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Now That’s How You Wedding

Summer made an assortment of foods for breakfast this morning. My leftover Popeye’s biscuit with sausage, egg, and cheese didn’t need any of the hollandaise sauce she made, but was equally delicious. I left shortly after that to take a shower and make it to Mark’s to work on some printer configurations. I was a bit surprised when I received a negative test page that was covered in toner and white text.

I had to cut that short after some gossip in order to get back home and ready for a wedding. Summer’s employee Justin was getting married, and I still had to tie an eldredge knot. I made it up the hill to pick up Summer and Autumn, and we ran to Lamar for the wedding.

We arrived at the Bacchus Family Adventure Farm, and were pretty charmed by what they had laid out. The weather was just perfect. There was a covered, open air pavilion for the ceremony, and then a petting zoo just up a little hill. The ceremony wasn’t quite the shortest I had ever seen, but it also wasn’t held in a cold, windy gazebo at the park in the dark of night. It really was perfect. The petting zoo had a surprising assortment of critters willing to eat some Fruit Loops. Then the reception area was really nicely done as well.

The surprise of the trip was the number of people I knew. Kelli was a bridesmaid. Carl, who I hadn’t seen in years, works with the bride. Being awkward as ever, I waved him and his friend(?) over to sit with us. It was a really great time catching up. I hope every wedding I ever have to attend for the rest of my life is more like this.

When we got back to town, I dropped the girls off to pack, then headed home. When they got there, we watched the first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I thought it was fantastic how such different types of stories all fit so perfectly in the same universe. Summer thought it was stressful. She went on to bed afterward, and Eaddie and I watched some YouTube, then an episode of House before she passed out in my lap.

Yes, the carnivorous arctic fox you see here in Arkansas just loves carrots.

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Never Trust the Banker

Summer felt well enough to go to work today, and left me to fetch the girls from their friends’ house. Autumn ended up getting a ride from another Explorers friend to their meeting at Old Post, so I just had to get Eaddie. We stopped by Hardee’s for a little lunch to take to Summer. Then we went to my house so she could ride her bike.

Summer got busy and forgot to get Autumn, so I headed across town. Just as I got there, Autumn called to tell me she passed me in someone else’s truck. I mentally scolded her as I turned around and headed back home. Then I pushed some leaves around in the yard and did a bit of rearranging in the garage while Eaddie spent the entire afternoon at her grandparents’ house. I finally had to call her back home so we could go eat dinner.

We arrived back at the house just before Summer, so it worked out well. Autumn had cleaned the house as she was supposed to. Summer and I ate some leftovers while Eaddie went out to try and mow the lawn. She couldn’t get the mower started though, furthering my hatred for simple combustion engines.

Autumn wanted to play some Monopoly, so Summer and I finished the evening with that. They decided to gang up on me to prevent any possibility of winning, even after overcoming the already incredibly bad odds, so I took matters into my own hands just to see if Summer would notice. Stacks of money later, my allergies got the best of me and I decided it was time for bed.

One for you, and one for me. Two for you, and one, two for me. Three for you, and one, two, three for me. Nyah.

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Moderna Family

It’s been a rough back half of the week. Wednesday is a foggy, distant memory after having my first COVID shot that afternoon. I went to bed that night feeling like I had the start of something bad, and then woke up Thursday morning unable to go to work. My fever hit over 103, and the deep, intense muscle pain kept me from doing anything other than sleep. At least I could do that. When I had the real COVID, there were times I couldn’t sleep and was stuck staring at the wall. This time I could pretty much roll over and fall asleep any time.

Summer got her shot Friday afternoon and suffered a similar fate. If the second shot does the same thing to us, then I’m certain it wasn’t worth it. I felt like I had the worst of COVID for the better part of two days, and took until tonight to feel more or less back to normal. My arm still hurts quite a bit where I got the shot, and my spine hurts either from muscle pain or from having been in bed for so long.

I watched Justice League this afternoon to prepare myself for the Snyder Cut. Then a shower brought me back to life so I could pick up some Popeye’s and head to Summer’s. She told me she was feeling better, but I couldn’t tell. She didn’t eat, and ended up falling right back to sleep after a little bit. The girls spent the night with their friends, so I was left to try and go back to sleep or else face a late night of boredom.

That’s not the saying, that’s like the opposite of what the saying is.

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Everybody It’s On!

It stormed for the first part of today. I went to the high school to help recover some files before making it to the shop where I spent the rest of the day tinkering with a deployment. Five of us went to La Chiquita for lunch, and the food was surprisingly bland.

