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Where Do You Want to Be

I had my one-on-one meet and greet with Thomas this morning, and it gave me a little bit of insight into what we can expect in the coming years. Shortly after I made it to the high school to help Mike continue imaging, Ben texted to check up on me. I told him it’s already a running joke that I get fired multiple times a day, and he responded that I’m in the top 10% of the department now. It really feels like it’s just a “big three” now, and Thomas basically told me not to take offense when he eventually moves me out of the office next door. I haven’t even had the chance to play him the songs of my people yet.

I made it back to the shop for lunch, and four of us met up at Quiznos. We ran into Jessica, her mom, and Kai there, and I let her know that we had their new student laptops ready to go. The afternoon was more of the same until I got a random text near the end of the day from Brandie just to check in. Then she accidentally called me instead of replying to my text, so we just chatted on the phone while Mike and I finished up with our last round of laptops for the day.

Shortly after getting home, I took the tile samples back to Ridout and gave my contact information to a guy there, who didn’t really seem to want to talk pricing with me, but rather our contractor. I wasn’t sure I liked how that went, but at least I know what tile I’m looking for now. Then I went to the shop and waited for Summer to get off work so we could go to my parents’ house for dinner.

We had spaghetti with Dad, but didn’t stick around too long before heading back home. Summer texted late about some trouble with Autumn, but that seemed to fizzle out before I got out the door. I’m about to start giving her more attention than she can stand.

I guess when you think the ends justify the means, there’s not much you won’t do.

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Gotta Get Away

It was another quiet day at work today. Zach was back and sent me to help Brody finish imaging the junior high student devices. Then most of us went to an abnormally slow lunch at Morelos, after which I went to the high school to help Mike image his student devices.

After work, I met Summer at Ridout to look at some more tile. We went back and forth for quite a while until we finally found some that we liked, and I’m excited to get things moving. We still need to shop for a vanity and some fixtures, but at least this much is done.

I took the tile to my parents’ house to show them, then waited for Summer to get there so we could have some leftover dinner. After visiting for a little while, we headed back to my house for the evening.

Summer chatted with Beth for a bit, and I ended up doing some flight shopping for Eaddie’s trip back up to Wisconsin. Some airlines charge fees for unaccompanied minors, but I discovered that Southwest would take her without any real restrictions. For only $138, I found myself wondering why we’re only sending one.

Airports are some of the safest places you can hang out in for multiple hours at a time. Everyone there has already made it through security, and at any moment you could scream and at least a dozen good samaritans would come running.

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Quite an Impact

Summer went to work this morning and I went straight home to clean up before heading to my parents’ house. I made a big burger for lunch, and then stopped by Brody’s house to loan him my big impact wrench. He came out and just needed it to loosen the oil drain plug on his new mini truck. If I had realized that’s all it was, I probably would have brought the small impact just because of how heavy the large one was.

On the way home, I stopped by the shop to visit with Summer for a bit. Then I started on laundry once I got back home. While that was going, I piddled around the house just picking up random things. I got hungry late and made a big, grilled, bean burrito, then did my best to wind down for bed as quickly as possible.

$0.002564 per sheet

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Smörgåsbord

I let Summer sleep in until about noon today before we got around to my parents’ house. Dad had already started two grills for the heaps of food we’d be grilling. There were steaks, burgers, chicken wings, shrimp, corn on the cob, zucchini and squash that all made it across the coals. Bác Vân and Doug pulled up just as we left to pick up a couple fill-in items from the Neighborhood Market.

I kept Julie up to date with a play-by-play as we were cooking, since she was just a couple neighborhoods away. Then she showed up as everyone was finally eating. We were all set up to eat outside, but by the time we finished grilling in the sun, we were all too hot to enjoy the reasonable weather.

We stayed and listened to Julie’s mad karaoke skills for a while. Then as we started to leave I had a small anxiety attack that threw me into a severe headache for several hours. When we got back to my house, Summer went home and I dozed for just a little bit in bed. I eventually made it up to her house for the evening, but never fully kicked the headache, so it was an early night to bed for us.

BOOM–TISSSSSS

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Independence Day

I got up with Summer this morning and went to Walmart to pick up what she needed to grill hot dogs for her crew at work. Then we went straight to the shop and got things cooking just in time for lunch. Once everyone ate, we headed back home to get Eaddie and then met Autumn at my parents’ house to help clean the pool cover. I was still plenty sore from stacking wood, so I was worthless all day long.

We went to Morelos for dinner on the way home, then ended the evening with a classic Will Smith action flick. At first I questioned watching the modern sequel in 3D, but I think I made the right choice with the original. I can’t even remember the plot to the new one.

