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Tank You

I got up this morning and started making some fresh refried beans in the Instant Pot. They turned out a lot spicier than I expected, and I think I need to come up with a new recipe. They’re not bad, but they’re just not what I ever expect when they’re done.

Suzanne texted out of the blue and asked about a fish tank, so I told her she could come and get the 55 gallon from Summer’s. She showed up about two hours later than she said, which pressed the rest of our afternoon. Summer went to the gym and Autumn took Eaddie to Gavin’s for a day hike. I ended up going home to dig out the aquarium hoods and lights for Suzanne to eventually show up.

Summer was summoned to Conway to chat with some girls from work, so I let her take the Model 3 for practice and fuel savings. Then as soon as Suzanne and Trent left, I headed to my parents’ house to help Dad mend his fence.

The fence was in pretty rough shape, but I guess Dad’s just not ready to do much to it. We pieced it back together the best we could, and left the gate for another day. I headed back home, expecting Summer to be back about five hours earlier than she did. I took a shower and just killed time at the house until she got there, and then we got gas on the way to her house before going straight to bed.

No tanks.

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Band State of Mind

I woke up around four in the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. I dozed off a couple times for just a couple minutes, but nothing substantial. It was a wonder I didn’t drag harder throughout the day than I did. I ran home to clean up, and then Summer came down for our trip to Hot Springs. We stopped at Hardee’s for breakfast first, and then we were on our way in the Model 3.

I felt confident enough in our ability to find a charger that I didn’t even bother changing my charge limit. We left with 90% and got to the convention center with right around 60%. I started off testing autopilot on the curves, but quickly gave up because it made me nervous, and I enjoy driving through the curves anyway. Once we got to The Hotel Hot Springs, the parking garage had a few Tesla destination chargers available. I parked next to an older red Model 3 Performance, which was kind of cool. Unfortunately the Sentry Mode never caught them leaving, so I never got to see who was driving it.

Eaddie was evidently staying at the Embassy Suites on the opposite end of the convention center, but we didn’t learn that until we had waited a few minutes in the wrong lobby. We finally found her, stowed her belongings in the bus, and then made our way inside to watch the concerts. We ran into Reece and Christina inside, and chatted with them for a bit. Summer wanted to watch some of the choirs, but they went on the same time as the other bands, so we had to switch auditoriums and spent the rest of the day in the arena.

The orchestra was actually pretty awful. Eaddie figured it was mostly the acoustics, but I was pretty sure it was the average skill level. The non-string instruments simply didn’t know how to play when they weren’t the majority. There was an immediately noticeable improvement with the concert band, but the one to beat was the smaller wind symphony, in which Eaddie played. They did a fantastic job, and I hated that we had to fight the cold and the harsh lighting fatigue just to watch them.

After the show, I got the car and picked up the girls. We were hungry for something uniquely out-of-town, but Eaddie just wanted a hamburger. That was when I remembered seeing an A&W on Google maps, so we made our way across town only to be disappointed to learn it was built into a gas station. In spite of the location and the completely over-it staff, the food was actually really good. The burgers tasted fresh and held together well. The sriracha cheese curds were a nice surprise. The root beer was phenomenal as always. It just made me want to sell everything and open one myself.

By the time we finished, Eaddie was ready to head home. We made it downtown, and the girls needed a restroom, so I stopped to get water while they took care of that down the block. Then we made it home in a flash. Eaddie apparently outgrew getting car sick, so I probably lost more money due to rubber on the road than what I saved by only having to pay for fuel to drive one way.

It was a quick run for beds once everyone got back home. I fought sleep long enough to get my own chores done, and then I was down for the night.

I got the powah!

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Class Class

Our Friday morning meeting was about Google Classroom, and though we’ll probably never need any of what we learned, it was kind of fun to tinker with everyone. It certainly lightened the mood after the past couple days. Afterward, I just dug right back into the folder permissions for Adobe. Ryan came by a couple times and rattled off a bunch of stuff that was way over my head, and eventually I understood a small percentage of it.

Lunch time came by pretty quickly, and Zach, Gary, Greg, and I went to Brangus. I went with the chicken fried steak this time, for something surprisingly lighter, or at least smaller. Eating half of a beef spud would probably be a better deal though.

The afternoon was more or less kind of quiet. Jacob hung out in my office for a little bit near the end of the day, but not for any reason other than a place to sit. When we left work, I stopped by Superfast to find Summer still working. She said she would leave at noon, but ended up staying until about 6:30. Typical.

We were going to get gas on the way back to her house, but she didn’t get her discount code in time. We went to Zaxby’s for dinner instead, and then went home. It was early to bed in preparation for our Hot Springs trip tomorrow to see Eaddie in her first all-state band concert. It’ll be a fun drive in the Model 3.

Yes Yes

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Too Stressed Three Me

I went to bed really early, but it was still a really rough night of tossing and turning. I went in to the office and mostly stayed quiet in my room, trying to solve the puzzles they pay me to solve. Tammy sent me to the main office to set up a scanner, and I happened to catch up to Gary on the walk over. He lent a hand, and then chatted with me about the witch hunt on the way back to the shop.

