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Forced Urgency

I was a couple minutes late to work this morning for some reason, and I walked in to the team talking about going to all of the schools to cut laptop chargers out of the carts so the kids could take them home. It was an unnecessary reaction to a threat of inclement weather because they didn’t have the forethought to make a plan.

I rode with Zach and Travis to Sequoyah, Oakland, and Center Valley where we met with Kyle and Jacob to complete the work. We didn’t actually remove chargers, but we cut zip ties to make it easier for the teachers, who ranged from unfazed to absolutely panicked.

That took most of the morning, and then Thomas took Zach, Greg, and me to Quiznos for lunch. Afterward, we met back up and went over a chat support system that Thomas had implemented in case we could work from home. A little later, Tammy was worried about verifying inventory for some touch panels we received a week or two ago, so Zach and I went to the maintenance warehouse and talked to Chris for a bit, and then counted our touch panels.

School let out a couple hours early, which really wasn’t necessary for the precipitation we had. Instead of having an AMI day with all of the newly liberated devices, administration decided it was best to just call Tuesday an inclement weather day that would have to be made up at the end of the year. It would seem that AMI days should always be used first, since we have them, but I guess not everyone was prepared for that.

I made it home and loaded up to go to Summer’s for the evening. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to burn a sick day for what probably should have been given to us regardless. Summer was feeling much better, and quite chatty. Then I settled in for some Breaking Bad with Eaddie until bedtime.

They have an incredible talent for making things much worse than they have to be.

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Sleepy Sunday

Summer made corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast this morning, and then everyone disappeared to their rooms while Summer either watched TV or fell asleep on the couch. I bounced around a little bit, and broke out my Steam Deck to play a little Don’t Starve for a bit, but it didn’t last long.

Autumn left to go shopping with her grandparents while the rest of us collectively rolled our eyes at their enabling her generally being a shitty human. She’s absolutely insufferable, and we’re all tired of feeling guilty for thinking so.

I cleaned up most of the stuff for spring rolls for the remaining three of us for dinner, and then Eaddie and I watched some more Breaking Bad until bed.

VapoGrease

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You’ve Gotta Be Shirtin Me

I woke up to a call from Thomas this morning, and apparently the robotics tournament was completely offline with a lot of cranky people. I got around and headed home in case he needed a hand, but he said he got things going, so I started some laundry.

I finished all of six loads for a total of 75 shirts washed before I made it back up to Summer’s. I got a few other things cleaned up as well, and then Summer made spring rolls for dinner. They turned out pretty good for her first time, and Eaddie enjoyed them as well. Autumn was gone to a school dance for most of the evening.

As bedtime grew near, Eaddie and I decided to start Breaking Bad as we waited for Autumn to get home. She tried to stay out later after leaving the dance early, and claimed to make it home half an hour late because she fell asleep at Adam’s house. I had no interest in listening to her excuses, but our second episode was nearly done anyway. Then it was off to bed.

Absolute Parasite

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Middle Bots

We didn’t have a meeting this morning because the whole-ly trinity was out. I kept getting pulled into various things, but eventually made it to Dwight and back. Kyle was the only one that showed up to the shop to eat, so I took him to Ridgewood and we made it in and out in just barely an hour again. In the afternoon, I had to spend some time at the junior high to take care of a few work orders, but I never made it to any laptop repairs. Kyle may be in for a shock when he gets moved.

At the end of the day, I had to meet Jeff at the middle school to help set up for a robotics tournament. They were super unprepared and just plain ignorant about what needed to be done, so we spent most of the time standing around while the guy putting on the tournament was running around setting up physical equipment. We eventually got a couple network lines down the length of the gym, and we decided to call it a day.

As soon as I got home, Thomas texted to ask about the setup, and then asked me to go back to help them install some software. That turned into a multi-hour ordeal, but eventually Ethan showed up with some answers. I still didn’t leave until eight.

I ran by my parents’ house to drop off some sweet rice, and then headed back home to try and start some laundry. I gave up after sorting, and decided to start the actual washing tomorrow. Instead, I headed up to Summer’s for the evening. She was still sick in bed. I beat the girls home from a basketball game, and then Autumn came into the bedroom to yell about being angry at Eaddie. Eaddie, of course, came in and calmly defended herself. Both parties seemed to carry fault, but Autumn just makes it so hard for us to feel any sympathy for her. After that, everyone was pretty much straight off to bed.

Middle Bitch.

