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Raise the Roofing!

Summer got up for her run this morning, and I got up for my company picnic. I got out a little later than I intended, but there wasn’t any real rush. We stopped by to get Dad and loaded up all of the bubble stuff he made. The longest bamboo sticks he had wouldn’t fit completely in the car, so I just let them stick out the back window and we made it to Morrilton, stopping at Wendy’s for breakfast before landing at work.

There were quite a few people already there helping out, so my job was relatively simple to get the sound system going. I got it together and started a random 80s rock station just to test, and in spite of my hours of working on a curated playlist, that random station was what played for the rest of the day.

It was a little hard to tell when the party began officially, since everyone that was helping was also there for the event. It was a good turnout though, and it seemed like everyone had a good time. I didn’t get down to the cornhole tournament much, but Dad’s bubbles were a big hit. Summer enjoyed the petting zoo, and Muad’Dib enjoyed running around and getting tons of pets.

Scott gave a great tour of the plant, and it was interesting to hear more about their process out there. All in all, I rolled about three miles on the Onewheel just back and forth in the parking lot. Of all people, David’s wife and Rhonda were the two adults that actually tried riding it, and they both did surprisingly well. Later on, one of the smaller kids tried too. The only issue I had with my sound system was a dead wireless receiver that wouldn’t charge with anything I had out there.

It was a fun and pretty exhausting day, but luckily the cleanup was pretty quick with that many hands. Summer had driven separately after her race, so I took Dad home and then met her back at the house where she had most everything unloaded already. I took a quick shower, and then we crashed on the couch where Muad’Dib passed out at our feet. I eventually got hungry and warmed up the leftover steak for us, and then we watched some TV before bed.

Ten more to go!

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Rut Roh

It downpoured on the way to work today, so I drove much of it on my own after stopping by Hardee’s for breakfast. I spent most of the day focused on mixing, and probably burned too much time on building an alternate playlist. I’m definitely overthinking it. They ended up moving the picnic to the parking lot because the folks that delivered the portable toilets drove huge ruts into the lawn after arriving shortly after the rain.

I lost track of time and lunch time came around, so we walked downstairs hoping to come up with a plan by the time we got to the bottom. Tammy came out to ask about our Aptean meeting, to which I responded that we were done. She didn’t tell me that it was still on our calendar, so I was sat at Arby’s with a half-eaten trainwreck of a sandwich when I got a message from the Teams that the call had started. I ended up hopping on and confirmed that we all thought we were done with the calls, so we rescheduled for next week.

The afternoon was more of the same up to the point that I tried rushing out of there. It poured on me again on the drive home, so I ended up pulling off of the Interstate early. We made it through town and found Summer on the couch. Dad said they had spring rolls, so then it was a matter of coordinating an arrival time with picking up Nova from her dorm.

Julie and Kevin were already settled in by the time we got there. Mom got brave and fed Muad’Dib a couple pieces of pork. He was a pretty good boy, and I was hilarious.

Dad took Nova back, so Summer and I went home where she went to bed and I gathered the last few essentials for our picnic. I’ll have to get Dad in the morning, and hopefully we have a good day tomorrow.

Over-preparedness to compensate for under-experience!

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Bubblicious

Today was another quiet day for me upstairs. I continued my tinkering and juggling a couple different projects throughout the day. Thinking about the upcoming picnic, I’ve been worried about having enough activities for the kids, so I thought back to the tulip festival and all the free activities they had sitting around. I asked Dad about rope to make a giant bubble wand, and he jumped right into making some out of fresh bamboo. I asked Teisha about having him come photograph the event since they didn’t want to hire a photographer, so now he’ll join us for the fun.

Lunch time hit out of nowhere, so Muad’Dib and I went to Sonic just on a whim. It was super nice outside, and he did a great job of sitting on the bench with me. We got a few smiles while we sat and ate, and then I let him have a really good run back to work.

The afternoon went by pretty quickly, and I spent a little more time trying to refine the playlist. Janice called the mayor earlier in the morning to confirm his attendance, and he may opt to say a few words, so I guess the pressure is really on for me to have the sound system working!

Summer still wasn’t feeling well and had gone home early. She was already in bed when we got home, so I took Muad’Dib for an early jaunt. He was not highly motivated, but we eventually made it to my parents’ house. Mom said she had more eggplant soup, so I waited and tried to help warm that up, throwing more in to replenish the pot.

We ate, then made it home just before dark. Summer was asleep shortly after that. I did a load of laundry that I had been threatening since last week, and then it was early to bed.

Curated ’til the final moment.

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Hey Mister Deejay

I took my S21 to work today so I could continue updates and eventually load it up with some tunes for Saturday. I couldn’t believe there wasn’t a rollup update, and continued doing monthly updates for what felt like forever. I spent the entire day tinkering with that and trying to figure out why an Autopilot laptop wasn’t getting the proper deployment profile.

