to see Maggie in the office when I got there, and further still that she was still there when I left. I felt the pressure of more people needing me today, plus I had a couple of conference calls scheduled. I only went to one of those because the teacher was unable to reproduce an issue for a vendor.

I had placed an order for a Reuben at Arby’s the night before, since I had a discount code. Randy and Jim really wanted to go to a place called North Bar, so I picked up my food and then met them there. It was a more expensive place with a variety of burgers, wraps, and such. Jim’s chicken sandwich looked pretty good because the chicken was more than twice the size of the bun. Randy’s order was put in wrong, so his got comped and we split my burger, and then his when it eventually came out. I liked his bologna burger better than my blueberry one, but both were pretty good. Overall I thought the flavors were great, but it just wasn’t worth the price for the portion size. Everything being à la carte didn’t help, because I had to pay extra for fries with the burger.

I stopped by Target on the way back to the office to get an online order of Tide that I had placed a few days ago. Randy left in the afternoon, and said he was leaving me as the de facto director. I laughed that I was the newest hire, but he responded that I was the one with the most experience in his role. After that, Maggie had me sign a bunch of data privacy agreements. I told her it felt like he was leaving so they could use me as a fall-guy on some sketchy paperwork.

I was a bit hungry after lunch, so I actually ended up eating my Reuben before I left work. Then it was a dull ride home to find Summer in the kitchen and Eaddie and Eli watching TV. I took the dogs out for a run to my parents’ house and then spent some time with them when we got back. I skipped the chicken Alfredo because of the dairy, and drank some dinner instead. I had to rearrange the dishwasher after the girls poorly cleaned up the leftovers, and I kind of stewed a bit until bedtime.

unappoint

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Geek Squad Vs. Volt Typhoon

I was a little later today, but I would have made it to the conference on time if it hadn’t been for a major slowdown after Conway. Randy was sitting in the back, so I joined him with my blueberry scone and listened to more, mostly irrelevant chatter. Kyle came in behind me, and evidently Ben was there on the opposite side of the room, because at one point he stood up and asked a question.

The four of us had lunch together a couple blocks away at Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken. My first piece was a little dry, and it all looked a bit overcooked, but they were all actually super good. My last piece was particularly juicy, and I completely missed the heading of the menu that pointed out the “Louisiana hot” seasoning. It really made me miss the hot and spicy chicken from KFC.

They had some really good cookies after lunch as we rode out the rest of the conference in the main auditorium. I was surprised when one of the last guys actually got up and started talking about some more technical stuff, but by then everyone was ready to go home. The conference had shrunk more and more after the very first couple of hours of the first day, so hardly anyone was left at the end.

I didn’t feel great when I got home, so I took a break before taking the dogs out for a run. It was super nice out once we did get outside, and the dogs were great. We visited my parents and then came back home for hot dogs. I sat outside and pet them a while before coming in to open a whole bunch more Amazon packages. Our delivery people must think I’m insane. I know Summer does.

Eaddie was in Conway late for orchestra tryouts, and she was surprised to have made first chair again. Nobody else expected any different. I tried to get to bed early, but my stomach didn’t let me. Hopefully tomorrow gets me back into a less-bad rhythm.

Hey Gemini, imagine a comic book cover for a lightning wielding supervillain named “Volt Typhoon” fighting a nerdy hero named “Computer Guy.”

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Politique

I slept a little later than usual today since the cybersecurity conference at the Statehouse Convention Center didn’t actually kick off until about 8:30. I got to the garage and parked a few spaces away from the non-working charger, then walked a couple blocks to the convention. I don’t know if the walk and then sudden stop got my blood pressure twisted, but I had a small anxiety attack as I stopped in the restroom. Then I found the proper registration booth and waited for Randy and Kyle. I texted Ben to see if he was coming, and he was actually the first to show up. We found the piles of Chick-fil-A biscuits for breakfast, and eventually seated ourselves in the back for the worst “who is this really for” conference I’ve ever attended.

Brody showed up a little later and found us as we sat through multiple boring presenters, telling us the importance of sharing the importance of cybersecurity. Then they served lunch a couple doors down the hall. They had salads and cheesecake out on open tables, and we only occupied about half the seats at our table, so I had two salads and a cheesecake before the main course of chicken and potatoes came out. Then I finished with another slice of cheesecake and some coffee.