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Post Snow

The office was really quiet today, but the building techs seemed to be working in their buildings. Greg and I chatted for a little bit throughout the day, which was more than usual. I was pretty busy all day, just from working on random things that kept coming to me. When lunch time came around, it was just Thomas and me and I convinced him to try Ridgewood in the hour we had.

We made it through the line in a little under 40 minutes, which meant we made it back to work right on time. Considering we’ve been late for worse food, I thought it was a fair deal. When we got back to the shop, I went across the street to install some RAM for Joseph, and then spent the rest of the afternoon downstairs.

Summer stayed home sick, so after work I went to Linh’s to get her some soup and spring rolls. Eaddie shared a recording of a ridiculous argument she had with Autumn in the morning, and we collectively rolled our eyes in solidarity. Then Summer and I watched some Modern Family until bedtime.

But our princess is in another castle!

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Psych!

I felt super sick to the stomach after I went to bed last night, but I slept pretty horribly. After just a few short hours of sleep, I got up and showered so we could get some breakfast before we had to get across town for Summer’s appointment. The hotel breakfast was about standard for what I’ve become accustomed to considering an upscale continental breakfast, but I’m not sure I’d consider it a “full breakfast” as advertised.

The trip across Little Rock wasn’t too bad, and the written directions were a great help. We made it underground and then back up to the parking garage, and upstairs into the psychiatric wing. We didn’t have to wait very long to get back, and the first part of the appointment was a bit more like therapy than I was expecting. Afterward, he had a bunch of tests for Summer to do that would take a couple more hours, so I had to get lost. I ran to the deli to get her some snacks, and then ended up in the car for a while. I thought Ben might be able to entertain me, but that didn’t pan out. Instead, I just sat in the car while it did a software update.

Eventually I started to feel a little ill being cramped up again, so I went back inside for the rest of the time. My phone was enough to keep me entertained, and eventually they came back out. The whole meet was way less formal than a normal doctor visit, so it was interesting. Hopefully it’ll help motivate Summer to take better care of her mental health.

We headed straight back to Conway, where Summer had to stop and work for a bit. We moved some stuff between cars, and then I headed toward home. Just past Plumerville, I ran into a dead stop in traffic on the interstate. Evidently there was a large semi wreck way ahead, and they just closed a large portion of the interstate between Morrilton and Blackwell. I ended up stopping at the first Morrilton exit once I got there, and had a Happy Meal before taking Highway 64 back to Blackwell.

As soon as I got home, I quickly unpacked and then met Summer at Shell for some gas. Then she went to Popeye’s for dinner while I headed up to the girls. She wasn’t terribly far behind me, and everyone had a little to eat before bed. Eaddie was up trying to get help with science homework, but I was exhausted from multiple nights of very poor sleep, so I made it to bed super early.

Shut It Down

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Make a Splash

I got up extra early this morning and made it home to clean up and pack so I could pick up Summer in Conway. We headed straight to the new Splash on Chenal in Little Rock, and tried to navigate through the enormous facility to find where help was needed. Summer would be giving tours in the evening, along with just about everyone else. Then afterward, we would have the evening to party.

I got a bit aggravated by being a bump on a log, but I didn’t have a place to be or a thing to do. Eventually we were released because the fire marshal had arrived, but we quickly discovered that he had actually blocked us in. We hung around for quite a while as a few other brave souls squeaked by. I wasn’t willing to risk it, but by the time it would have been our turn, a couple of the guys came out and moved their trucks.

I had been pretty hungry, and it was already lunch time, so we went around the block to eat at Chuy’s, which is always delicious. I figured a big lunch would last through a long evening of hors d’oeuvres. Then we stopped at the fanciest Kroger I’ve ever seen for a bit before heading to the hotel, where we parked and charged for a couple hours before we could check in. I found the outtakes video of Bo Burnham’s Inside on Netflix, so I watched that while Summer kicked back to relax. I got a little restless and super tired, so as soon as we could check in, I made some coffee and we relaxed a while.

The rain had started to get a little clumpy, but we never really saw any substantial ice or snow. We made it back to the wash, and I parked inside next to a single charge station that wasn’t actually activated, nor did it have a connector I could use, even with the adapter I had. The Jeep that was there previously had been replaced with a Model X from a used car dealer. I popped the frunk and presented a bottle of V8 for comedy, which seemed to be a big hit.

I was impressed at how many people showed up in spite of the rain. It was quite the shindig, and it was incredible how much money they had poured into not only the facility, but to the single event night. It really does seem like a money laundering scheme.

