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Fish and Family

We slept in a little bit today, but the fire alarm went off shortly after I got out of bed. Mom and Dad evacuated, but Julie and I never got to that point. I got dressed and picked up some breakfast to bring back to the room, and then went down for some oatmeal once my parents were ready to eat. We killed a bit of time in our hotel room afterward, and it was all I could do to mask the loud TV with my headphones until we were ready to leave.

Somebody found a different boat tour with a paddleboat instead, and we met everyone there for a 45 minute ride down the river. It wasn’t terribly hot out, and we saw a bald eagle in a tree on the edge of the water. When we finished the tour, we headed straight to Two Brothers Roundhouse for a distillery tour and tasting.

By the time we got there, I needed the drinks. It was like competing for oxygen in the car. It was a neat building that used to be a turning station for trains. A couple of the spirits were really good, and after a slightly extended tour with the bar manager, we found a table at the restaurant for an early dinner.

The food was really good, and we had some great conversations. We parted ways with Aunt Diane, Brandan, and Nicolle, and the rest of us went to a downtown area in Geneva for some ice cream at a Kilwins and a brief walk to another chocolate store before we headed back to our cars. We said our goodbyes, and made our way back to the hotel so Julie could get her beauty rest.

I’m still waiting to be impressed by how quickly you can fall asleep and quit bitching at me.

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Melodical

I got up earlier than I really needed to this morning for my shower, and then went down for breakfast by myself. since Julie had already brought food back to the room, and my parents weren’t awake yet. I went down again with my parents once they were ready, and by the time they finished up, it was time to head to the church.

We made it to the St. Michael Romanian Byzantine Catholic Church, which had the longest name of any church I’ve ever seen, to meet up with the other pallbearers before the service. There weren’t a ton of people there, but it was nice to see so much of Thea’s family show up. We didn’t really speak to any of them, but later we talked with the cousins about how family is such an important part of Asian culture.

The service itself felt long, partially because we spent much of it standing while the priest melodically spoke or sang the prayers repeatedly. It was an interesting experience, and then John gave a great eulogy at the end. The burial was short, and then we returned to the church for the reception luncheon. Thomas came to sit with us briefly, and I think that was the most I had ever talked to him in my entire life. I was really happy that we could start closing the gap between all of the cousins.

After the reception, we headed back to the hotel for a while. Julie really wanted a Chicago-style pizza, but just as she and Dad were deciding where to find one, Tom called and invited us all back to his place for the evening. We ended up taking pizza with us, and we ate and socialized for a few hours. It really was a good time, and seemed much less stressful than yesterday as everyone was still kind of waiting to get everything done. I learned that Angela was into pottery, and I showed her Suzanne’s Instagram. I brought my Steam Deck to show Brandan and John, discovered that Nicolle knew Shang Tsung, and then had a laugh at my laundry routine.

We tried coming up with plans for the next day, but nobody committed to anything. We ended up leaving late and getting back to the hotel, where everyone promptly went to bed after a long day.

One’a thems.

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Good Jhaab

I got everything loaded up this morning and my parents picked Julie up, and then had her drive to get me and head to the Fayetteville airport. The timing worked out fairly well, and we didn’t have to wait too terribly long before we could board the plane. Then the flight was only about an hour and a half to O’Hare. From there, we took a rental car to a sandwich shop called Al & Joe’s. It was predictably complicated to order food for the four of us, but it was decent food. I had a pastrami sandwich which was heavily center-loaded and not cut all the way through. Mustard got all over my hands, so I just had to thoroughly clean up afterward.

From there, we made it to Tru by Hilton, which seemed like a small, “trendy” hotel. They had a pool table in the lobby, so after a little bit of rest and then fighting over who would talk to whom about when to go where and what to eat, Dad and I went down to play. We were both pretty equally bad, but it was fun. Then we ended up going to Thomas’s house to gather for dinner.

It was great to see the cousins we hardly knew, and meet all of their partners or otherwise. Brandan spent most of the time grilling burgers while the ladies got everything else ready. We really didn’t want to make anyone host, and had hoped to take them out to eat, but after two events in such a short period, maybe this is just how it goes. All I have to say is that people had better expect a potluck for our parents, because we’re not hosting a bunch of judgmental family in our time of grief.

