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Tip Cow WTF!

I made it out a little early in spite of waking up feeling completely dead, so we stopped at Hardee’s for a surprisingly good prime rib biscuit. We were immediately greeted by Roxy, who I had forgotten. Janice brought her once before, and I don’t remember Muad’Dib being quite as bothered by her last time. They nipped at each other a little bit, which was dangerous since she was roughly the size of a squirrel.

I tinkered with stuff intermittently, and finally figured out some domain configuration for myself. I finally put together a sassy tip screen to whip out when I do things for others. I even made a landing page for Julie and Kevin, but Julie wasn’t ready to publish anything and wanted to wait until later.

When lunch came around, we went to Sonic for a big burger, chicken bites, and cheese sticks. Muad’Dib sat next to me like a good boy and got lots of everything. It felt like a good afternoon, so I treated myself with a cherry limeade as we headed back to work.

The afternoon was short on account of how late we ate. I ran into some annoying traffic parked in the left lane, but we made it home. Summer had to leave for a team meeting, and then I got a call from Dad who had sprung a water leak at the old house. I raced over with a tool to help shut it off, but completely forgot about meeting Julie to do their lawn. I guess Dad didn’t think anything of it either, because afterward I went to vacuum my car and then was going to wait for Summer to finish her team meeting so we could find dinner.

Julie texted angry, so I raced home with my weedeater to grab some batteries, then got to my parents’ house to find her bossing Kevin around with his trimmer. I pulled a few weeds, but the work was done. We cleaned up, they left, and then I went home to wait for Summer.

I thought she was heading home from her meeting, but she sat in her car for a while as I raced Muad’Dib around the block. We got back just as she did, only to learn that she wasn’t hungry anyway. I ate my leftover KFC, and then did some cleaning up before bed.

Oh, gods…

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Fuster Cluck

This morning dragged on forever, but then around lunch time I had to go downstairs to take a look at some laptops that were on site for the day. That led to some discovery, which I assumed led to more work due to our slow internet. I ended up skipping lunch and eating a couple leftover cupcakes to tide me over. I spent most of the afternoon downstairs working on a new laptop for Eric until quitting time.

We stopped by Superfast to check on Summer, but she was feeling really puny. She wanted KFC, so we went by there to pick up some food. It was hazy inside, so I had to guess that was just the new normal. The register still blinked strange hieroglyphics, and there was a line of people inside and out. It felt like I was standing there forever in spite of how many employees seemed to be legitimately working.

We finally made it home to eat, and I was just exhausted. I took Muad’Dib for a bit of a run at first, but then it turned into a walk until we saw my parents and eventually got back to the house. Summer was in bed, so I wrapped things up and went to sleep early.

What’s it take to get some decent fried chicken around here?

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More People; More Dogs

We got to work this morning and were surprised by the arrival of some of the sales team, who were apparently there for a couple days of training. That got Muad’Dib a little over-excited, so I had to shoo him upstairs, but it allowed me the opportunity to check on some remote devices that I would otherwise not be able to visually inspect.

It wasn’t until later when we left for lunch that I realized we had a new dog on site. Amanda walked him out, and Muad’Dib was laser-focused on him. I couldn’t tell if they were going to get along, but I had to get to Ortega’s to meet Summer, so we didn’t get to let them play.

Lunch was a little off for service again, but overall it was good food. It started to sprinkle a bit when we were leaving, but that didn’t seem to last long. When we got back, Scott said something about Elizabeth’s dog, and that was when I realized that the dog we encountered was the same, grown-up version of the tiny little handful we saw just weeks ago. We met him again later when we were called down for birthday cake, and Muad’Dib kept growing and barking at him, so they didn’t get to play.

The afternoon was relatively short, but I forgot to leave early to make it to therapy. We managed to get there just a couple minutes late, and had a relatively good session even if we were mostly off the rails. We had plans for spring rolls at my parents’ house after that, so we only stopped by the house to change.

Dad would likely have to have surgery for his torn rotator cuff, but otherwise he was still moving around mostly fine. We ate and visited, then got home in time to watch a little Netflix before bed.

“magic”

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In the Drink

Work was uneventful today. It seemed pretty quiet, and there was still some cleanup inside from the picnic over the weekend. I just quietly hummed along, trying to clean up a bunch of old reading I had saved while learning my way around Intune.

We went to lunch just a shade early because we were already downstairs to help Amanda with the check scanner. We just went to Taco Bell since they had a $2 discount on select combos. I was pretty disappointed in my Cantina Chicken Burrito, so we ended up stopping by Sonic for a 99-cent corn dog before going back to work.

The afternoon was more of the same as I tuned into some music for a bit to wrap up the day. Summer would be home around the same time I’d get back to town, and Eaddie was there when we got there, so I was hoping I could take them both out to dinner. We never see Eaddie any more, but she had another sorority meeting in the evening.

Summer didn’t feel great, but I got her dressed and she decided on Burger King for dinner. As we drove by the new one, we noticed they didn’t have outdoor seating, so we continued on to Freddy’s. The food was surprisingly good, but as always I was disappointed in the amount of fries and the overall value for the price. We finished up with a custard, then went to my parents’ house to drop off the pool cleaner I got them.

Mom and Dad were preparing to shop, so we didn’t stay long. Muad’Dib chased after what was presumably a possum after hearing some walkers comment on it earlier. It was just seconds before we heard the splash of him jumping into the creek, so he had to run home next to the car and then have a bath.

Summer went to bed, and I gave Muad’Dib a good bath. It was hot and humid, but I spent some time cleaning up the dining area and put away the things that still hadn’t been stowed from the picnic, and then it was off to bed.

Ick Season.

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Amerykahn Graffiti

I made us some egg and Petit Jean summer sausage pitas for breakfast this morning. Eaddie left early for sound check and such before her afternoon concert. Summer went to the gym while I cleaned up a bit, and we had just enough time to cool down before heading to Witherspoon. Dad wasn’t feeling well and wanted to sit out, so we left Muad’Dib with him for those few hours.

The first half of the concert was typical stuff, but with a good amount of end-of-year fluff. I didn’t realize it, but the second half was a doctoral dissertation symphony by Katahj Copley, and every minute of it was an absolute banger. It was a great show.

The kids carried on with their lives, so I took Summer to New China for dinner. The food was pretty good, but our server was pretty awful. I begrudgingly tipped at all for the one time she meaningfully visited our table, and then we headed home.

Muad’Dib was wound up pretty tight when we got there, so I let him run home alongside the car. Then Summer had to do some work on her laptop, so I started a load of laundry and sat on the couch with her until bedtime.

Halcyon later!

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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!