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More Less Better

I woke up to some weird, strange, scary dream last night, but I couldn’t remember anything about it. I didn’t think I’d be able to go back to sleep, but luckily that didn’t last long. I still had a bit of a rough start, and though I got up early for a free birthday drink from Starbucks, I didn’t end up going because they must have been out of milk somehow.

We got to work and I did a pretty good job of focusing on my Autopilot task. It’s finally starting to get kind of fun to tinker with that stuff, though there’s still plenty I don’t understand. It still wasn’t rainy during lunch time, but I really wanted to try the new BIG ARCH burger at McDonald’s, so Muad’Dib just had to wait in the car.

I didn’t realize how big it was, so I also got a small Happy Meal for some McNuggets and a Changeables toy in order to bump the total up enough to qualify for a discount. I ate that first, so when I actually opened the burger and realized how big it was, I knew I was in trouble. I was actually really pleased with the burger though. It was tasty enough to drown out the noise of the obnoxiously loud group of teens that were at my usual bench seats. There must have been a bus of them somewhere, because I later saw several groups of them convene across the street at Taco Bell.

I let Muad’Dib run some more coming back to work, and a little later in the afternoon Janice had cake for me. She made me a lemon poke cake, and it was super good. It felt really nice to be in a work family that did stuff like that again, though there’s no telling whether that will continue to be a thing when she retires. Hopefully we can continue in some fashion.

I had an anxiety attack sometime in the afternoon, but I don’t remember if it was before or after cake. I felt progressively worse all afternoon like I had gas in my chest that just kept coming out as burps. I did my best to relax because my heart was racing as well. I lived to see the end of the day, and picked up my Starbucks on the way home to save for later, then found Summer in a bath.

She was really hungry, so we decided to take Muad’Dib to Point Remove for some boneless wings and a couple beers. As soon as we got there, a lady recognized Muad’Dib and asked if he was the dog that kept getting out in our neighborhood. She remembered me working at Two Rivers, and I think I remembered encountering them on a run or something. It really feels like I’m living with a celebrity sometimes.

I only finished Summer’s first stout because she wanted to try one of the wines, and then I only had a couple of the wings just to take it easy. I felt a little better by the time we left, and we swung through Tropical Smoothie for a free smoothie to save for the morning. Then Summer went straight to sleep when we got to the house. I kind of wanted to go for a walk, but also wanted to get to bed early. I started to feel a lot worse for a bit, but checked my blood pressure and took a clonidine since I was right at the cusp of being that high. I felt better as I continued to burp, and wondered if it was mostly due to the poor nutritional value of the food I’ve been eating. I think it’s time to go regular on the Soylents again.

I’ve never been this many before.

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The Browns

I managed to stay pretty busy at work today, bouncing around in Intune and HubSpot. I also got my Windows 11 Pro license key delivered, so I was glad I hadn’t tried to get an update from Janice on account of how busy she always is.

There was a slight chance of very little rain, but it felt nice outside, so we went to Taco Bell for lunch. Muad’Dib did great, so he got go run back down the street afterward. The whole day went by pretty quickly, and then we headed home for an early birthday dinner.

I stopped by the old house looking for my Brown’s Catfish birthday reward, but it wasn’t to be found. When we got back home, it was in the mailbox, evidently having never been delivered before. I must have just imagined receiving it in the first place, though I did have another points reward that was delivered.

The girls, Muad’Dib, and I loaded up in the car and met my parents, Kevin, and eventually Julie at the restaurant. I let Muad’Dib run around a bit at first, but then he had to wait in the car. I wasn’t starving, but the food was good and I overate. I was frustrated that the girl refused to scan my reward card, so we didn’t earn any new points on the nearly $200 ticket, which still would not have been enough to earn another $10 certificate. She said to scan for points would be “double-dipping.”

Eaddie had a concert to attend, so we left there and came home to bed.

AND a credit fee? Get outta here!

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Talko Boosday

I felt pretty terrible this morning, but we managed to get to work before eight. It was a super slow recovery until lunch time at Ortega’s. I think I had an anxiety attack somewhere along the line. Later in the afternoon, one of the guys called for help with HubSpot, and of course I knew nothing. At least tech support couldn’t help either.

