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HAM on Ham

I went to bed pretty late last night, and then didn’t sleep in very long. I think I already knew I wasn’t going to get much done, and it didn’t feel great. When I got up, I picked at things in the fridge and eventually went home to clean up.

Summer had her store’s Christmas party, and made deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, and a ham. I was just a bystander, running late. I got my shower and came back to pick up Eaddie and the ham, then made it to the shop at a fair time considering when others were strolling in. It wasn’t a full turnout, which I considered disappointing.

We ate, cleaned up, and then went back up to their house.l I didn’t stick around too long, and came back home to do some chores. I started a load of laundry, and then had another annoying argument with Julie over nothing. I never know how these things start. It’s as though her existence breeds conflict. Dad mentioned that Julie didn’t appreciate the “Miss” prefix that Summer often casually attaches to people when she addresses them.

It’s really just not worth the effort to try any more, and I’m done with the excuses and the blame game. I finished my laundry, had a bunch to drink, watched some YouTube, and went to bed.

The backlash to the backlash to the thing that’s just begun.

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People That Clap at Movies

I kept waking up last night as though I was completely full of water. I couldn’t even really sleep in very late because of it. The girls were already awake, so I got up and picked at some old leftovers. Then when Summer and Autumn went to the gym, I left to clean up.

On the way home, I stopped by Ridgewood Brothers to see if they might be free to see The Matrix Resurrections with Mitch and me next week. It didn’t sound very likely, but I had to try. Gary never responded either, until I called him out on it late in the evening.

When I finished getting ready at home, I went to pick up the girls and we made our way to Conway. They really wanted to eat on our trip, so we went to Red Robin first and had some pretty good burgers. I still don’t really think they’re worth the prices they charge, but at least it’s something a little different.

After lunch, we went to Sam’s Club for a bit, then Target. That place was absolutely packed and it was pretty difficult to get around the place. The checkout line stretched back to the cosmetics, but fortunately we pushed a cart around for absolutely no reason and bought nothing. By then, we didn’t have time to dawdle on the way through traffic to the theater.

The Cinemark was packed as well, with several theaters showing the new Spider-Man: No Way Home. We got snacks, sat down, and then I got up for more popcorn just in time to make it back before the previews. The movie was pretty good, but didn’t really have many surprises after all the rumors and spoilers that have been going around. I enjoyed it, and so did the rest of the room as evidenced by the constant clapping any time a character returned. I was pretty disappointed in the 3D, mostly because of the darkness of the projector. I guess I’ll have to just prioritize the large format screens from now on.

When we got back home, Summer and Autumn went to bed pretty quickly. Eaddie and I stayed up and watched several episodes of House, so we’ve only got three more episodes to go.

Planning with adults is stupid. Families are much easier, because they can’t leave.

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Back From the Grave

When I got to work this morning, Jacob had gotten everyone stockings with candy. It was a really nice surprise, since he’s always actively avoided going to lunch with any of us. After a bit of chat about what projects we had to do over the break, everyone split up and I poked at some stuff in my office. After a little while, I went upstairs to find some Chromebooks to temporarily deploy at Oakland, just so I could remove the 95 or so devices that were too old to receive security updates.

Gary came up to help me, and we got about half of the Chromebooks I needed. Then most of us went to the junior high, where we were invited to join their staff lunch. The food was surprisingly good, and it was nice to see a bunch of the people over there that I don’t see any more.

After lunch and chatting with Kevin a while, we made it back to the shop and I went back out to finish up my Chromebook project. The afternoon took much longer, because for some reason a lot of the devices had to install two or three updates instead of just one. Fortunately Gary came out to help again after a while, and though I had to work a little later than our early quitting time, I got it all done.

I went home until it was time to pick up Summer for my work Christmas party, and then we made it to Nonna Bella’s for dinner. They just gave us an entire side of the restaurant and we, perhaps foolishly, pushed all of the tables into one big, long table. The boot we were sat in was the most awkward because of the size difference with the other tables, but we made it work. It was a really good time, and even Jacob showed up. Kyle, on the other hand, was gone all day to visit his parents and didn’t make it to dinner. Josh was out sick too, but everyone else made it.

When we got back to the house, Summer went to bed and Eaddie and I watched a couple episodes of House before bed. We’ve got about a third of the last season left, and then it’s off to the next show.

No more Spider-Spoilers!

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Indistinguishable From Child Labor

I stopped by Casey’s this morning for a honey bun, and spent the morning listening to the Kmart holiday reel-to-reel from 1973. It was otherwise pretty quiet again, especially since we’ve had several people out sporadically.

We went to Sam’s for lunch, and the gumbo seemed much more liquidy than usual. It tasted alright, but I think it’s been better. When we finished, I spent the better part of the afternoon at Oakland taking care of a few things. I got to spend quite a while with kindergarten, which are some of my favorite teachers. It’s like everyone else loves their kids for the most part, but in kindergarten, they’re just over it and they’re not afraid who knows it.

