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Goonie Squad

I took it easy to work this morning but still had to charge due to the extra range loss from cold weather. I kept reasonably busy in the morning as I snacked on things. Then Jim, Maggie, and I went to Sweet Poppa’s for lunch. I rode with Jim so we could go to the high school and troubleshoot some computer labs. Then we stopped by the middle school to see Jay. He was hanging out in the library playing with some little uniform plastic puzzle pieces, but wanted help resetting a user’s password.

After toying around there for a while, we finally made it back to the office. We chatted with Randy about some things that let me flex my experience a little bit, and then it was a quiet hour until quitting time. My laptop had a big update to do that it didn’t finish in time, so I ended up carrying it out to the car while it was open and installing.

The drive home was frustrating and slow, and I kept having to remind my muscles to relax. My blood pressure had me a little worried, so I’ve been taking more frequent measurements again. As soon as I got home, I took the dogs out for a run in the cold. Stilgar still swam, and we got to my parents’ house just before all daylight was gone. They weren’t home, so we did a quick run through the yard and then headed home.

As soon as I got home, Dad texted that they still had spaghetti and soup, so Summer and I went over to eat. Eaddie was out late with robotics and crochet club, but came to chat with me when she got home. Then I finished “on time” for bed, which only gives me about six hours of sleep at best.

What are “the goonies” anyway?

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164/100

I had an okay start today, but my back still had a slight twinge in it. I made up quite a bit of time on the way to work, but it mostly ended up being for naught. Kyle came by and said the backup circuit was somehow getting traffic to the state servers, so we didn’t have to worry so much about installing the VPN. After that, it was mostly Maggie and me in the office all day, with a bit of Charles and Gary.

With Randy out, we didn’t even see Jim, though he did call for help once. I ended up getting some cheap fast-food for lunch, by way of a fry deal from Burger King and a sandwich deal at Arby’s. The afternoon was pretty quiet, and then I snuck out a few minutes early so I could get the car out of the workshop.

I stopped by Old Navy in Conway on the way home to return Summer’s ill-fitting pants. Then I got home just in time to take the dogs out on a twilight run. They ran hard all the way around the basin and to my parents’ house. Mom said she had some rice soup, so I took the dogs home and rode back again to eat.

Summer got home from work late and wasn’t feeling great, so we put her in a bath and then checked her blood pressure. Hers was fine, but mine was unreasonably high for some reason. I imagine my sleepless commute time has something to do with it. We also discussed ordering a new Model 3, and I think Eaddie’s for it now. I guess I should get one so I can enjoy it for a bit before I stroke out.

It’s always an improper fraction, but it’s usually not more than two.

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Walk Before You Run

I woke up surprisingly early this morning and thought I’d stay up, but then I let myself crawl back into the warm bed and fell asleep until after Summer was up. I had some leftover turkey and Eaddie left for church. I had a shower and Summer went to the gym. When Eaddie got back, Mom texted that she made spaghetti, so Eaddie and I walked the dogs over to their house to eat. I let the dogs run around in the dog pen, and that seemed to contain them just fine.

We walked back home and I lounged a bit with my twisted back. Dad came over with some pictures to put in the clearanced frames I bought and hung on the wall to get out of the way. After a while, I took the dogs out for a proper run and we looped around the basin trail and then up through the neighborhood a couple times before we made it back home.

Eaddie went to Eli’s for dinner just as I was getting back with the dogs. Summer was doing some laundry and cleaning up, and I took care of some more Vine stuff, which included a couple reviews and installing some more puddle lights in the Model Y. The girls picked out some glasses on Zenni and I got those ordered, and I even found another separate sale on some contacts for Summer. With that, it was time for bed.

Stay toasty!

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Smokin’ Breasts

I woke up a little bit before my alarm today and got up to start prepping the turkey breasts for smoking. Summer was up on the couch doing some work, and then left to open one of her stores because multiple people called in, or didn’t show up. Eaddie got home from her father’s and hung out in the kitchen with me so she could lend a hand while I tried to season the turkey. This was only the second time I’d tried to use my baster, and I completely forgot to blend my dry spices so they wouldn’t clog the syringe. That ended up being a big mess, so I finally just put the breasts on the smoker and used my butter concoction to baste it instead.