We stayed super late, but it was a pretty good time. I got pretty restless, but Summer enjoyed interacting with the other employees she rarely sees. We finally made it back to the hotel, where she crashed pretty quickly. I relaxed in a bath for a bit, and eventually made it there myself.

VTEC TYPE-R SPONSORED BY REDBULL

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Nailed It

It was relatively quiet at work today, but I kept pretty busy. Jacob was looking for answers for Adobe, but I still had none. After a little while, I ended up running to the high school to pick up some depot kits from him. He had completely rearranged the office in a way that didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but I guess it kept him out of the line of sight. I would find it aggravating to walk around all of the shelving when trying to image all of the devices.

When lunch time came around, I took Thomas and Zach to Popeye’s, where Greg met up with us. On the way, I noticed my tire pressure was dropping pretty rapidly, but figured I would patch the tire after lunch. I had just finished eating and Greg still had food left when Zach wanted to run back to work to check on a switch that may have been down. I wasn’t convinced that it was, but he pushed the urgency. We stopped for air since I was down under 20PSI, and made it back to the shop.

After getting settled in a bit, I loaded up some stuff and went to Superfast to see if Justin could get me a better deal on patching the tire. He had me park next door, and then I waited in the Superfast lobby for a while before going back to wait in Hindsman’s. The whole ordeal took about an hour, and I was out for about 25 bucks, so it wasn’t too bad. What upset me was the fact that they replaced my factory valve stem cap with a bright silver one, but I didn’t notice until after I got back to work. I called them and then took a trip back to try and find it, but when the guy came out with a handful of generic black ones, I knew it was pointless. I know it seems ridiculous, but I feel like tire shops just love stealing OEM caps. It makes no sense.

I stopped by Dwight after that, and took care of a few work orders, including a months-old one for a new microphone in the saferoom. It took me a bit to figure out what the manual was showing me, but I got the thing paired and working.

Thomas had me deploy some iPad software when I got back to the shop, just in case we send kids home for inclement weather later this week. I don’t really see it, but I guess a bunch of people are panicked and already sending devices home as “practice.” I finally left when it was time to get Eaddie from her PSAT tutoring, and we went home so I could pack for our overnight trip to Little Rock for Summer’s VIP night and subsequent neuropsychologist appointment.

When we got to their house, I spent the evening shopping for hotels with EV chargers. The new wash on Chenal is supposed to have one, so I should be topped off when we leave there, but I’ll still want to keep it topped off overnight for a stress-free trip home.

Seriously, take the cap off, do the work, and put the cap back on. Why are these guys so bad at this?

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Năm Mới

Summer had to go to Morrilton this morning, so I had her take me home first. I spent some time picking up around the house a bit before getting a shower. Then I met her and the girls at CiCi’s for lunch. Autumn was going shopping afterward, so Summer took Eaddie home while I went to visit my parents for the lunar new year.

After hanging out for a bit, I went back home and stopped to see Bác Vân for a bit. She hasn’t been able to talk to Bác Trần on her iPad for some reason, but he was at the temple and unable to troubleshoot with us. She gave me some sweet rice, and then I headed back up to Summer’s for the evening.

Eaddie and Summer were watching a crime show, so I gave them some sweet rice and sat with them for a while. Then the girls went to their rooms early. I laid with Summer for a while until Autumn finally got home from shopping. Then I dawdled on the computer a bit before doping up and heading to bed really early.

The rabbit, you say?

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Region 9

I woke up in the middle of the night, unable to get back to sleep for a couple of hours. I sat up on the couch for a little while, which helped a bit. When I finally got back to sleep, I slept through Summer going in to work and then the girls going to All-Region clinic. I finally got around just before Summer got home, and then we started prepping for dinner. I made coleslaw, and she made potato salad. The slaw was way easier. Finally, we got the ribs into the oven and I headed home.

Summer eventually picked me up, and we went to the arts center where my dad and her parents were already waiting. Eaddie had made first band, first chair, and Autumn beat the only other bass clarinet that tried out, but didn’t make all-region at all. Both bands were pretty good, but Eaddie was bored with the whole event on account of easy music. A couple of the songs were repeats from band camp.

After the concert, we headed home for dinner. Autumn brought her boyfriend over, who said he had never eaten ribs before. He didn’t even try any of the sides we made, so it was a bit weird. Eaddie spent the rest of the evening in her room while Summer and I hung out in the living room for a bit before retiring to the bedroom and making Autumn and Adam come out of her bedroom. Once his father picked him up, everyone was off to sleep.

A good sniff.