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Range Anxiety

I got up and pan fried some leftover rice and stir fry for breakfast this morning. I figured it was early enough to eat a bit and still be hungry for lunch in Little Rock. I charged up to 90%, which should have given us well over 250 miles of range, and went home to shower before coming back to pick up the girls.

Eaddie didn’t want to go, citing too much homework and studying to do. I offered to push it back, or to take her with Gavin at a later date since I’d have all Thanksgiving break off with her. I picked up Summer and Autumn, and we headed toward Conway to stop for a car wash. The touchless was unexpectedly down though, so Summer went to chat for a bit and then we continued to Little Rock.

As we approached our exits, Tres was showing an arrival with just barely over 50% battery remaining. I had expected to arrive home with quite a bit left, so seeing that we had used nearly half of our energy made me nervous. I decided to take us to Cotham’s, where Autumn wanted to eat, so we could stop at Frankin’s Charging Hub on the way to the movies. The restaurant was closed though, so we ended up just stopping to charge for a few minutes instead. The facilities were really nice, and it looked like a swell place to stop and enjoy a coffee, if you could buy one somewhere. Unfortunately there wasn’t really anything around, so we just waited. Summer texted a handwritten number in the window so she could get an unlock code to use the restroom, and she said it was nice and clean inside. Charging with a level 2 Tesla wall connector was a bit slow, but I couldn’t complain about free charging. The faster ones would have cost, but there were already a couple vehicles there charging.

We ultimately decided to eat at the McDonald’s near the theater so we would still be hungry enough for popcorn and then dinner later. We made it to our movie plenty early, and enjoyed back-to-back trailers for a movie about Whitney Houston. As the movie started, a group of kids behind us continued to talk loudly enough that I had to stand up and ask them to stop. They should have known better, but fortunately they at least knew better than to talk back, and they piped down immediately. Unfortunately, the act of standing up popped the lid off of my soda, and I spilled a bit, but it all soaked in well enough that I didn’t feel all sticky.

The movie was amazing, and really showcased how absolutely terrible DC movies are in comparison. They introduced an entirely new race of people in an entirely new world hidden right in our own, all while making it believable enough within the context of the story. The CG was intentional, and obeyed expected inertial characteristics, and the dialog was fluid and sincere. I just wish DC could get their act together.

After the movie, we decided to drive straight home so we could get Eaddie her promised Popeye’s chicken sandwich. I was a bit worried about range, but keeping with the speed limit made my range estimates more accurate. We actually arrived home with about 4% more battery than I expected. It’ll take days to recharge back to 80% from 19%, but I think it was absolutely worth it.

Summer drove us home in the Montego, and we stopped to get the three of them some Popeye’s. Eaddie felt much better after having some time to herself to study, and I made her a bowl of Yonanas that she gobbled up. After that, it was a quick evening to bed for everyone else. For some reason, I started getting upset about the felt letterboard at work again, so that had me dwelling angrily for a bit before I made it to sleep.

Contain the rage.

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Each Morning, We Tell the Robot to Kill

The girls left early this morning to go to the robotics tournament. I eventually got up and ate an old, leftover pancake for breakfast before going home to shower. Summer came over once she was ready, and we went to the high school about an hour before we were supposed to be there. I knew they had plans for food, but I didn’t know what or when.

We found the girls and wandered around the commons and cafeteria. I saw Thomas as soon as we walked in, and evidently he and at least two other administrators were told they had to attend. There were enough people there that I was absolutely sure that nobody cared anything about them. They weren’t volunteering, or otherwise involved in any way, and just mingled and chatted among themselves.

Food arrived at noon, and we ate with all of the other home folks. Other schools had their own plans elsewhere, but we had a mix of pizza and some cheap pastas from what looked like Pasta Grill. The food was pretty good, but I really tried to limit myself to a small plate. After we ate, we had to find positions to work. Evidently a couple other volunteers planned to be there the whole day, so we were kind of extra. Instead of scorekeeping, Summer helped at the queue table, and I submitted final scores in the tournament manager program.

It was a pretty long day, and my job was pretty dull. I basically hit a button once after every match, so the scores would show up on a projector. I helped break down a very small part of the setup when the middle school kids finished. Then we waited so Summer could watch the high school finals.

Summer went on home while I traded vehicles and got some gas for hers. Then I met her back at the house for some leftovers for dinner. Of course everyone else has been picking at the better food while I’m left eating a giant mixing bowl full of lettuce. The girls got home late after finishing the cleanup, and then everyone was off to bed.

