Author: gallopingcow

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All Fronts

Today did not go as planned. I had a couple of calls from some of the sales guys for help, which actually went fairly well. Then I had some virtual training planned for the morning through lunch, but immediately after our HubSpot call, Joel emailed me and asked me to update pricing on some products there. That of course had me switch gears entirely, and I had to learn how the old pricing spreadsheet calculations were done, and then figure out how to import them into HubSpot.

Muad’Dib and I went to McDonald’s for fries and Arby’s for a sandwich, just for the sake of pinching pennies, and then I dug into my first real task. I ended up talking to Joel at the end of the day just to confirm what I was doing, and saved the real work for the next day.

We tried to stop and see Summer at Superfast when we got back to town, but she had left early and went to the gym. Eaddie was leaving for Clarksville when I got to the house. Summer got home shortly after that, and I had to figure out dinner. I ended up going to Zaxby’s for a couple salads, and then we ended up venting at each other about each other over the way we prioritize (or don’t) tasks.

I left to run Muad’Dib, and then crashed about an hour later than I wanted.

focus

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Out of Tune

I had a slow start and got to work a little later today. Muad’Dib seemed to be having a little trouble himself, and kept licking himself as smells happened. He eventually perked up, and didn’t appear to make a mess anywhere, but I was a little concerned. I tried to dig through some more 365 documentation, but I just kind of hate it so far. I had an anxiety attack at some point, but rolled on as usual.

Summer was supposed to come have lunch with me, but she ran a couple hours late without saying a word about it. I finally texted to find out what was going on, and she said she wasn’t going to make it. Then I suggested I could pick up pizza so she could just stop in to eat at the office, and she was in for that.

Pizza Hut had a strange drive-through orientation, but it worked surprisingly well. I got in and out of there, and then stopped by Casey’s for a deal on some wings since I was still waiting on Summer anyway. I let Muad’Dib out to walk around for a bit in the heat, and then tried to leave him outside while I ran in to get the food. It took almost no time for him to take off and find a family at one of the gas pumps. Luckily he didn’t get far, and he ran right back to me. I put him in the car after that, since the wings weren’t anywhere near done.

Summer just barely beat me to the office, and I was reminded that they had ice cream and Italian ice as a gesture of employee appreciation. Most everyone was in the break room and introduced themselves to her in a flurry. Muad’Dib was getting nosey, so we went upstairs to eat. I walked Summer back to her car and then had some Italian ice myself with Rhonda in the breakroom. I don’t know why, but I got chattier than I usually do. I guess I’ve just spent more time talking to her than most anyone else at the office so far.

The afternoon was tough because I was exhausted from going to bed so late after last night’s panic. We made it to the end and headed home. Dad had met Brandon from Dream Builders Construction to get a quote, and he came back almost immediately with a total of $5,100 that didn’t appear to include a tax calculation. It also looked like he was less thorough than R&R, who Dad had called. They finally came back with a quote after a week that also considered blowing new insulation for a total of $6,936.47. For a thousand more, it sounded like R&R may be better equipped to do the whole job, but I don’t know.

The evening was pretty quiet. Summer took a bath for a while, Eaddie left for Eli’s, and I shut in to do some long-overdue Vine reviews. Once the sun was nearly down, I took Muad’Dib for a quick run, and then raced to bed.

EXTI

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Working Like a Dog

I took Muad’Dib to work again today, and he was much more comfortable to leave my side and wander around. I was worried at first that he would bother people, but Teisha greeted him with a treat, and then everyone upstairs stopped to pet him this time. Scott even commented that after meeting him last week, he looked into adopting another dog himself. Joel came upstairs and made a point to stop and give him some pets, and I’m starting to think he likes the dog more than me.

We went to McDonald’s for lunch again, but I just left him in the car so I could eat there. It was a quick meal though, and then I stopped at Sonic to get him some “premium” chicken bites (quotes mine, because I learned that it is still mechanically separated chicken and not actual breast meat). The afternoon was really quiet and I spent some time watching videos on Intune until quitting time.