When I got back to the shop, I took a break to do some tinkering and soldering on a ground loop isolator that I wanted to use somewhere. Kyle had to hold the board for me while I worked the soldering iron, which meant that it took two grown men to do what one small Chinese kid can do. That pretty well got us to the end of the day, so I headed home and waited for Summer to get there.

We ended up going to Brangus for our anniversary dinner, and I wish it had been better. The onion blossom was small and overcooked, and my steak was overcooked and kind of sandy. At least Summer enjoyed hers. She watched some TV while I did a load of laundry when we got back, and then it was a relatively early bedtime.

For your convenience, smoking is permitted in the snackbar area only.

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Ring Bell for Service

I got up a few minutes early this morning so I could swing by McDonald’s for Mariah’s daily deal. At this point, I’m not even surprised at what I’ll do for random free swag. Unfortunately, the McChicken Biscuit and cinnamon roll were both pretty terrible. The Egg McMuffins and McGriddles are about the only halfway decent breakfast foods there. I stopped by Casey’s for a free water on the way home as well.

Work was quiet again, on account of the impending break. It feels like everything has slowed down, and I’ve been having trouble staying motivated. I just dawdled on a Chromebook issue for most of the morning, and then a group of us went to Taco Bell for lunch.

The drive-through line was out to the road, but there was only one person inside the restaurant. There didn’t appear to be anyone to take orders, so the guys lined up at the kiosks to order. I placed my order in the app on my phone, but it wasn’t until everyone else had received their food that I realized my order went to the wrong restaurant. I tried to cancel it and re-order, but when I tapped to cancel, it said my order was being made. I never even saw anything about checking in, so I don’t know how that happened, but I had to drive across town to get my food. Fortunately we took two vehicles, so Greg took everyone else back to the shop.

When I got to the other Taco Bell, someone else had taken my food off the counter, so I had to ask them to remake it. Then I sat alone and ate my food, basically hating everything for it. It really took me back in time. When I finished, I went back to the shop for a bit before ending the day at Oakland.

I didn’t stay home for long though, since the girls were actually home early. I went to Lowe’s to pick up a graham cracker house that I ordered a few days ago and kept forgetting. Then I went up to Summer’s and ate a little bit of leftovers. Everyone else went off to bed pretty early, so I watched the Amazon Video special on William Shatner going to space with Blue Origin. Then I killed time until bed.

Will security please report to Section 3? Security to Section 3, please?

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Doldrumly

The girls had me a little behind this morning, but I made it to work on time. It was pretty quiet all day long, and I think everyone was a bit bored around the shop. It’s odd that we have some techs with so many older work orders, and Zach has been struggling to inspire them.

I met Greg and the Trifecta at Old South for lunch, where I go the Reuben on a rushed whim. It was good, but didn’t seem to have any sauce on it, and the corned beef tasted a little bit old. Otherwise it was an awkwardly quiet lunch.

Afterward, I went by Oakland for a while and returned to the shop with an armful of Chromebooks. I fixed one, couldn’t find an issue with the second, and didn’t have a resolution for the third. Quitting time came slowly, but then snuck up on me at the last minute.

I ran home to change and get the crutches, then went to my parents’ house to see them for a bit. Mom cracked the bone right above her ankle and was in a boot, but was still spirited enough to argue about things that nobody cared about, and already agreed upon.

When I left there, I decided to go up to Summer’s for the evening. She was wrapping presents and the girls were doing late night chores after being away from home, and otherwise being lazy. Autumn expressed frustration and a feeling of unfairness about who went to New York on the band trip, and I wasn’t having any of it, knowing how little she practices. I remember how bad she is at squawking the clarinet. She earned nothing, and I was ready to fight about it.

Everyone went off to bed pretty quickly after that. I hadn’t slept very much all week, so it was as good a time as any to start.

I’ll show you attitude.

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You Worry Me to Death

I was a little early toward work this morning, so I stopped at Casey’s for a free coffee that put me behind by a couple minutes. I slid into my office with an awkward number of people in the shop area, but nobody was bothered to say anything. Otherwise it was pretty quiet. I never even heard from Brody except for when lunch time came around. Kyle spent the morning and afternoon trying to take his A+ test in Zach’s old office, but they could never get the webcam to work through our firewall.

Five of us went to Wendy’s for lunch, and I tried to take it a bit light with a chili and a little more than half of a salad. After lunch, I spent some time at Oakland, and then made it back to the shop to pick at a few things.

The end of the day came up pretty quickly, so I stopped by Oakland to drop off a laptop on the way home. Julie called me just as I got in, and I was on the phone with her for over an hour. I did my best to shut my thought processes down and just sit and listen. I couldn’t do anything else that required much thought and still effectively listen, so I ended up cleaning my old shrimp tank.

The girls showed up once they had finished at their house, and Eaddie got to studying. Autumn said she needed to study something very lightly, but then went straight to bed and watched TV. Eaddie at least watched her study videos and then confirmed that it was all stuff over which she felt comfortable testing.