But secretly, we’re just afraid to tell it to love.

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Veterinarians Day

I slept longer than usual last night, but still struggled to make it to work on time. We didn’t have much to cover in our meeting, as everyone else was run off relatively quickly, but I stuck around to chat with the newbies for a bit. After that, I just tried to stay productive until lunch time. Roy’s was there to work on our air conditioner up front, so Tammy came back to my office for a bit and I started to tell her the story of Sam the clam. Unfortunately I didn’t get to finish, because Kelsea walked up right as I was wrapping up and I didn’t want to spoil the ending.

Gary, Greg, Josh, and I were the only ones to go out today, and somebody decided on Fat Daddy’s. I actually had a really good burger there, but I still couldn’t imagine what takes them so long to make it. It’s a half hour burger for sure.

The afternoon was really quiet, and got pretty cold with the door hanging wide open all day. I went to Dwight for a bit, and then tinkered all afternoon. I never did get a chance to finish my story, so I guess I’ll have to start over later. I walked out a few minutes early so I could catch Summer at the Veterans Day parade.

I had to park on the side of the street on the south side and then walk across to find Summer. Then she ran across the street at the start of the parade so she could record Autumn with the American flag. I think she would have actually had a better view from where I was sitting, and I got aggravated thinking she was going to spend the rest of the parade over there, but fortunately she came back.

We left in a hurry since I had to run across the street before the traffic started up. I sped home, quite pleased with the zippy, instant torque of my new car. It really made navigating stupid traffic feel much better. I took a moment to relax a bit, and eventually made my way up to the girls for the evening.

Summer kept talking about going out to get food, which further aggravated me on account of how much food was in the refrigerator. Of course they all picked at the tasty stuff, and nobody touched the mixing bowl full of salad that was slowly wilting. In fact, a couple of them didn’t even finish the plates they had made themselves, so I finished those up and then had a salad myself. Autumn never once made an appearance, and Eaddie didn’t stick around for very long. Summer and I looked at some houses for a bit, and then she went to bed really early.

I spent the rest of the evening mostly bored out of my mind. I tinkered on YouTube a bit, and finally got ready for bed so we could go to the robotics tournament in the morning.

How do you say “I don’t understand” in Spanish? “No Nintendo?” I simply do not.

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Thaco… Thursday?

Greg was finally back from his vacation, but he said he didn’t catch any deer. I was glad to hear that he still enjoyed himself. I started on my project to migrate EAST’s domain controller, but kept getting stuck because we didn’t have their existing server information documented anywhere. I had other things to pick at throughout the day though, so it wasn’t too dull.

After two Tuesdays without Taco John’s, Greg wanted to go there for lunch. I could have fit in Thomas’s truck with the others, but I really just wanted to drive my car. I used the opportunity to get a free meal with points, and then got more receipts for more points before we left.

The afternoon was quite a bit slower. Somehow I fixed an issue that Jeff had earlier in the morning, but I didn’t have a clue how. Josh never got back to me with the domain controller information because Dan wouldn’t give him what I needed without checking with EAST first. I don’t know why those facilitators always have to be so absolutely dense, but it’s super annoying. I’ve never met one that wasn’t completely out of their depth, and the entire program is a joke any more. I wish they would just scrap it.

The superintendent barged in later in the afternoon, but she stayed up front with Thomas. We weren’t sure what she wanted, but we were pretty sure she wasn’t happy. We collectively did our best to finish out the day, but I left right on the dot. I went by Ridgewood to find Grant and Kyler, and we chatted for a little while about the car. I’ll have to catch up with Grant next week when he’s not covered in barbecue.

I got to the high school on time, but it looked like robotics had let out a little earlier than usual. Eaddie jumped into the car while I farted at her friends outside, and she said now she likes the Tesla. We went on to my house where I started my first software update, and then we made our way home for the evening. Autumn came out once to make a brief appearance, but otherwise it was an early night to bed. I ate some leftovers for dinner, but then finished up about three hours early myself. I felt tired, though.

Shorter days, but still no SAD yet!

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AKS69Z

I wanted to take a bike to work today because the weather was supposed to be really mild all day, but I didn’t really have room to get one out without moving the car first. Gary came back pretty early and asked me to finish up the EAST domain controller migration, so that’s on my plate again. I talked to him about Azure AD and using Autopilot to prep new computers, so he was stuck on that for most of the day.