Summer got home and started making deviled eggs, and I tried to pick up some of the rest of the house. I think Michelle and Phil were the first ones to show up, just before my parents. I kept shoving things into the laundry room, and the house filled up pretty quickly. Alie and Chance made it, and even Julie and Kevin showed up. Uncle Rick and Ginny were the last to show.

I had a fire going, and the smoking was pretty much done before anyone showed up, so I just had to carve the turkey while everyone else arranged food on the dining room table. Then everyone visited and ate in the living room. Julie and Kevin left pretty early, and I threw out my back at some point during the afternoon, which slowed me way down for the rest of the night.

Sometime during daylight hours, I took the dogs out for a quick run before wrapping up with everyone at home. It wasn’t our most entertaining event to host, but hopefully everyone enjoyed it. The whole thing just kept shrinking more and more until we could fit everyone our house instead of an aircraft hangar.

Eaddie wanted to go out to see Wicked again with some friends. Summer went to bed super early while I cleaned up and eventually made it to bed. Maybe my sleep schedule won’t be too far out of cycle by tomorrow.

No deals!

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Chicken Potato Bowls

Today was a long day of picking up the house. Summer went to work. Eaddie came out eventually and took a shower while I was running all around the house. I thought Summer would be home around lunch time, but that wasn’t so. At some point, Eaddie asked if she could go to her father’s house for the night since I guess one of her half sisters had a kid with a birthday. These people propagate like mint.

I warmed up some leftover mashed potatoes and frozen chicken strips for lunch, then continued picking up and organizing randomly until Summer finally got home. She started on some deviled eggs and then took a bath, and I took the dogs out for an early run. We did nearly five miles after stopping to see Dad. He was worried about the new fiber internet provider after they cut their existing cable line trying to run fiber to the house. I just told him to find a place to leave a negative review, and someone would probably reach out rather than have him fight with incompetent customer service trying to direct him to an insurance company.

The dogs did really well, and Stilgar didn’t seem to care about how cold it was. He still wanted to be an alligator in the creek. I ran them all around the neighborhood and then brought them home for hot dogs. I had several more packages at the door, which brought the total to four separate deliveries for the day. I brought them inside and Summer started opening them. I wasn’t double checking what she was doing, and evidently she threw out a bag that still had a watch band in it. That wouldn’t have been bad, except I had just taken the recycling out to the curb just seconds before the truck picked up the dumpster.

I was furious at her negligence. I picked up a bit more before leaving to get some McNuggets for dinner. I didn’t want to go home, and considered that I might want something more to eat, so I ended up stopping in the Wendy’s parking lot. I ate the nuggets, and then remembered a deal for half price Famous Bowls from KFC, so I drove across the street and ate one of those in the lobby. I dawdled there for a while and then got back in the car and had Full Self Driving take me across town. It didn’t get adventurous, so I pointed it up the mountain before having it drive me back home.

Summer went to bed and I stayed up late picking up the ceiling-high stack of boxes she had shoved into the corner. There was a lot of junk there that she had just shoveled out of the way instead of letting me handle it. I sulked some more before eventually taking a shower and going to bed.

Let me remember the ways.

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Newly Guests

Summer went to Conway for a run this morning, so I got up to take a shower before she got back home. When she did get home, she said she decided to subscribe to the monthly Full Self Driving for me for Christmas. I felt like that was a fair compromise for her wanting to get me something, and me not wanting to receive anything. Even if I don’t commute in the long term, we can always cancel the subscription.

Eaddie got home a little after that, and we all got ready to go to Chris’s house for Thanksgiving. I loaded up the drinks and Summer brought her broccoli salad and some deviled eggs, and we headed up the hill. We arrived at a full house just behind my parents, and I think Julie and Kevin were the last to arrive. The only other people I knew there besides Lelan and Steven were Seth and Danielle.