We had a reasonably good time in spite of the added stress, and hopefully this weekend we’ll have some time for fun. It sounds like nobody really expected us to be around for this long though, so we’ll just see what happens.

I think we were pretty much the last ones out of the house, and we made it back to the hotel reasonably quickly. Julie and I stayed up chatting for quite a while, which turned a 10-minute blogging routine into a two hour ordeal. We’ll be up early for breakfast and a funeral tomorrow, so hopefully the bed will be comfortable, but not so comfortable that I won’t be able to get up in the morning.

One, big, happy.

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Droopy Roofy

We had our home inspection today, so I had to go home to clean up before the girls came to pick me up. We made it about halfway to the house before I realized I forgot the check to pay the inspector, so Summer turned around. Luckily the inspection seemed to be going quite a bit longer than we anticipated. I wasn’t sure if he just got started late or if it really was just taking him that long to be that thorough. Summer had to stop by Rose Drug anyway, and Nick was still in the attic by the time we got there.

Summer and I wandered around a bit, and Dad eventually showed up. When Nick came down, he let us into the house to continue looking around while he worked. When he finished, he went over some of the worst repair issues he found, and it really was pretty varied. The biggest concern was a drooping ceiling in the living room. Evidently the new roof over the addition was just built on top of the old roof, so the trusses weren’t built to support the shift in weight. He said some of them had just split apart, and needed to be lifted and put back together. He also measured the water pressure at 120 PSI, which was a little more than excessive. I didn’t realize that he didn’t inspect the out building at all until I got his written report later in the day, but that is one of the big repairs that has to happen for us to move in at all.

Dad headed home after that, and the girls and I went to Stoby’s for lunch. As we finished up, I saw Shane from Howard sitting at the table across from us, so I talked to him briefly before we left. Summer had to go to work, so she dropped Eaddie and me off at my house so we could go for a motorcycle ride. Eaddie wanted to see the new splash pad at the city park, so we rode there first and walked around.

It was incredibly hot and humid outside, so I didn’t much enjoy baking in the sun. We continued on to Splash to see Summer, and then rode around the city, up the mountain and down past the arena until we made it back to my house. We were both hot and sweaty, so we decided to get our suits and go to my parents’ house to swim.

Eaddie did a great job driving across town, and swimming was a good time. The pool was still in full sun when we got there, so I propped some floats on top of the ladder and we just hid under them for shade. We talked for a really long time about a whole lot of things, and it was really great. As the shade started to cover more of the pool, it got a little chilly and we decided to get back out and dry off.

We chatted with Dad for a bit inside after we got changed, and he reminded me that it was their anniversary. Mom didn’t want to do anything when she got home from work, so Eaddie and I headed back to the house where Summer was home early after having a pretty rough day. She wanted a pretzel crust from Little Caesar’s, so we picked that up on the way. It wasn’t until we got back to the house that we realized they gave us the wrong order though, so I had to go back. As soon as I pulled up, he ran out with the correct pizza and we got to keep the first one he gave us.

I reviewed the inspection paperwork and talked to Alisha a bit before going back home to pack for the funeral trip. I felt like I needed a slightly larger backpack for the trip, but didn’t want to increase my load to carry. I may just have to leave my Steam Deck behind, but I really don’t want to.

I eventually made it back up to the girls, and Eaddie greeted me at the door with excitement. Just a little bit earlier in the evening, some friends invited her to go with them to play their instruments at a nursing home, and she was super happy about it. We talked for quite a while longer while I tried to wrap up for bed. Tomorrow would be an even earlier day than usual, and I wasn’t excited.

Just don’t die.

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Switching Cart Wheels

I had a Soylent today for the first time in a while, and it served to keep me going. I spent the morning tinkering with the switch, and learned that link aggregation set at the core was preventing our downstream switch from talking. Once I had that fixed, I was able to get the fieldhouse working again, and spent some more time factory resetting the old fieldhouse switch. Once I had that done, I felt like I really showed some ability to some of those guys. Unfortunately it doesn’t sound like they’ll be doing anything to keep me around, and I hate that because I really love the job.

Kim came in and needed some help with a printer at the elementary. Then I drove us to Plainview to dig out some nasty carts. We found just enough for what we needed, so hopefully they’re workable. A few had broken wheels or doors, but we won’t really know until next week. It’s seeming more and more like we just won’t start school prepared.