Zach had been out of the office most of the morning, but came back for lunch. He, Gary, and I went to Foodies, which was tasty but extremely slow to present our meals. Zach had never been, so it was a nice change to try something different.

In the afternoon, I finally got around to talking to Thomas about what happened on Monday, and he seemed upset that I didn’t specifically incriminate myself in writing. I just explained to him that I didn’t see any other way out of it, and that this kind of documentation is never going to be used to benefit me. I sent the email, and then worked out the day as productively as I could.

After work, I stopped for a cold and windy car wash before going by Superfast to visit Summer. Then I stopped by her wash to vacuum out my car. I thought I’d go by my parents’ house, but never made it. Instead, I backed up some videos from Sentry Mode on my car and tried to relax at home.

Summer had a meeting at the ATCC that ran a bit late, but I met her up at her house when she finished. We ate some leftovers, and then I had already taken care of most of my nightly tasks, so it was easy to get to bed.

If you’re going to believe every off-the-cuff remark I make, your mother’s got some explaining to do.

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Nothing Happened

Gary came by early this morning and told me to go spend the day with Kyle. I actually had quite a bit to do, so this was pretty frustrating to hear. I still barely made it over to the junior high before lunch, because I got stuck trying to get a signature pad working for support services, and then had to run by Crawford to pick up some headphones and, bizarrely, try and help Kevin set up an aim bot for Call of Duty.

When I actually caught up with Kyle, he seemed to be more or less under control. I expected him to have a bunch of nonsense backed up, but it was mostly repairs and he didn’t really need my help with anything. He suggested Quiznos for lunch, but I ended up going back to the shop to pick up a crew for Wendy’s instead.

I went back to the junior high after lunch, but kept having to field high school questions from Jacob. He was clearly frustrated by devices not behaving with SCCM as he expected, but we’ve just been such a revolving door that there’s not much history at the high school after I left the building.

I finally made it back to the office at the end of the day, but then Thomas walked into my dark room and asked me about what happened with Zach after work the other day. I told him I felt terrible, and he seemed sympathetic, but like he was still caught in a position of having to file paperwork. He asked me to email him my side of the story, and I spent the rest of the night fretting over how not to incriminate myself or anyone else. I figure it’s none of anyone’s business what happens after work.

Eaddie had walked to my house to ride her bike, but she was back home by the time I made it there. We left for her house and stopped at Sonic for some cheese sticks along the way. Then I made them burritos for dinner, and drank mine. Autumn came home nonchalantly after an alleged study night at the mall. Eaddie went to bed early for all-state over the next couple days, and Summer was in bed by her usual, early time. I managed to make it to bed over two hours early myself.

Ignorance is bliss.

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Caught Between Two Cranks

It was rainy again for most of today, but I spent most of it in my office working on some Adobe troubles. It seemed really quiet otherwise, aside from a couple walks to the Support Services building. We had our usual Taco Tuesday, where a couple of the maintenance guys had beat us there. Then we saw Melinda and Matt come in as we were leaving.

I wasn’t much more successful in the afternoon, and it dragged on a little bit until quitting time. Summer said she should be out of work by five, so I thought we could visit with Mom and possibly take them to dinner. When I got to Superfast, she said she still had some work to do and that Eaddie changed her mind about going to a basketball game.

By the time I made it to Eaddie, she had changed her mind about three times, and then wanted us to take her to New China with Gavin. We were alright with that plan, but then the restaurant was closed and we wound up at Stoby’s.

We eventually made it to my parents’ house, but Mom was dozing on the couch, not feeling well. We made it to my house to trade vehicles, and then up to Summer’s where everyone wound down super fast. Autumn was out late with her boyfriend, and I called her out for parking on the opposite side of the campus during the game. I didn’t want to be up when she made it home, so I wrapped up quickly and hit the hay.

The problem is, we’re much smarter than you.

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Dent See That Coming

I didn’t sleep super well last night, but I made it in to work a little early anyway. It felt like there was more traffic than usual, but I couldn’t tell why. I dawdled a little bit, but I didn’t seem to be the only one. Then I made my way to Crawford to close out a ticket there. I only had about an hour to kill until lunch by the time I got back to the shop.

I considered not going, but felt hungrier as the minutes ticked down to 11:30, and we went to La Chiquita. Their lunch fajitas are only seven bucks on Monday, so it’s hard to beat. Then I tried to stay busy for the rest of the afternoon. Right at the end of the day, Ryan started questioning me about our imaging task sequence, and I almost felt embarrassed. I bounce between projects so often, and it’d been quite a while since I’ve actually done anything with it. As soon as the clock hit 4:30, he was ready to run out the door though.

Zach and Greg were outside talking to the maintenance guys when I left, so I pulled over to chat. I bumped up into Zach a little by accident, and in turn he stumbled and sat on my hood, which surprisingly pushed in a little spot right above the emblem. I didn’t even believe them at first when they said it was dented, but eventually I caught the right light and I could see it. It shouldn’t be anything to push back out, but I felt incredibly stupid for it.