We left a little early to get to therapy, though we’ve been starting late enough that I think I can leave at my regular time and still make it. Summer was busy until just after five, and even then we had to wait for Dwayne to come let us in.

We ended up sitting outside with Muad’Dib and his little dog, Lucy. They played more than we talked, and I was a little surprised at Summer’s recollection of the weekend. I haven’t been very happy with our sessions so far, so I don’t know how much longer I’ll be interested in going.

Summer had a meeting, so I went to the house and cleaned up a little. Eaddie was in the shower when I got there, but left shortly thereafter. Summer eventually came home and seemed continually troubled, but didn’t know why. She went to bed pretty quickly, and I followed soon after.

Uninteresting

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Decompresso

I just barely crawled out of bed this morning from the exhaustion I felt after this weekend. We managed to get to work, but only after I saw a notification that McDonald’s had $1 Egg McMuffins . We soldiered on, and made a little bit of progress all day.

It was nice out, so we went to Sonic for lunch and just enjoyed some time outside. The afternoon went by fairly quickly after that. We stopped by the old house to pick up a couple of things, and talked to David from next door for quite a while. He seemed excited just to see a neighbor. Then we made it home to an empty house.

Summer was at the gym for a while after a trying day. Eaddie had eaten my leftovers, so I had some drinks while I cleaned up in the dining room. It was a quiet evening until bedtime.

I have not been myself for most of my life.

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Smash and Grab and Go

We weren’t in a huge hurry to get out this morning, so we felt pretty well rested. Summer and I got up to take Muad’Dib out and get some breakfast, and we spotted three or four vehicles on the other side of the building that had shattered windows. It was probably foolish of us to think we were the first ones to discover this, because the front desk already seemed stressed when we went in to report it.

We ate, then went back upstairs to clean up and pack. Timing was just about perfect to get out for the eleven o’clock checkout time. While we were still in the area, I wanted to use my birthday reward for $10 off at Hawaiian Bros, so we stopped in Allen to get some food to take home. Then we decided to stop at Buc-ee’s in Melissa to charge for a long haul to Henryetta.

While we were at Buc-ee’s, we ran into some guys charging that evidently recognized us from the trip down. They were headed back up as well, and just recognized Muad’Dib while we had him out. We also saw a couple of Tesla company cars with roof-mounted cameras or lidar. I went in to grab some snacks, and then we made the long trek to our next stop at a QT station.

We ran into the other guys at the charger one last time, and then Eaddie and I walked across the street to eat at the Taco Bueno while Summer and Eli kept Muad’Dib and ate their leftover Hawaiian Bros. That worked out pretty well, and then Summer drove us to Alma. I let them all get ice cream at Braum’s before going to charge across the street. Then Muad’Dib and I walked back over and had just enough time to use the restroom before going back to get the car.

Eaddie had left her car at Witherspoon, so when we finally made it home, we dropped the kids off and unloaded their stuff. Summer and I reset the dog seat protector, then made it home to clean up before bed.

Flies again!

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Concrete and Grass

I didn’t sleep much last night because we had to get up early to get back up to Denton when the kids checked out of their hotel. Breakfast wasn’t quite as good this morning either, and I didn’t feel super for most of the morning. Most of the day ended up being just waiting around anyway, because the kids wanted to watch other bands until they finished at one in the afternoon.

Summer and I got their bags and then went to South Lakes Park with Muad’Dib for a while. We walked some around the mostly grassy “park,” then sat at a picnic table for a while, and finally walked through a wooded path before heading back to the university. When we got there, we found a swinging bench and hung out right outside the performing arts center until the kids came out.

By the time we got them, the kids were hungry. I found a place called Hawaiian Bros Island Grill that everyone liked, so we went there and ate outside. The food was great, and super filling. Then we went to Buc-ee’s to charge. Everyone wanted to wait in the car, so I walked around with Muad’Dib for several minutes before we finally made it back to the hotel.

Eli and Summer napped for a bit while Eaddie and I doom-scrolled and watched TV. Then as the sun went down, we loaded up to head to Medieval times for dinner and a show.

We arrived a while after the doors opened, which was fine. We weren’t looking to spend a lot of time in the gift shop. We had our picture taken and found our seats, then enjoyed a two hour show of poorly choreographed fighting in narrow seats with greasy hands. I checked in on the cabin camera frequently to see how Muad’Dib was handling three hours in the car, and he seemed to be okay in his bed. He was really happy when we finally made it back though.