I had a Classified Personnel Policy Committee meeting in the afternoon, and immediately followed that with my first Moderna COVID shot. The nurse that gave me the shot said she had a warning for me, but didn’t actually tell me until she had already stuck me. They said that I would likely have an adverse reaction to at least one of the two shots since I had a bad case of the real COVID. Fortunately it never got bad, since I didn’t have any Tylenol around like they suggested.

I finished up the day in Ethan’s lab again, and then it was straight home for the evening. I hadn’t slept great last night, then had what felt like a sinus infection since I woke up. I don’t know if I was just tired from that, or if the shot made me feel extra tired on top of that. I laid down for a while and started to doze off a bit, so I got up to finish my routine before bed.

Johnny, Clint, and Josh were online so I hopped into TeamSpeak for a bit while I finished my chores, and then it was off to a super early bedtime.

SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS!

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A Lot

I got the Shadow out again today, but as soon as I hit the street I realized how frigid the air was. Fortunately I was only going to the high school, so it was a quick trip and I thawed out quickly. There, I dropped off a bunch of patch cables and helped Mike with a couple work orders in the office. Then I made it back to my office for the rest of the day.

Zach and Gary wanted Linh’s, which sounded great to me. The service was actually really good, but my noodles were either overcooked or under dried and I had to finish with a spoon. The weather for the ride back was much nicer, but it had still been cloudy for most of the day as far as I could tell.

I kept pretty busy with a couple short term projects that would help later down the road, and even worked a bit late since the girls got a ride to karate. When I finally left, I went by the shop to see Summer and drove past Kevin on the way, who eyeballed me pretty hard on the different bike.

I went to my parents’ house for some leftovers and then had a pretty good talk with them about all things past, present, and future. Then I headed back across town, deciding to swing by Kevin’s place on the way home. He had just gotten home from mountain biking and was in the driveway putting his bike away, so we chatted for a long time outside.

He caught me up on a ton of stuff I’ve missed since we’re horrible at keeping up with each other. I’ve missed being around him and the rest of the crew even though I was only around for a couple months before I left for the school district. I let him take the Shadow around the block. A little while later, Mayra rolled around the corner only just getting home from work. She jumped out and chatted with us for a bit with her own relationship drama as we each wrapped up to go home.

Isn’t that the kind of thing they run marathons for?

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The Day After Pi Day

I preordered Casey’s new Ultimate Breakfast Pizza for breakfast this morning and picked it up on the way to work. It could have used some more vegetables, but the addition of ham to the sausage and bacon was excellent. I spent some time in my office first thing, and then helped Kyle run a new touch cable at Dwight before lunch. Zach and Gary had already agreed on Quiznos by the time I got back, so we went there and just happened to run into Brody. I forgot it was his birthday, or I would have picked up his tab.

After lunch I wrapped up at the office and then finished the day at the high school to finish wiring Ethan’s lab. It took me most of two class periods, but I finished the cabling part. The imaging will take a bit longer just because I’m limited to doing it after school.

The girls walked to Oakland, so I picked them up there on the way home. Then Eaddie took off on her bicycle while I took Autumn to Monday night class. I went by the shop to see Summer afterward, and Alex had come over to replace the belt on Autumn’s car. Summer gave me a leftover pizza to take home for dinner, and I ran to Zaxby’s for some hot wings to supplement the meal.

She beat me home and we ate before she picked up Autumn. Then she came back and ate before they all went home. I spent a minimal amount of time picking up a couple things in the garage before coming in for the evening. My blood pressure had been high all afternoon, but settled out by bedtime. I thought I was making it to bed early, but daylight saving time got me.

But I wanted bones…

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A Boiled Pot Never Watches

I slept in quite a bit later than I wanted to this morning. When I did finally roll out of bed, the girls were already up and picked at leftovers for lunch. I scavenged some chicken tacos myself as Summer got them onto chores for the day.

I felt pretty helpless all day, and wanted to go home to accomplish anything. Summer and Autumn went grocery shopping and brought back stuff to make patty melts for dinner, so I waited for that.

Instead of cooking any of it on the griddle, Autumn burned some onions in a pan and then made hamburger patties on the grill. She kept disappearing while she was supposed to be cooking, and didn’t realize when the fire had blown out from the wind outside. She had me cook fries because she didn’t want to deal with the deep fryer, but I ended up making a mess of things when the whole pot boiled over. Fortunately there was no serious damage, but it sure made a mess.