Summer was already home and went with me to my parents’ house to load up some more wood that Dad had cut for me. Then we went for a swim to cool off before going back to the house to figure out dinner. She took a bath while I picked up Taco Villa. I stopped for a quick carwash before getting the food, because my car had gotten pretty disgusting. Then a bird got my windshield while I was parked at the restaurant.

Eaddie went out shopping and was gone all night. I took Muad’Dib for a night run and ran into Alisha on our last stretch home. She was looking for her injured cat, which we found two houses down from where she had given up and turned to go home. I called and waited for her to come get it, then took Muad’Dib home for a vacuum before bed.

I remembered that internet was down at the old house and texted Dad about the cameras seeing a couple strangers in the garage. We panicked and raced over, but on the way he remembered letting the little girl in to use the restroom after they had come to get some old wood. Fortunately all was fine, except for an overheated router. I rebooted everything and got us back in business so they could take me back to go to bed.

Don’t forget that the moon has a cold, dark side.

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Fantastic Fourth Try

I wanted to take Muad’Dib out for another early run since we’d be gone all day, and Summer wanted to clean up the yard a bit more after Eaddie’s mowing yesterday. Then we got ready to take my parents to Little Rock for some KPOT and a movie.

Mom drove us all in her car, so it was a little wild. Eaddie was stuck in the very back and got carsick, but she made it to the restaurant. This was only my second time at KPOT, and it was pretty frustrating. We were sat relatively quickly, but it took nearly ten minutes for anyone to acknowledge our existence after that. A girl eventually came over and asked if our server had talked to us yet, and it really seemed like tables weren’t assigned to servers, and she had just decided to take care of us.

The soup base came out slowly, long after we received our first order of meats and veggies. It took a while for us to get our soups boiling, so I had a plate of some fried rice and chicken nuggets while I waited. The rest of the food was fairly good, but it really made me rethink the value of the experience. I had a much better time on my first visit.

By the time we finished, we had just enough time to get across Little Rock to the IMAX for our movie. We were sat in our usual spots, but Mom couldn’t handle the giant screen, so she and Dad went back up several rows. We thought the movie was pretty good, but found it to be really predictable with very little rewatchability. I might sit through it if I caught it on television in a hotel, but otherwise I don’t know that I would ever seek it out to watch it again on my own.

The trip back home was just as scary, but we bumped Eaddie up a row. Muad’Dib was super excited to see us, so we took a quick run to see Dad before making it back home for a good bath and brushout before bed.

He does not want. He feeds.

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Wooden Do It

Summer had to work this morning, so I got up and took Muad’Dib for a run while it was still a little cooler outside. Dad and I moved a couple big logs over to their driveway from nextdoor so I could get some firewood before the tree service hauled it all off. Summer had plans to take Eaddie to the Clarksville water park in the afternoon, but it felt really clammy and gross out, and I just didn’t want to go. Eaddie got up and mowed the lawn, so I was in and out some to get her started, and then was trying to organize some of the chaos inside since the ceiling collapse.

Eaddie and I cleaned up some charcuterie stuff in the fridge, and I had an anxiety attack in the pantry. I eventually took a shower and made it back over to my parents’ house where Dad had sawed up a bunch of manageable logs that we could load into the Pathfinder. I brought them a little solar-powered pool skimming robot that we watched mostly fail, and then I ate bún bò Huế with them before getting the wood back to the house just as the girls got there. They helped me unload into the front yard, and then took a bit of a break. Dad came over with a little more wood and a plastic sheet for the hole in the ceiling. Unfortunately the staples ripped right through, and I didn’t want to fight it, so he took that back home.

Summer and I eventually made it over to their house to swim after sundown. My parents were out watering the garden, and Muad’Dib got the zoomies and ran circles around the yard. Summer got cold pretty quickly, so we headed back to the house for the evening.