We decided to check out the Forge Institute session upstairs for the afternoon, and it wasn’t a whole lot better. It was all about “AI” and security theories for that. They actually had some vendors up there as well, so I got a couple things from the Fortinet booth before we went back downstairs. We took in one last panel, and Randy and I both grabbed a bunch more leftover biscuits, and we eventually left a little early.

The drive home was pretty easy at that time and from that side of town. There was more in-town driving, anyway, and less psycho interchange traffic. I stopped at the wash to see Summer, then went by the old house for a few things before heading home. I stopped to chat with Clay, who was out in the street. Then I called Mitch and chatted with him for the rest of the drive to the house.

Summer was a little behind, so I took the dogs out for a quick run. They were great, and we were really cooking on the Onewheel. I hit a max speed of over 18 miles per hour multiple times, and they did a pretty great job of sticking together with only a few short stops. We beat Summer home because I thought we would be going out to get dinner, but she took a bath and I warmed up some pizza for her instead.

Eaddie was out helping at a concert, then came home to practice flute for a bit. I didn’t waste much time getting to bed, because last night was a pretty poor night of sleep for me. There’s more conference tomorrow, and if they’re not going to teach me anything, at least they’re filling my fridge with free sodas.

Review ’til you drop.

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Mudpuppies

Eaddie went out with her father today, so Summer and I had the day to ourselves. She went to the gym while I messed with some things around the house and eventually took a shower. Then we decided to take the dogs out for an early run. I got some shock collars in from Amazon Vine that I wanted to try out, so I got them set up first while Summer prepped a bicycle. Then she rode it while I took the Onewheel with the dogs.

We rode to visit Mom first, and she offered leftover soup for dinner later if we would pick up some cilantro and green onion. Summer and I continued our ride down to the basin, which she wasn’t even aware existed. We rode all around and let the dogs get into the little pond again. It seemed even muddier than last time for some reason, and Muad’Dib was stoked to be able to sink into it. I didn’t want them to go too far, and I also didn’t want to unleash them. The shock collars were theoretically water resistant, but I didn’t trust them to be submerged, so I took those off.

After a bit of rolling around, we continued our run and made it home. I got cleaned up, then Julie called so she could order some discounted Domino’s gift cards for me. She had trouble with Costco online, but eventually got it going. Then I had to run to the Neighborhood Market for some cilantro. I got the dogs some more biscuits as well, and then Summer was waiting for me outside when I got back to the house. That meant I forgot to get the green onions out of our refrigerator, so once we got to my parents’ house, she drove back to get them while I helped Mom prep bowls of soup.

Dad got home from his magic convention while Summer and I were eating. Eaddie came home while we were out, and then texted because someone knocked on the door and freaked her out, so we headed home as soon as we finished eating. We didn’t see any extra packages or flyers, so there was no telling who was at the door. I need to finish tracing the doorbell wire so I can get my Nest doorbell installed.

Summer wound down pretty quickly, and I tried my best not to get too distracted. It’s always tough restricting myself to a 24-hour day during the week. I think I’d be a lot happier on a 30-hour planetary rotation.

Bzzzt!

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Good Buy Pizza Pie

I didn’t sleep terribly late today, and hand-ground some coffee for breakfast. The girls were both up pretty early, so Summer went to the gym and Eaddie did some cleaning before her evening plans for the Sadie’s dance. Julie texted asking to borrow a phone for Kevin after he ran his over with a lawnmower, so I spent much of the afternoon cleaning up my Galaxy S21 Ultra for them.

Once the phone was wiped, I took the dogs out for a run through the neighborhood. We stopped to see Mom, and then went up the hill and through Pinewood before making it back home. Then Julie and Kevin came over to get the phone, and I gave Julie an iPad Mini to use when she’s flying.

Summer and I hadn’t eaten all day, so I ordered some Domino’s and we went to pick it up together. They were super busy, so we ended up waiting in the parking lot for a while before I went in to get it. Then we took it to Mom to surprise her with dinner. We ate and then headed home for the evening.

Get to it.