When we finished eating, I stuck around for half a game of Monopoly, and ended up settling in as the sprinkling outside turned into a full-fledged rain. Finally, we finished WandaVision, and did our best to go to bed at a reasonable time after losing an hour last night.

Get your hoe ready!

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On the Color of Sheep

Julie messaged me just as I was about to go to bed last night, so I went over to her place to try and chat with her and Dad. I was there for a little over an hour before she finally kicked me out, which is to say that it didn’t go well. Then this morning she started in on me again, but followed up later in a group text with a deal that I appreciated, so I’m hoping that’s an indication that it’s not a total loss. I’d really like my sister back.

We had a busy day today. Summer wanted to meet for lunch, so I got ready and met her at Mulan’s. Then we ran to Walmart for a card before picking up the girls to go to Maleea’s birthday party at the skating rink. The girls had a bit of fun, but it seemed like Maleea was starting to grow out of that kind of party. I remember having skating parties all the time in grade school, but not nearly as much into the double digit age.

There was just a little bit of time to kill before we had to get across town for another birthday party, so we went to my house for a bit. Then we took Eaddie to Washburn Park. Amber dropped her kid off and I waved her down so Summer could meet her. We waited for a little while for Jaylinn and Maristella, but gave up and headed on to the bowling alley to wait there.

Even then we had to wait, so eventually we went inside to play a game. The girls took turns bowling for Jaylinn until she got there, then we played one more game. It was a pretty good time, but that place was absolutely packed and hardly anyone had a mask on. The sign out front basically gave everyone a pass on having a health concern that they wouldn’t ask about, so even the staff weren’t wearing masks.

The kids finished their game and spent some time in the arcade while Summer and I waited outside. Then we headed on home for the evening. Summer and I watched a couple episodes of WandaVision to catch her up, and then it was off to bed and to lose an hour for daylight saving time.

It’s been Agatha all along!

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Not Necessarily

We had our meeting this morning and Ben officially announced his upcoming departure. I’m a little terrified they’ll bring back someone else for his role instead of promoting from within, but that’s not as upsetting as it is that he’s leaving in the first place. Ben has been my favorite boss ever, and I owe most of my success in the field to him.

After the meeting, Zach took me to Crawford to swap out a cart for some tech tubs. Then we drove up to Center Valley to help Gary and Mike move some computers around temporarily. They were actually almost done, but we didn’t find out until we got back that we were actually supposed to completely strip one of the labs so maintenance could tear out the desks to turn the room into a professional development area.

Greg joined Zach, Gary, and me for lunch when I convinced them all to go to Slim Chickens instead of CJ’s. For some reason they had the air conditioner blasting inside, which froze Greg and me out, so we ate outside. I had a birthday dessert, but forgot to get it before we left, so I ended up picking it up after work.

In the afternoon, I went to the middle school and Dwight to help Josh and Kyle swap a couple SMART boards for a TV and a touch panel. The dumb thing was that both projectors worked. Evidently we were just trying to teach one teacher a lesson, and ran out of replacement bulbs for the other one.

Zach sent everyone home a little early, but I didn’t get out until later after chatting with Ben some more. Then I got my dessert jar and stopped by to see Summer before heading home.

I had a few instances of some anxiety/whatever issues today, but seemed to breathe out of them better than anything else. It really made me wonder if it was more of an oxygen thing. I guess it could still be anemia.

Who’s been messing up everything???

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No, that’s just perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the Universe has that.

I woke up expectedly tired this morning after a bit of sleep. I accidentally dozed off for a few minutes after the alarm went off, but made it home in time to get to work. I went to the high school first thing, and spent all morning working in the office with Mike. I shuffled some computers around on the desk to get them out of his way, but still need to move them to some final resting place.

Summer got her Invisalign this morning and wanted to meet up for lunch, so we went to Stoby’s. Then it was back to the shop to help Mike set up some brand new iPads. I eventually made my way back to the high school and ended the day crimping more patch cables for Ethan’s lab.

By the time I got home, I wasn’t feeling super smurfy, so I stayed in the rest of the night. I’ve been getting those anxious or panicky feelings more frequently lately, and have been wondering if maybe it’s actually an anemia thing that just makes me feel like all my blood is draining. Eventually I’ll have to see the doctor, but for the time being I’ve decided to play with my blood pressure medication dosing.

All through my life I’ve had this strange unaccountable feeling that something was going on in the world, something big, even sinister, and no one would tell me what it was.