The inebriated Chris gave a little speech and then we all got to eating. We found the proper dining room table and crowded around that with some other strangers. Julie got into a fight over Disney Adults with the one small, loud-mouthed child that showed up. It was a fine time.

After we ate, Lelan was making rounds and stopped by to talk. I ended up taking her and Kevin for a ride with FSD. Kevin babysat in the driver’s seat, and we rode to the Neighborhood Market and back. As we made our final turn, the car took a left in front of a blind hill and then stopped in the middle of the lane when an oncoming car appeared. Kevin gunned it and we all got out to kiss the ground.

We stayed for a little longer, and then the girls had to get home. I took the dogs for a run before it got dark, and we caught my parents just as they got home. Then I spent the evening sending texts and submitting Vine reviews. My bedtime shifted way too much, so this weekend will be a treat trying to get it turned back around.

Like Thanksgiving in a hotel lobby.

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KPOT

Randy had been talking about going to KPOT for lunch for the past couple days, so we looked forward to that today. I got in pretty early again, but didn’t get into anything. Javier hung out in the dark with me for a while after Randy left for the high school. Then Jay left me to run an errand until nearly lunchtime. Kyle and Randy showed up and we all chatted for a little bit, and then we all met at KPOT.

I’d tried the hot pot at Linh’s before, but this was a whole different experience. Jim met Jay, Randy, Kyle, and me, and we got an iPad to order food, and there was one shared grill in the middle of the table. Then we each had our own cooktop sitting right in front of us for soup pots. They had a bar for making your own sauces, but many things weren’t labeled, and I didn’t really think it needed any of it anyway. Randy did most of the ordering and cooking at first, but then I started ordering things. My soup base was pretty spicy, but it was good. I wished we had started by just dumping all of the meat on the grill to cook, because I was left without meat for a large portion of the meal. I made up for it by the end, but then everyone got up to leave while I was finishing my last bowl.

I gave up shortly after that since I had to get home to launder my newly stained shirt. Pulling noodles out of the hot pot was unnecessarily difficult. Traffic was pretty rough, but I made it through Morrilton for some more drinks to take to Thanksgiving, and then I wasn’t home long before Summer showed up with some groceries. I thought we’d go together, but she picked everything up on her way home.

We got a couple new watch bands in, and I immediately messed one up because I tried to push a pin out the wrong direction. I broke a couple tips on the extraction tool, and was eventually able to pull it out far enough to grab the pin with pliers. The band looks and fits great now though.

Summer started making food for Thanksgiving, and I took the dogs out for a long run in a completely new path. We circled the block, then went up the hill and down the sidewalk. It was a pretty decent run, but they seemed mostly deaf to my direction callouts. We got to my parents’ house and Mom fed them a couple little tomatoes she pulled off the vine. Then we went around to the pond before eventually making it home before dark.

Eaddie spent the evening with her father, Summer spent most of the evening in the kitchen, and I ended up taking a long bath to warm up. Summer started watching Loki when she went to bed, so I finished up and headed to bed myself.

Cook more efficiently!

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Slow, Short Days

I got out really early this morning, and got to the office a few minutes before seven. The cold sapped the battery a bit, so I pulled into the shop to charge before going into the office. I wasn’t there long before Randy and Jim came in and took me on a ride around the city to check network connectivity at all the campuses. We only got a couple done before we had to meet with a Windstream tech to troubleshoot an issue. From that moment on, we were especially not busy.

The morning dragged on as we eventually made it to the annex and then the high school to move some more equipment. DIS would be coming in the afternoon, so the three of us and Kyle went to Larry’s Pizza for lunch. I’m still amazed at how they operate with such a tiny bar, but keep the variety of pizzas flowing. With the kids out of school, they were packed.

The afternoon especially dragged on forever. I got the car and went to Target to pick up an order. After I made it to the high school, Krissy showed up along with one of her techs, and I basically sat around trying to stay out of the way. Near the end of the day, I mentioned leaving before my phone died, and Randy just said, “bye.” I headed home nearly half an hour early, stopped for some beer in Morrilton, and made it home in time to take the dogs out during the last few minutes of daylight.