I had originally planned to go to Little Rock to see Mitch in the evening, but time got away from me and we just had too much stuff going on. We decided to reschedule for later next week.

rattle ’round

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Human Adult Things

I wasn’t sure what the girls were doing today, so I decided to take Muad’Dib to work with me, just to make sure he stayed out of the insulation that was covering the living room. I brought him in on a leash, but as soon as we got upstairs, he was off. He did great, ate some food, drank a bunch of water, and eventually got to go socialize a bit. Everyone seemed to like him, but as expected, some were way more excited to see him than others. I think I was most surprised by Joel’s response to get way down on the floor with him.

Nobody really wanted to attempt his name, but Muad’Dib and I hung out upstairs most of the day. Summer actually stayed home today, so I had her try and find someone else to quote us on a repair and cleaning. She found a single guy named Cano that said he would come out.

We eventually went to get lunch, and I just picked up some McNuggets at the drive-through. I picked up a free slush at Casey’s, and then we went back to the office to eat. After that, I spent some time with the Vuzix headset again. The afternoon was dead.

Cano finally came by the house late in the afternoon, but just before I got there. Summer must have been starving, because she wanted a Chinese buffet. We left Muad’Dib in the bedroom alone for the first time, and drove across town to discover that New China was closed for some personal event. We ended up at Mulan’s for a relatively quick meal before coming back to the house.

Muad’Dib seemed to do fine. he had a little block of yak cheese that he had been chewing on at work all day, and I found where he had hidden it under the stuffed cheetah under the bed. We laid with him for a while in exhaustion, and then we skipped his run to go to bed.

displaced

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Stretching the Upper Limit

Johnny called just as I got to work this morning, so I talked to him for a while. He actually knew quite a bit about Microsoft 365, so he can probably help me for a change. I had a fair bit of trouble focusing after that.

I went to Wendy’s for a late lunch, and grabbed some McDonald’s fries on the way back to eat in my office. It wasn’t very long after that when Eaddie texted that, “Hey so part of the ceiling may or may not have just fallen.” I don’t know why she would lead like that, but I eventually got some photos from her that showed the drywall leaning up against my irreplaceable 3D OLED TV.

Teisha told me to just go home since Joel was on a call, but I wanted to at least message him about it. He said the same, and I headed to the house. Eaddie and Eli were both there to see when it happened. The entire living room was coated in a thick layer of dust. Our fuzzy couch was completely covered. Everything was covered. My first priority was to get the drywall off of the TV. It was heavy, and I was completely astounded when the TV turned on without a shattered corner. It actually broke the drywall. I got some of that out, and then Dad came over to help the kids and me clean out as much of the insulation as we could.

We moved the most expensive stuff into the sunroom in case of further collapse, and then Dad and I went to his house to find some wood and a floor jack to get the rest of the drywall screwed up to the joists. It went better than I expected, but we still have a lot of work to do.

Summer got home after her doctor appointment for her knee. I was already irritated that I beat her home from my job in Morrilton, and that she couldn’t make our home a priority. Then she had the nerve to ask if I would support her quitting her job before finding new employment because she had a really bad day. I’d been telling her for YEARS to find something else and quit, and she always pushed back. So no. Hard, “NO.”

I was able to move the thermostat sensing to the bedroom so it wouldn’t just keep pumping air into the gaping living room. Then Muad’Dib and I left to run, and I went to my parents’ house to swim. Mom thought this all happened at the old house, but I told her it was at our new house.

We left once I was sufficiently cooled down, and got to the house before dark. Summer was in bed, and Eaddie had gone to Eli’s for dinner.

Shocking. Make lemonade.

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The Power to Automate

I felt less bad this morning. It was my day to try and complete some tasks, so I dug into block coding with Power Automate, sent off my fixed asset checklist, and at the end of the day, played with the Vuzix smartglasses that were given to me. I took a break in the middle of all that to get a Big Mac – my cheapest local meal that isn’t a dollar frozen burrito from the Walmart. The fries were really sad, so I stopped at Sonic on the way back for a dollar corndog.