Kelsea and I went upstairs when the girl from JTS showed up, and I opted out of any extra insurance again for this year. I figured 2024 or 2025 might be a good year for another vision exam, and without any major dental issues, I would have lost money on that plan. Kyle asked me to return Shavon’s laptop to her once I finished re-imaging it for him, since he was supposed to help out at the middle school today. I didn’t object, since it meant I would get to drive around a bit.

That got me to lunch time, but Gary wasn’t joining us. It ended up just being Thomas and me, and we sort of left awkwardly while Tammy upset herself thinking about the evils of marijuana. I don’t know what triggered her, but she was adamant that it was bad for us and that society was crumbling around her. Thomas agreed to Whatta-Burger for something different, and it was such an incredible disappointment. The wait was bad enough, but then the fries were absolute garbage and the meat patties were about an inch and a half smaller in diameter than the buns. They tasted okay, but I wouldn’t have minded to pay a little more for something that at least resembled what they used to sell.

The afternoon was pretty quiet, but I wasn’t super motivated. I tinkered a bit and then took another trip to the DMV to register my car. Evidently right before school lets out on a Wednesday is the perfect time to go, because I walked in and right up to the counter, and two other people showed up the entire time I was there. All the ladies behind the counter were friendly and chatty, so I can officially say the DMV was a better, friendlier experience than shopping at Target last weekend. Once I paid my sales tax and got my license, I went to Dwight to install an additional charger in a Chromebook cart. Then it was back to the office for the remainder of the day.

I got a little caught up in traffic and took the long way back to the shop. I figured tomorrow would be a fine time to start a big project, so I didn’t dig into anything too tough before quitting time. When I left work, I went to my parents’ house to return the critter traps I had set in the basement, since we never caught anything. Dad had fixed a couple rice cookers for me, and then Mom got home from work and offered bún bò Huế. I decided to stick around for dinner and chatted with them for a while before going home.

As soon as I got home, I installed my new license plate and then headed up to Summer’s for the evening. She and Eaddie were up talking, but then Eaddie scolded me for showing up and making Summer start talking about boring work stuff. Everyone went off to bed, and I tried not to get sucked down any rabbit holes online.

Poor kid had no idea.

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To Recap

It was kind of a busy day today, but not so much from work. Thomas was finally back, but it was still pretty quiet in the office. I had to go to the junior high pretty early to help Jacob find the breaker for the west street sign power. I gave him a ride back to his office and then went in to see the girls in the library. I quickly gave Ronda a ride down the street, chatted with our coffee guy for a bit about it, and then gave Jessica a ride as well. I stopped by Dwight on my way back across town and took care of the only thing they had going on. They’ve been the opposite of needy, but it’s just that time of year.

Dale came down to meet us for lunch, and when we all arrived at Taco John’s, Allen was there to meet us as well. I don’t really think anyone told him, so it’s possible he showed up because I told him weeks ago that we’re there every week. I sent a picture to Amanda and jokingly asked why she wasn’t there for the reunion.

The afternoon was a little quiet as well. I snuck out to go to the assessor’s office because they couldn’t add the Model 3 to my tax account over the phone. Evidently their service provider was compromised, but hopefully nothing of value was stolen. The printed copy of the accounts they had to find me in was comically large, so I asked if I could get a photo.

My time at the courthouse was pretty short, so I decided to run across town to the DMV to register my car, since an earlier phone call proved that I wouldn’t be able to register immediately with my vanity plate. Even if I only use it for a day, I’ll have to have a regular interim plate in order to retrieve my vanity plate. I waited in line for a short while, and then spoke to a nice lady that couldn’t actually help me without my loan paperwork. I didn’t realize it until after I left, but I actually had digital copies of that stuff from when I originally made my down payment. I expected it to be in the physical packet I received, but it wasn’t. Now I’ll have to go back a second and third time to complete the registration and ultimate transfer to my final tag.

I finished up the day working on some things for a couple of the other guys. Summer wanted me to pick up Eaddie after robotics, so I had some time to kill. I headed toward Ridgewood Brothers to see if I would run into anyone, and I found Robert at the new building. He was just finishing up, so I let him take a spin in the new car. He was just loaded with questions, more than anyone else I’ve talked to so far. It was a fun ride, and got me right up to time to get Eaddie.

I stopped by the house to check mail, and then waited for Eaddie behind the high school. As soon as she came out, we ran to my house again so I could change, swap cars, and pick up some rice for dinner. Summer made a corned beef at home, so we ate as soon as the rice was done. Autumn got home from karate late and had lots to say about people that were trying to motivate her. She was taking their comments to mean they thought she was doing well, but in reality it was pretty obvious they were trying to push her harder and tell her that she had potential if she would just stick with something. After that, the girls split up for bed pretty early. I tinkered a little bit, but made it to bed on time myself.

OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE BLUER THAN THEY APPEAR

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Fro, Yo.

Tammy came into my office first thing this morning and said she had something for me. She had mentioned some Vietnamese artwork before, and finally brought it for me. She thought it could be worth several hundred dollars, but I was pretty certain that it wasn’t based on other artwork I’ve seen throughout my life and visiting Oriental markets.

The boss was still out sick, so it was quiet downstairs again. I had some leftovers for breakfast, but otherwise kept relatively busy somehow. I wasn’t really hungry by the time lunch came around, but I went to Quiznos with Gary and Zach just to get out of the office for a bit. I went light with a cup of soup, but then nearly doubled the price with a bread bowl and drink. I can’t resist their lemonade though.

I spent a good part of the afternoon upstairs with the virtual academy folks, because they had a stack of several computers up there that they wanted serviced. Most of them didn’t exhibit any troubles for me, but I logged in and charged them up just to be sure. A couple were damaged enough to be discarded, but one of those was pretty well demolished. I even had a teacher device with a cracked screen, so nobody was safe.

In one of my trips back upstairs, I ran across Danielle, who wanted to look at my car. I thought she was going to stick around while I dropped off some junk, but she went up to her office instead and said she would come by tomorrow. By the time I finished running around, it was time to leave.

Autumn ran around after school and went to karate, so I had to get Eaddie from band. She wanted to go by her grandparents’ house, but evidently they forgot and weren’t home either. Instead, we went to get a pumpkin cake from my dad, then swapped cars and headed home where Summer was busy cooking dinner after going home early from not feeling well.

We arrived to a super smoky house, but most of that was just from a dirty oven. Summer had made chicken cordon bleu with mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts, and it was awesome. The three of us scarfed that down pretty quickly, and then I broke out the new Yonanas machine we bought on clearance. I didn’t realize the bananas needed to be on the ripe side, but it still came out super good with some mixed fruit. I’d always heard that frozen bananas tasted a lot like soft serve, but in reality the similarity was uncanny.

Autumn came home, and all three girls were off to bed pretty early. I stayed up doing my usual things and found a deal on an LG refrigerator with the craft ice from Costco, so I messaged Julie to see if she could order it for me. That turned into a bit of an ordeal because you can’t pick it up from Costco, but they also won’t deliver it farther than 50 miles from a store, nor would they deliver it to the Splash in Conway. I ended up getting Ben to be my fridge mule, and we’ll just have to pick it up from his house after Thanksgiving. All of that, of course, was on a whim since I’ve been without a refrigerator for several months now.

A sad chicken, named James.

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First Bath

Summer and I got up this morning and went to Hardee’s for breakfast. She planned to go home afterward, so we drove separately but then took mine back home when we realized I forgot our coupons. Their biscuits were awesome again, and I was glad the recipe hadn’t changed like I thought from a prior visit. They must have just had an off day.

When we finished, I went home to get some quarters and then went to the car wash to get some of the dust and grime off of the 3. I’ve driven it so much in the rain that it’s actually stayed relatively clean, but there was a bit of grime on the back end that I wanted to clean off, not to mention fingerprints showing up on the door handles.

I decided to drive around town a bit to dry off, and went toward my parents’ house. I called Brody to see if he was home, but they were only just leaving church. I chatted with him for a moment before going in to talk to Mom until Dad got home from church. She was being critical of the car again, so I did some quick math to calculate how much I’ve had to spend on fuel. I actually figured it would be more, but it costs me about 0.8 cents per mile for electricity when charging at home, versus a lifetime average of 13.8 cents per mile for gas for the Murano. I know mine is beyond overkill, but having a small, electric commuter just seems like a complete no-brainer.

I finally headed back home to shower before picking up Summer to go to Walmart. We picked up a Yonanas machine on clearance, just out of curiosity, and then went across the store for dinner. Eaddie wanted stir fry, so we got a ton of vegetables and headed home to cook.

Summer and I prepped veggies as quickly as we could, and then I stir fried everything together. It barely fit in the wok, and I overcooked things a bit again, but it still turned out really good. We had things split into “long” and “short” cook bowls, but I really need to split it up better in the future to keep things from getting mushy.

The early evening dragged on a bit just because I wasn’t used to the time change yet. When Summer was ready for bed, I found Weird: The Al Yankovic Story on the Roku channel and we watched the first half of it. I couldn’t quite tell if she was serious when she made comments about it being a true story, but I enjoyed the show. It was longer than I expected, so I look forward to finishing it soon.