Eaddie had left her phone at home, so when I finished chatting with them, I went up to get it for her. I thought I’d be picking her up from robotics to take her to her grandparents’ house, but she changed her mind on account of homework. Instead, Summer brought her home. Then the two of us went to my parents’ house for some grilled pork chops and noodles.

Mom wasn’t feeling great, so she was on the couch for most of the time we were there. We chatted with Dad for a while though. We finally got back to my house to swap cars, and then headed up to the girls for the night. Eaddie was stressing a bit over Valentine’s day, but that didn’t last long.

Once Autumn and Summer went to bed, Eaddie and I watched an episode of Breaking Bad. I’ve been getting hyped up for what comes next, but we haven’t had time to watch very much. At least now I have a lead into the spinoffs.

Just improvise!

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Get Grounded

I got up this morning and grilled little burritos for everyone. Autumn of course only ate half of hers, since it had more than beans and cheese in it. Afterward, Summer made it to the gym. I should have left right away, because then I could have avoided Autumn asking permission to go out to eat dinner with their father. I felt like she was scheming as usual, so I left it up to Summer.

When I got home, I started pulling switches apart and climbing up into the attic to trace wires. There was only one line of Romex coming into the garage light switch, and it went straight up to the light, which then went to either western outlet. This confused me, because I couldn’t find where it went back to the breaker box. After some poking around, I figured the northwest outlet went to the outside light and then up to the breaker.

Summer showed up for a bit, and I showed her what I was working on. Then she left and Dad came over to help. We continued poking around the outlets and eventually pulled three unconnected ground wires out of the north outside light switch. With them disconnected, I have absolutely no idea how the outlet ever worked at all for charging my car. If it was never ever grounded, then it should have always failed.

Once we had that all patched up and at least reporting correct, we moved inward. Most of the outlets inside the house reported some kind of issue, either with an open ground, or voltage where there should be none. We did a bit of trial and error, but never actually got anything fixed. It did make me feel quite a bit better about doing the work ourselves, though. It shouldn’t be terribly difficult to fix it all ourselves. The trick is to not wait until it’s hot.

Eventually Dad headed home and I went back to Summer’s for the evening. The girls went out for dinner, so Summer warmed up some leftovers for us. When the girls got back, we had to get on to Autumn for talking back and sneaking around with Adam, who she took to dinner with their father. It’s clear she’s still manipulating information, but that entire side of the family is TA.

Summer and I watched a bit of YouTube comedy for a bit, and then I took a shower to get some of the grime off of me before bed. I’d love to get a good night of sleep for once.

Srsly, YTA, literally, no cap.

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Not Grounded

Both of the girls had school stuff today, so Summer and I had the day to ourselves. Autumn left to help at an away robotics tournament, and Summer had to get Eaddie to the high school for all-state band in Conway. She wanted to go to the movies, and we couldn’t decide whether to go here or in Conway. Eaddie thought she might finish super early and be bored all day, so we leaned toward Conway, then to go here, and ultimately not go to the movies at all.

I went home and climbed up into the attic to investigate wiring. It looked like both of my wall outlets in question went straight up to the outlet above the garage door opener. It showed to be an open ground as well, and I could trace it back to right around the light switch. It may be a super easy repair after all.

By the time I got cleaned up and ready to go out, Summer just wanted to stay in. I pressed her, and we met at Shell for gas before going to Colton’s for an early dinner. I didn’t think I overstuffed myself, but I felt super full the rest of the evening. We came home and she watched TV on the couch and then in bed until she fell asleep.

Eaddie ended up making sixth chair in the first band, so we were pretty pleased with her. Once they got home, we wound down pretty quickly. Eaddie had a bit to chat about, and then it was off to bed.

It’s like it has its own field of McGravity.

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Soggy Fries From the Burger Guys

Our meeting was a little unconventional today, with furniture moved and Thomas coming in a bit late with the donuts. Gary left to get some, but I called him back to the shop as soon as Thomas showed up. After our chat, I had questions for Gary about our firewall failure earlier in the week, and Ryan had input. I can tell there’s a lot of opportunity to learn from both of those guys just by sitting in the room.

I closed a bunch of old tickets throughout the day, and it was nice to be rid of them. We left for lunch at CJ’s about half an hour early in three vehicles, and it was a good thing because two busloads of kids showed up right behind us. I was really surprised when the girl at the register remembered that I usually get all of the extra grilled toppings. I skipped them today, because I knew I would already be paying twelve bucks for a burger that was in no way special at all. The fries were pretty awful today, too.

A little while after lunch, I had to run home on the way to Crawford, where I closed out a few more tickets before school let out. Then the remainder of the workday was pretty quiet with Thomas out. Brody stopped by to chat with us, and then I headed on home.

I went straight to Summer’s after I changed, and started cooking some taco meat for burritos. Autumn was at a basketball game, so the three of us enjoyed a quick dinner and then started watching Breaking Bad. We had to call Autumn home after she ended up at her boyfriend’s house after the game. Then I think we finished three episodes before Eaddie decided she was ready for a bath and then bed.

The whole thing’s contaminated!