I had a relatively short anxiety attack right around noon, and then Subway actually had a fair deal for lunch. I picked up some fries from McDonald’s for Muad’Dib first, then grabbed the sandwich and went back to the breakroom to eat with Amanda, Elizabeth, and eventually Janice just as I was finishing up. It was a short break, and then I got back to the music.

I learned that Spotify had some new features that would improve our experience, and I spent a while trying to prompt their AI playlist builder. I think I finally came up with something I liked, and at least now I’ll have enough backup songs saved that I can mix things up if necessary.

We made it home a while before Summer. The kids were watching TV, but then Eli had to leave for a concert. I cleaned up and then took Muad’Dib for a run so we could try and get back when Summer got home. He did pretty well as we encountered several other dogs. We visited my parents, and then it was a slow trot the rest of the way home.

Eaddie left to watch Eli, so I made Summer come out and eat some leftovers with me. Then she went to bed while I cleaned up. Everything wrapped up pretty quickly, so I took the opportunity to get to bed really early.

CATCH PHRASE!

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The Dilemma

Feyd-Rautha laid on the porch by the back door all night long, and I could not have felt worse about the possibility of him going back to those people. He had finally started wagging his tail when he saw us come out, though he still hadn’t eaten anything but a couple treats. Summer left for Little Rock and I headed to work with the plan to deal with him later, though I texted Eaddie later and asked her to play with him some when she came back home from class.

I stayed pretty busy, but took time to email Animal Control again. They said they would send someone to do another welfare check, so I called to clarify that I still had the dog in custody. Tammie didn’t seem too concerned with what I had to say or what I wanted to do, so we just agreed to bring him in ourselves in the evening. I guess I wasn’t surprised, because it just comes with the job for them.

I met Summer for lunch at Ortega’s, and I was a little frustrated by the lack of service. They brought us a brand new bottle of salsa and then no chips, and didn’t get all of my order right. At least the food was good, but I could have gone for some more.

The afternoon was short just due to how late we ate, and then I asked to leave early so I could help Summer take Feyd to Animal Control. I raced home through slow traffic, and we wouldn’t have even made it on time if they hadn’t been waiting for Dreya to show up with another found dog. She talked to Summer briefly, and I took Feyd-Rautha into the loud, smelly, anxiety-inducing prison for the night. Tammie was of course unaffected, but did say the guy called looking for him. She did me the favor of not telling him that I had him, but said she would at least make him fill out the return paperwork tomorrow.

Summer and I headed back to the house and I started grilling steaks while she baked potatoes. I wanted to use charcoal this time, and it turned out pretty good. I even managed to use a small amount of charcoal without having a ton left over. At some point, we made it to the bedroom where I dug around and found my S21 Ultra, so I’ll be able to use it for the company picnic. We ate, and then I took Muad’Dib for a late run to see my parents. It was dark by the time we made it back, and we rushed to bed.

Oh, yes. I remember Gammu when it was Giedi Prime – the oil-soaked, blood-soaked hell hole of the Imperium!

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Saddest Pup

I forgot my Soylent this morning, so we stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast. Then I spent all day trying to come up with a good collection of music for the company picnic this weekend. Things were pretty quiet, so it was a good day to just hunch over with my headphones on. I couldn’t decide on lunch, and ended up going to Wendy’s, which turned out to be a great choice.

The afternoon was still quiet and a bit boring until we headed home. I stopped by the old house to see if maybe my old phone was there, but it wasn’t. When we got home, Muad’Dib took off after something as soon as he got out of the car. I walked to the end of the driveway, and then I saw our old neighborhood friend, who I had aptly named Feyd-Rautha.

I got both dogs into the backyard and called everyone out to see them. Feyd looked better, but still had a ton of hair that needed to be pulled. He wasn’t as boney, but was still really skinny, and his nails had grown out like he hadn’t been able to grind them down on anything. I took them both for a short run to my parents’ house, avoiding the creepy house at the end of the street. Dad didn’t want to keep him, but Summer wanted to take him to animal control rather than return him to the people that had him.

He didn’t eat any of the food or treats I tried to give him outside, and he just immediately laid down on the porch when I’d leave. He had been jumpy and skittish any time there was a loud sound or abrupt activity. I held the leash up a few times and it seemed like maybe he had been beat by one before, but I could have been reading into it. I just hope we don’t start a feud with the creeps at the end of the road.

Muad’Dib was clearly jealous of the attention he wasn’t getting, but they seemed to enjoy playing with one another. Summer says she’ll take care of him tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens then.

Cousin? Is that right?

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21 and Lost

I went to bed super late last night and had trouble feeling some sort of anxiety or nervousness or dread that I didn’t understand. I eventually fell asleep, but didn’t stay in bed very late. I got up and warmed breakfast for Summer and myself, and Eaddie left for church. We didn’t see her again.

I got into cleaning and reviews some more, but never had any luck with much of anything. My S21 Ultra was lost, and I felt a bit lost myself. I should have known exactly where it was, and the fact that I haven’t been able to find it at all has been nerve-wracking.