I filed some more paperwork, and then Eaddie and I ended the night with two really good episodes of House, followed by one that was kind of back to normal with the procedural drama. I get enough of that on TV. I don’t need any more by surprise.

The universe really doesn’t care.

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Room Full of Losers

Autumn was up before me this morning, and kept banging around and yelling at the cats, so I couldn’t sleep in. Summer got up and made a couple eggs for a light breakfast, and then I continued my game of Don’t Starve until I eventually died from a spider bite.

All three of the girls went to the gym today. I stayed and ate a little more food before going home to clean up. Summer and I had to go to their company Christmas party in Little Rock, so the girls went to spend some time with their grandparents.

I picked Summer up and we headed out of town. We got to the Westwind School of Performing Arts, which appeared to be, at least in the dark, nestled right into the back of a relatively low-class neighborhood. The building was pretty nice, with more room than the place we went to a couple of years ago.

There were enough people there, trying to eat in some form of orderly fashion, that those that went first were done eating well before the last groups got up to get their food. They also decided to draw tickets for a single grand prize, but by eliminating people periodically throughout the night. Not only did it take longer, but also served as a method for management to call everyone a loser. I suppose the desired result was to give the last five standing the opportunity to split the $500 worth of gift cards, but they opted for all-or-nothing instead.

I made it through Christmas trivia and into the second round of Splash-specific trivia, but lost there on account of not being aware of anything relating to the company. We left as soon as they wrapped things up and made it home to a house of sleeping children, so we didn’t waste any time ourselves.

At least there was “food?”

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P is for Parked

I woke up an hour earlier than a workday today so we could get Summer to Little Rock for her exercise event. I still felt pretty sour from last night, but I made it work. We stopped to get breakfast from McDonald’s in Conway, and I just ate mine once we got to Little Rock.

It was a really small crowd of people there. In fact, it was only five teams of five competing. I dropped Summer off and went to Kroger for some bottled water and a bathroom, and then went back and waited for five hours for them to finish. I took the time to test my Pixel Buds battery life some more, and I’m still getting wildly different battery life reported from each earbud. I wouldn’t expect them to be regularly 25% off from one another.

Summer had a blast, and when they finished, we went right around the block to a ghost town Red Lobster. The manager came out to seat us and complained about his lack of staff. He said they were down to three servers for the day, and it showed during our over-two hour visit. At least the food was pretty decent.

When we finished there, I drove us across town to hunt for a deal at Home Depot. The guy that helped us was very kind, but in the end it was up to Summer and me to roam aimlessly until we just happened upon a strip of them near the electrical boxes.

Our nest stop was Target for some gifts, and then Kohl’s to blow some rewards cash. We just picked up a few little things, but I was more or less satisfied enough to head home. Traffic was awful the entire way though, and it just cemented my absolute loathing for the holidays. I was tense the entire trip back.

The girls got home from their grandparents’ house shortly after we got home. Eaddie made first chair at all-region, and evidently she completely obliterated the competition. Autumn was bitter, and we had to have a sit-down talk with her, again. I just told her she needed to put enough work into getting good at something so we could be proud of her for any reason at all, instead of just making everyone hate her.

Eaddie and I ended the night with a couple episodes of House. I was exhausted, but still didn’t actually get to bed until after midnight.

Well that was… ill advised.

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See You Later

I was early enough this morning that I stopped by Casey’s for a free Rockstar. We had a nice, long, quiet meeting to ease into work, and lunch time showed up super fast. As everyone else left to eat, I went to Oakland to finish up some work orders. Then I was done for the day so I could go to my eye appointment.

I had enough time to go home and eat some leftovers. Then I went to see Summer at work until my appointment time. When I got to Russellville Eye Clinic, they had no record of an appointment for me, so they scheduled one with a different doctor for a week from Monday. We should be out of work early enough that I can make it, but I’m not super concerned after burning half a sick day today.

I ended up going back to the shop and sitting in the unseasonably warm and breezy air until Summer got off work. Then we went to Walmart to shop for a bit. She couldn’t find any cleats at Walmart, so we went to T.J. Maxx and Shoe Carnival before giving up. I dropped her off at her car and went home until it was time for our gathering.

Julie had a package she wanted me to pick up, so I got that and then got stuck at a train for several minutes on the way to get Summer. While I was parked there, a guy on a bicycle paced back and forth across the road until he finally gave up and climbed up between two train cars with his bicycle. He made it, but I kind of wished the train had started to move just to mess with him.

We made it to Travis’s before John and Melissa, and ate a bunch of pizza before they got there. Then we chatted for a while and started drinking a bit before breaking out Melissa’s game, Spontuneous. It was slightly more fun than I expected, but I’m not sure it was fun enough to repeat. We stuck around for a bit longer afterward, but had to leave early for Summer’s exercise event in the morning.

The girls were already in bed when we got home, so we crashed as quickly as we could.

GET OUT OF THAT REFRIGERATOR RIGHT NOW!!!1