We visited Dad briefly, but then I got them home in the cold. I couldn’t believe Stilgar still wanted to take a dip in the creek, but he seemed fine. They got fed, and Eaddie and Summer spent some time on the couch watching videos about tornados. I did a little Christmas shopping, and then it was off to bed early.

Good apps can’t be that hard.

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Core Progression

I was in and out of sleep all night, so I nearly got out of bed around two or three and just headed on to work with the others. I ended up falling asleep until about four and just got up half an hour early, yet still somehow ended up a few minutes late.

Randy, Kyle, and Jim were at the high school core closet and had already moved the core switch and firewall. Evidently Gary texted about the network being down, even though they’ve been talking about this move since before they hired me. I helped route some fiber, and then they decided we were going to go out for breakfast.

The four of us met Jay at BJ’s Market Café and I had a surprisingly small omelette. It did come with hashbrowns and a biscuit and gravy though. Jay’s pancakes were pretty big, and overall it was one of the cheaper meals I’ve had in Little Rock so far.

From that point, we stopped by the annex where I started to tinker with the sign maker before having to go back to the high school where we sat and waited for Windstream to fix the stuff they didn’t have configured correctly. Around lunchtime, I went and got some Sonic drinks. I would have gotten a snack if I had realized we weren’t going to get lunch later. After that, it was a very long and boring afternoon for me listening to Kyle on a phone call with the engineers doing the fixing.

At the end of the day, I left Kyle to sit on his call while I drove home. The Full Self Driving trial was over, so I had to be a lot more involved. I did not like it at all. I really didn’t think it would be that big of a difference, but I had trouble with the cruise control stopping whenever I changed lanes. Around Atkins, I tried to fix it and accidentally disabled Autopilot entirely, so I had to drive the rest of the way to town.

Eaddie was out doing things on holiday break and Summer had already eaten, so I picked up some Burger King on the way home. The fried pickle Whopper was super disappointing. I shoved it down, but still had to take the dogs out in the pitch black. They did okay, but seem unaffected by the directions I called out. I really think I’ve just been getting lucky when they go the right way. We stopped to visit my parents and then weaved through the neighborhood to get home.

Eaddie was out late and Summer was working on her laptop in the living room all night, so I watched a little bit of YouTube after commandeering her cooking shows playing in the background. Once she went to bed, I summoned Eaddie home and then went to bed.

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Bang a Drum

I was surprised to wake up first this morning, but Summer wasn’t far behind. She made some sausage, eggs, and biscuits for us. Eaddie ate with us, then left for church after a while. I sorted some Amazon stuff and did some reviews, but apart from playing with the dogs, things were pretty quiet.

Eli came over after church, but then they wanted to go to a Tech band concert in the afternoon. Summer and I got cleaned up and met them there. I wouldn’t be so opposed to going if I had more free time, but that comes at a premium these days. They’re better than Eaddie’s school band, and I love going when she’s playing, but this just feels like too much extra if I don’t have the time to actually enjoy it. The pieces today were also super long, and though the students played well, I just didn’t care for one super long, super aggressive percussion-focused piece. It was not at all pleasant to hear.

The kids went on doing their own thing, and Summer and I went home to change before going out to Mulan’s for an early dinner. Mollie spotted me getting food and gave me a big hug. She’s back on chemo, and I guess that means she can go out in public again. I invited them over for a quick drink after dinner, but she said they had to get home.

Summer finished up some laundry when we got back to the house, and I took the dogs out for a run in full darkness. They did reasonably well for not being able to see anything. We stopped to see Dad, then made a short run home for hot dogs and dinner. I tried wrapping things up quickly after that. Some of the guys are showing up at five in the morning to start moving the core servers. Randy said I didn’t have to, since that would mean waking up before three in the morning. I have no idea what I’ll be coming in to though.

In the Air