We got to the hotel, Summer and I walked around with him for a moment, and finally made it up to the room for bed.

I’ve had it with this noise floor.

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Downtown Dallas

We slept in a little bit and then went downstairs for a late breakfast since they didn’t shut down until nearly lunch time. They had eggs a few ways, waffles, and the other usual suspects, and it was all pretty good. It took us a while to get around to much after that. I ended up taking a work call at one while Summer looked for things to do. Then we headed downtown.

We stopped to supercharge since the hotel charger cost more per kWh, and made a loop around the shopping area with Muad’Dib while we waited. Then we went to Mutt’s Cantina downtown to see what that was about. It was a cute little dog park with several dogs, but upon further inspection, you had to pay for a day pass on top of having other food and drinks available. We ended up leaving and just walked around looking for something to eat.

A few blocks later, we found a place called Malai Kitchen with a patio, and were seated with the most incredible server. We had a couple drinks and some really good food in the perfect weather. On the way back to the car, Summer wanted to stop at the Capital One Cafe that we saw, and ended up getting a free cappuccino for having a Capital One card.

From there, we headed straight back to the hotel. We thought we’d have a swim in the pool, but it was cold in spite of being indoors. We went back to the room and watched the Marvel marathon on FX until bed.

Eggs for days.

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Road Dog

We got up fairly early this morning and got ready for our long drive to Dallas. I did all my packing and we got on the road right about when we wanted. Our first stop was Alma for a charge and some early lunch at Sonic. As soon as we walked up, one of the carhops offered us a pup cup of some whipped cream, which Muad’Dib loved. It was probably the busiest either of us had ever seen a Sonic, so the food was hot and fresh.

We continued on to our next two charge stops at Henryetta and Denison before finally making it to our hotel in Dallas. We barely had time to get changed before we had to head up to Denton, stopping one more time at the nearby Buccee’s for some more charge and a quick dinner. Summer said Muad’Dib found and killed a baby rabbit while I was inside getting food, which was particularly frustrating because she had his e-collar ready to go.

We arrived at the Murchison Performing Arts Center just in time to find Eli’s family and then got our pick of seats. I figured Tech was the last band to play after a long day of music, and there were still quite a few people there, but there were a lot of empty seats. We just happened to sit behind a composer of one of the pieces they played, and I convinced the girls to get their programs signed between sets.

After the show, there was a brief reception with some hors d’oeuvres. The kids eventually came out and we chatted for a little bit, but then Summer and I had to get back to Dallas. Luckily traffic was much more manageable at night. We got up to the room and crashed.

King size!

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PackItShipItCleanItUseIt

I really had one main goal at work today, and I got that done. An insurance adjuster also came out to look at my car. Just before lunch, I had a really ignorant support call, and then I met Summer at Chopsticks. The afternoon went by relatively quickly after that, and we got home to get ready for our trip.

Summer got home shortly after we did, and we cleaned out her car. Then I gave Muad’Dib a really good bath, cleaned up a little more, and ended up running him to my parents’ house to see Dad kind of late. I could tell Muad’Dib really needed the run, because he took off in front of me and nearly made it to the end of the street by the time I got out of the driveway.

We never actually packed up, so it’ll be an early morning of that before we go.

FlipItReverseIt

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Motions

I forgot it was Tuesday until mid-morning, and then I got excited for Ortega’s. It was a really quiet day otherwise, and I just tried to pick a project and focus so I could get a project done before the end of my week. Summer didn’t stop by to eat with me, so I just had a couple big plates by myself in the corner before finishing up the afternoon. I did get a call from David’s insurance company, and they got a minimal amount of information from me at the end of the day.

On the way home, Summer asked me to stop and get her some Zaxby’s for dinner. That was pretty quick, and then she ate in front of the TV while I cleaned up a little bit. I laid down on the couch with her for just a little bit, but I wasn’t interested in her NCIS, and she wasn’t getting up to do anything else. I did get a call from an insurance adjuster to schedule a meet tomorrow, and then I started a big load of laundry that I struggled to finish before bed.

They’re gonna burn it down.