I ended up leaving a little bit early so I could meet the girls at UEC to see Barbie. I stopped at Taco John’s for a little bit to eat first, since I was pretty hungry. Then I made it to the movie just in time to find a seat at the back of the floor section. I got us some “free” popcorn, and we really enjoyed the movie. I wished they had made the movie a little bit less inappropriate, but it really was a steady stream of laughs. It wasn’t until the very end that things got a little drawn out and weird.

After the movie, we went to my parents’ house so the girls could see what plants needed watering. Mom invited a little coworker over for dinner, and Julie was already there making rolls to take back to Kevin. I had a few myself, and then we headed home.

Eaddie did a great job driving across town in the dark, first with Summer to get her car from my house, and then with me to get back home. It was a bit sticky and hot in the house, but we settled in quickly. Summer went to bed while Eaddie stayed up to chat with me for quite awhile. I showed her the intro to 2001: A Space Odyssey that Barbie parodied. Then we went outside to listen to the super loud mockingbird in the yard for a bit before coming back inside where I showed her the original King’s Quest game. For some reason I couldn’t find a version online that had the bird sound effect in the background, but I thought it would be funny to teach the mockingbird a new tune. That may be a project for later.

Cause actually, my job is just “beach.”

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The Smell of Sports in the Morning

I was a little early this morning, so I took it easy going in to work. I got hungry pretty early after having an upset stomach all day, so luckily I had a leftover breakfast croissant in the refrigerator. It wasn’t long before I got a couple visitors, and I felt relatively helpful. Then Todd came in to take me out to the fieldhouse so we could check out the switch. All the lights were on, but nobody was home. We ended up taking it back to my office so I could troubleshoot it.

I couldn’t find a USB to serial adapter in my office, but I eventually made my way down to the core closet and found one. By the time I made it back, I realized the switch hadn’t actually been provisioned in the system yet. It wasn’t even the MAC address I was expecting, but then Todd came back through at the end of the day and showed me the bricked one in the box. After the new switch was updated, we took it back down to the fieldhouse but still didn’t have any luck. We ultimately decided it could be a problem for Future Michael.

I got home a little bit early since we gave up, and went to my parents’ house for some phở. I didn’t stick around super long because I had to wash my car, and then I made it up to Summer’s for the evening. Eaddie tried mowing during the day, but didn’t get very far before a guy came by to refill the refrigerant on their air conditioner. Hopefully now they can avoid the $300 electricity bills.

Someone’s not good at being in charge.

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Dairyère

The inspector texted back last night, so I scheduled the inspection for Wednesday. Summer was stressing a little bit about moving, which didn’t help my own stress levels. It’s a lot of money and a lot of interest with very little buffer if things go wrong, and they always do. I don’t want to go into debt for an even longer amount of time, since it’ll already be years before her student loans are gone. All of those concerns were compounded by the fact that I may just go absolutely crazy trying to cohabitate with them. It’s completely different when I can’t leave to go home somewhere else.

Summer left for a while, and I intended to go home fairly early to try and mow, but Eaddie didn’t get out of bed until Summer got back home. I went home even later, making it back just in time for dinner. Summer made shrimp Alfredo and I went outside to grill the sweet corn I got from the school board meeting. The pasta ended up soupy, and the corn ended up just plain tasteless. Eaddie made some brownies afterward that were pretty good, but I didn’t care much for the peanut butter mix-in.

We wrapped up the evening with some Modern Family. Julie called a couple times to book tickets for Uncle Rich’s funeral, and I ended up getting sick from the Alfredo sauce and little scoop of ice cream. I was in pain for the rest of the evening.

Nothing this year has gone according to any kind of plan.

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Where’d Y’all Brang Us?

I was a little worried that he hadn’t emailed us back yet by this morning, so I sent a text to Nick, the home inspector that Lelan recommended. Summer made breakfast again, but I was a little frustrated that she burned my Petit Jean bacon in the oven, and then let the bacon sit in the grease-filled pan after she took it out of the oven. She said they were out of paper towels, so we couldn’t soak it up with anything and it just made my stomach hurt.

I poked around a little bit, and then went home for a few hours. I took a shower and had a really bad anxiety attack that lasted quite a while. I had to open the shower door to breathe some cooler air, and my ears started ringing really badly.