Oh Tres, you’ve got chips all over your face. :(

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Zero Fawkes Given

Summer had to get up super early this morning to get Eaddie to the high school for an away robotics tournament. Then she had a 10k in Conway herself, but I wasn’t about to be a part of that. I didn’t really sleep in, but I refused to get up that early. I got up and went home just long enough to shower before Summer got home, and then had her pick me up. I had been a bit hungry all morning, so we stopped at Hardee’s for lunch before going to Conway to see Black Adam.

That movie was an absolute trainwreck. I hated it. It should have been straight to VHS. Aquaman was more realistic. The dialog was atrocious. The music was just background noise to distract from the awful CGI. It was just utter trash, and I’m rooting for DC. Shazam was incredible. I was super excited for this movie, but after seeing it, I’m upset that they even brought Henry Cavill back as Superman. I don’t want him connected to this in any way. I loved his first movie.

After that, we went to TJ Maxx and Target to kill some time. We loaded up on leftover Halloween candy and toilet paper. Summer wanted Starbucks on the way out, but she didn’t listen when I suggested we move the car closer, so she had to go get it while I checked out. Then we went to the end of the strip mall to try out Kawaii Boba House. Nearly 20 bucks later, she awkwardly split out the door before I could even set anything down. I felt dirty from shopping and wanted to clean up, but we just left. We ended up trading drinks on the way to the car because she liked mine better. I liked them both fine, but couldn’t see myself paying that much for a drink ever again.

We made our way north to Bee Branch, where her workmate Alice was hosting a Guy Fawkes bonfire. They lived like a mile down a dirt road, so I was super glad I asked about parking before we left. I would have been very angry to drive the Model 3 down the road that far, and wasn’t even sure we’d make it into the driveway.

Summer played a game with washers, we went inside for a tiny bit of food while we stood awkwardly in the kitchen. Then they finally lit the bonfire, and I was able to relax a bit in the dark. There were some little kids around, but no stupid teenagers. I did roll my eyes a bit at the girls that had to have tinny music playing from one of their phones, but otherwise it was a good time. I brought along a box of old firecrackers and sparklers for them to burn, and they seemed to like it. I was just happy to see it leave my garage.

Once Summer had enough, we said our goodbyes and made our way home via a shorter route without passing back through Conway. I was super stressed about wildlife, but we never encountered any at all. We got home, I unloaded everything and put away what I could, and then it was off to bed.

There was a frog on a dog on a hog on a log in the bog???

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40 and 21

Today was Gary’s 40th birthday, which just reminded me how close I am to mine. He said the air unit in our core server room had gone out, so he had to come to work at two in the morning. Thomas was out, so we didn’t have an agenda for our meeting, but it was still really short. After everyone else was run off, Gary and I chatted with Jeff to give him a little bit of training.

I was a bit scattered for most of the day, and was pulled in a few different directions. Tammy’s son came by, and she asked if I would give him a ride in the Model 3. She came along too, for a loop around the neighborhood. Then I spent some time in Photoshop and worked on my meeting minutes.

Jeff came back to have lunch with us, but Jacob still wouldn’t. It ended up being Gary, Kyle, Josh, Jeff, and me because Zach went to wait for maintenance to show up at the server room. We thought he would catch up to us, but ultimately he just had Gary make an order to go. That meant I paid for four meals, but Zach paid me back for his and Jeff’s.

Shortly after we got back from lunch, Dale and Neletta stopped by. She chatted with Tammy while he, Zach, Gary, and I gabbed in Zach’s office. Eventually I got around to offering a ride, and I let him drive my car up the road a ways. He had lots to talk about, and enjoyed the performance, but I don’t think it’ll make him start voting democrat any time soon.

The rest of the afternoon was super quiet, and I’m pretty sure nobody else actually worked a full day. I stayed a little late putting the finishing touches on my CPPC email, and then I headed home to see what Terminix had finished with at the house.

I hadn’t had a chance to show Bác Vân or Doug my car yet, so I stopped by to take them around the block as well. She really liked how clean it was inside. Then I went home to reset one of my wireless access points for her and then killed a bit of time before going to Summer’s.

On the way, I finally remembered to return the unused sprayer hose to Lowe’s. When I got to the house, Summer was on the couch watching TV while the girls were picking up food. I warmed up some leftovers for myself and then laid on the couch with her until she got up to go to bed. I got pretty tired pretty early, so I took the opportunity for some extra sleep.

Gobble.