I had an anxiety attack just as I was driving away from the office, so I let the car do its thing. Eaddie wanted to take Eli and Ceci to my parents’ house to swim, but Dad wanted me there as an adult to watch over them, so I changed clothes when I got to the house and rode Muad’Dib over on the Onewheel to meet them. Mom was actually home early too. I sat outside with the kids and dripped sweat after a while.

Mom said they still had fish soup, so I brought that in to heat up just as Eaddie said she was going to their house for dinner. Mom went out to water plants, so I ate alone and then finished my walk with the dog. He was pretty sluggish and we cut about a mile off our route.

It was recycle and trash duty when we got back. The kids stayed out late, and I tried to sleep early.

what if then else

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Plop Plop Fizz Fizz

I hadn’t felt super smurfy in the morning the past couple days. It was just slightly early for lunch when I decided to go to Walmart and get some meds, and then tempted fate with some Taco Bell before going back in. The rest of the afternoon was fine, and Joel came by to check in briefly. I’d probably feel better about how I’m doing if I couldn’t see the kind of stuff Brandon was doing before he left. I’ve got a bad case of imposter syndrome.

Traffic was nearly dead-stopped on the way home for the third time this month. I couldn’t tell what happened – only that there were two cop cars, separated by quite some distance. I finally made it through and Summer had dinner about ready when I got to the house.

Dad had come over to have someone quote fixing our sagging ceiling in the living room, and evidently they got into the attic and didn’t return the boxes in the garage to the correct place. When I pull in, I’m watching the cameras to see the sides and rear, so I ran right into a box that was left in the middle of the garage. I don’t think I broke anything, but I pushed it all the way forward into the bike rack that was in the floor and didn’t know until I got out.

The three of us had a good dinner. Summer made chicken-wrapped asparagus, mashed potatoes, and broccoli salad. I ate too much, and then started opening a bunch of Vine stuff. Ben called and we caught up for quite a while until it was cool enough to take Muad’Dib out for a run. He did pretty well, but got slow as usual due to the heat. We visited Mom, then made it home for the night.

I heard a rat in the kitchen, but the traps haven’t done anything for us. I’ve seen some poop around the dog food bowl, but I don’t know how else to get rid of them. They’re too smart for me.

The moon’s too heavy.

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This Feels Redundant

I had an anxiety attack at some point this morning that hit me pretty quickly, but I shook it off. My two big tasks for the day were to call Brandon and get access to the password manager he set up, and then reinstall the second firewall after hours.

I went to McDonald’s for a late lunch, and then had an episode of rapid heartrate and feeling a bit like I was going to pass out near the end of the day. Maybe I psyched myself out about making network changes without the benefit of cellular service in case something went wrong. I just breathed through it until I didn’t feel dizzy.

Bret from Ashton called right on time, and it was a pretty quick and easy job to get the firewall in place. I actually re-racked it to match the other one, instead of the other way around, since all the cables would be up front. I wasn’t paying attention to the time, and we actually started the process early. I thought I’d be staying late, but I actually finished about ten minutes before I normally leave.

I checked my blood pressure pretty high, but wasn’t feeling bad, so I headed home. They had locked me in, so I had to make my way out through the factory side. Eaddie had taken Muad’Dib to his vet appointment in the afternoon, and they were hanging out at home when I got there. Eli was there and then gone again to get some snacks for them. Summer got home from work and had to get cleaned up from her long day.

I took Muad’Dib for a casual run, then found Mom watering plants outside while Dad was at church for something. She offered some bánh ướt(?) inside, and though it was getting late, I was pretty hungry. Muad’Dib laid down in the laundry room like a good boy while I made my food, and then Dad got home just as I was running out the door.

We got home well after dark and Summer was in bed while the kids were watching TV.

able to be omitted without loss of meaning or function