Summer went to the gym and I went to KFC to get a pot pie for $4.20, because apparently those are the kinds of jokes they’re making now. That was a surreal experience, because I walked into a seemingly abandoned restaurant that had a few people in the corner that didn’t look like they were there to eat. It took a while to get noticed, but the staff was otherwise friendly. I thought my glasses were smudged, but the air was just hazy. It didn’t smell like anything though. The cash register flashed garbled text, and it felt a little bit like I was in the Matrix. I got my food and headed back to the house to eat, and luckily the pot pie was amazing.

Summer got home and mowed the lawn while I continued working inside. We had set out steaks to defrost for dinner, but they were still frozen solid. Dad texted that Mom made eggplant soup, so Summer said I could go eat over there and then come back to grill her some brats. I ran over with Muad’Dib, we ate, and then I went to the Neighborhood Market to get her food.

By the time I got things cooking, she reminded me that she had to go to work for a meeting, so she didn’t even get to eat first. Luckily she didn’t mind eating late when she got back, and then I cleaned up a bit before bed.

Oh, to be.

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Down to Glass

I woke up with a stomach ache this morning, but luckily it was nothing long lasting. Summer kept saying she didn’t feel well though, and wasn’t sure if she was getting sick. Eaddie left the house super early, but neither of us knew what she had going on. Summer was going to make breakfast, but I stepped in for her to make sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits since she didn’t feel well.

After breakfast, Summer went to the gym and I jumped right into cleaning up and looking for my old S21 Ultra. I’ve been wanting to use it to play music at our company picnic, but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere. I dug down on my desk to the point that I could see through glass, and I even found my old Pixel 2 XL, but the Samsung is nowhere to be found.

I continued cleaning, stopping for a late lunch, and then to run Muad’Dib to see my parents as it got dark. Summer went to bed super early, still not feeling well. Eaddie was in and out and back in again, so we didn’t see much of her. I had an anxiety attack later in the evening, wrote some reviews, and then took a shower before winding down for bed. My feet and legs have been swelling up again, so I’ve been trying to keep an eye on my vitals. That just means more spreadsheets.

Dig dug!

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Doggy Daycare

I considered breakfast this morning, but couldn’t come up with a worthy deal in time and just showed up at work early instead. Amanda needed help downstairs, so I spent a while working down there. Teddy came out of Rhonda’s office and ran around with Muad’Dib for a while, but then she made him go back before we left. The morning went by pretty quickly, but luckily we left for lunch when we did, because I forgot about the call I had in the afternoon.

We ended up at Taco Bell, then made it back just in time to hop on with the Aptean guys again. There was really no point to the call other than for us to be prompted to fill out a survey. I didn’t leave great remarks. The afternoon really dragged on after that.

Chick-fil-A sent me a free fry, so we stopped by on the way to get those on the way home. I saw Kevin and Hope at AT&T, so we stopped there to see them while we ate. Kevin was on his way out, but I caught up with Hope a bit before we left. Just as we were pulling out, I met the new store manager and we chatted briefly, and he suggested I should come back and work a part-time position they had because he “liked my vibe.”

I was pretty hungry when we made it back to the house, so I ate some leftover mush with Summer and then we sat on the couch and watched some YouTube for a while. She suggested popcorn and a movie, but I guess she changed her mind after I took Muad’Dib on a late run in the cooler air.

We visited my parents, and then I basically had to drag him back home. I ate some other leftovers and Summer went to bed.

Woah, again.

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Drink and Bend

I woke up before my alarm this morning, but didn’t want to get up. We managed to get to work in a decent amount of time though, and I was glad to have Muad’Dib along to bring me down from any incidents of road rage, both to and from work. It was a super busy day right off the bat, with a call from our guy down in Conway for an issue that ended up being on a local computer. I was up and down the stairs a bit helping Amanda as well.

I had an anxiety attack sometime in the middle of the day, but I keep failing to write it down. I just space out and then completely forget while I recover. The day went by quickly though, and we just had to slip out for a trip to Sonic for lunch. When we got back, I tried to let Muad’Dib run the block, and he tried running the opposite direction. I don’t know what caught his attention, but I had to beep him a couple times to get him to follow me to the office.

The afternoon was relatively short and busy as well with another call, and then we left a little late and had to race home to catch Summer at Sip + Stretch. I caught Eaddie just as she was getting ready to leave, and then I ran Muad’Dib downtown to Point Remove. We got lots of smiles as we rode right through to the back, and sat at a picnic table to wait for Summer.

We were there for a while because she had the wrong time on the calendar, but she eventually joined us for some wings and cocktails. Muad’Dib got lots of pets from a family next to us, and we had a good time catching up while the place continued to get busier.

We drove back home and I took Muad’Dib for a run to see my parents while Summer got ready for bed. We visited briefly, then made it home in the dark and got ready for bed ourselves.

Ped dat dwag!