I eventually made it back to their house after they had gone out into town for a bit themselves. Eaddie was going to see Barbie with some friends, so she wouldn’t be joining us at Brangus for Julie’s birthday dinner. We dropped her off a little early or the movie, and then arrived at the restaurant just moments after my parents, Julie, and Kevin showed up.

Dinner was good, and we stood around to talk for a bit afterward. When Julie and Kevin left, the rest of us went by my house so Mom could check out Bác Vân’s garden, and so I could give Dad some old bug spray I had. I took a small handful of peaches, and then we went across town to get Eaddie. We had a little bit of time to kill, so we drove down Sherwood just to check the place out at night. Then we waited in the UEC parking lot for Eaddie.

We headed straight to the house, and the girls went to their rooms. I was way more tired than I expected, so even I took the opportunity to crash early.

Peaches peaches peaches peaches peaches.

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Bank On It

I got in touch with Missy this morning about our loan application, and spent most of the morning after breakfast trying to decide on which loan to take. All of the rates were pretty bad, so I ultimately picked a 15 year loan just to keep the interest to an absolute minimum. It will be a little bit tighter than usual, but I should also be able to count on a raise pretty soon, one way or another.

I sat down to watch one episode of The Good Place with the girls, but otherwise I was feeling a little stressed being the only one paying attention to the loan information. As lunch time came around, Summer made some more spaghetti to finish up the sauce from the other day. Since we didn’t get out of the house, Eaddie decided she wanted to bake something. We dug out the Stranger Things pizza cookies we bought a while back and made those. We really didn’t get up to much of anything else.

Michael called me to ask about crypto trading bots, and as usual I had to tell him I just wasn’t paying any attention to that kind of stuff. We talked for a while, and eventually Summer decided she was ready to go to bed. Eaddie came in and we watched some Modern Family, and then everyone was in bed by midnight.

Such disinterest in comparing interest for interests.

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All A Board!

I went in to work late today since I planned to be there late for the school board meeting. Without any real options to eat, I decided to run the fast food gauntlet on the way. I backtracked to McDonald’s for a frappé, then Wendy’s for a chicken croissant. Then I stopped by Burger King in Russellville for a couple more croissants and another black coffee, but didn’t realize until after my app order was placed that it was in Dardanelle. I raced out of town and picked it up, and then made it to work a little later than I expected, but still with plenty of time to fit a 10-hour day.

Kim came in to spend the day with me, and we picked at a few more things than yesterday. I did a couple work orders, but I don’t think she actually built any carts. I get the feeling she’s waiting on me to start, but then I don’t know who’s going to do the actual hard stuff that literally no one else on campus knows how to do.

Todd came into the office late after most everyone had gone home, and we chatted for a little bit. Kim said he was fussing that I hadn’t fixed the internet at the fieldhouse yet, but I had told him multiple times to just drive me down there to look at it. He said Samuel told him that I was on a short list for the job at the plant, so that change may be happening soon if the school doesn’t fix me quickly enough.

Alisha texted me late in the afternoon and said that our offer on the house came back signed, so the pressure worked. We got it for $270,000. After the fact, I wished I had changed it to $269,666 since it would have spelled COWMOO in phonewords. I was so close.

I had printed off the Technology Handbook I put together in case the school board members wanted to see it, but when I got to the auditorium, Harry approached me and asked if I expected to speak. It seems like every time he and I talk, he’s always physically taller than me. The juxtaposition makes me laugh every time. I told him I was prepared to speak if they recognized me, but he said matter-of-factly that they wouldn’t. I did get a really great chance to talk with Blake though, who along with Jill, were the only other two people there in the theater. After the meeting, I did get to shake a couple hands and talk with a couple of the board members, so I consider it an overall success as long as I can get Harry moving on my pay concern sooner than later.

Someone brought in a big bag of sweet corn and leaned it up against the stage for everyone to help themselves, and that aside from getting to know Blake a little better, that was probably the highlight of the evening. I took a small bag of them home with me for later.

Once I got into town, I changed and headed straight up to the girls. I had already told Eaddie, but Summer didn’t answer the phone when I tried to tell her. Eaddie wanted to see her face, so once they were both in the living room I told Summer that our offer was accepted. They were excited, and I secured my position as the master negotiator.

I finished up the last hamburger, the girls went to their rooms, and I contacted an inspector and Arvest, so hopefully tomorrow we can get something going with the house. I’m almost a genuine adult now.

Adversity is a wonderful propellant.