Once again, the LAPD is asking Los Angelinos NOT to fire their guns at the visitor spacecraft. You may inadvertently trigger an interstellar war.

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Woody Woodstacker

I made it in a little bit early this morning in time for coffee and donuts. It was another slow, quiet meeting that ended with everyone splitting up to continue imaging. I think we’re about a third of the way through the high school student devices by this point. I really thought Mike might be involved with it at some level, but I guess he’s got his own things going on.

We left at lunch time, and I went home for a bit before going to Zaxby’s and picking up some food to share with Summer. I felt pretty decent just sharing a Wings and Things meal plus a free side of cheddar bites, and afterward I went back home to stack some wood.

I got about two ricks stacked up from the massive mound of wood that has been in my back yard since the trees were cut. I was almost completely in the shade and it was a bit cooler out today due to the rain yesterday, otherwise I wouldn’t have made it. I was pretty proud of my accomplishment, but there’s so much more to stack before I even get to the larger logs that will have to be split.

I went in to shower from all the sweating, and Summer brought Eaddie over later in the evening. Autumn didn’t want to stay here again, so it would just be the three of us. Eaddie wanted to meet Dave at Old Post to play tennis, so Summer took her and they stayed out pretty late doing that.

When they got home, Summer and I watched the latest episode of Loki, and I still hate the forced weekly release schedule. I’m ready to see what little Alligator Loki has in store for us.

Now would be a great time to learn how to smoke things.

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New Boss, Who Dis?

It was cooler and rainy today, which fit perfectly with my mood about Ben being gone. Thomas is back, and we’ll get to spend the next few days bringing him up to speed with what he has already identified as “same shit, different people.” At least he’s welcomed input so far, and I don’t guess I could ask for much more.

Gary didn’t have anything new for us to work on, so we split up to image computers again. Josh returned to the high school with me until lunch time. Then we met everyone back at the shop for lunch with the new boss. He picked Fat Daddy’s, who appeared to be busier than usual. I had an uncharacteristically good burrito, which may be my go-to from now on. Everyone else’s meat plates looked overcooked and dry as usual. We still can’t figure out why the service takes so long though, since all the meat is smoked for longer periods of time. It’s not like we’re waiting for it to be freshly prepared. I had joked during our brief morning meeting that Gary said Thomas was paying, and then he actually did. I must be a prophet.

After lunch was just more of the same. Gary joined us for the last few minutes, and then we were off. I went home until time to get the girls for the band camp concert at Tucker Coliseum. I don’t remember it being carpeted the last time I was there. It probably helped the acoustics, but it still wasn’t at all ideal for a wind band. The girls were placed in the top two bands, which were both markedly better than the third.

They were hungry when we left, so I grabbed a family pack from Wendy’s on the way home. Then Eaddie and I watched an episode of House before bed.

Sometimes you just have to move the numbers around a little bit. It all makes sense. Trust me.

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A Message for Our Steakholders

I thought I would be out in the sun a bunch this morning, but Gary was a bro and had me complete some work in the office instead. The others went in pairs and disassembled some digital signage for spare parts before they’re outright replaced with the new hotness. For some reason they’re replacing all of the elementary signs regardless of condition, but not the middle school sign that is like 90% broken.

Four of us went to Brangus for lunch, where my beef spud tasted like mouthfuls of dirt. I don’t know if the mushrooms or potato weren’t washed, but I figure that’s what happened. After lunch, we split up into a couple re-imaging groups. I had Kyle go with Brody for the junior high, and I took Josh with me to the high school, based on who lived closer to which campus.

After work, I went straight home and did a little more cleaning up before Summer got home. Then we went back to Brangus for dinner for another sub-par service. I really thought it would be better, but the tumbleweed was burned to a crisp, and the service was mostly absent. Brangus is normally a good pick, but they were zero for two today. The one redeeming part of the visit was seeing Melinda and Matt on their way out. I had to holler at her pretty loudly to get her attention, but as soon as she saw us, she one-upped me.

Once back home, we wound down pretty quickly and went to bed early. Tomorrow we’ll face the new boss. The last one was easy.

Too many ghosts.

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Double Your Money

We didn’t have anything pressing going on at work today, so a couple people split off to take care of other things, and a couple more went to image junior high laptops. Gary and I stayed at the shop to duplicate flash drives among other things.

My money transfer back into my savings account evidently got doubled, so I spent about half an hour talking to both Discover Bank and Arvest trying to make sure I didn’t get hit with an insufficient funds fee. Discover was uncharacteristically useless, but a nice lady at Arvest said she would set a calendar reminder to waive the fee for me once the transaction finishes tomorrow.

Lunch time came and went pretty fast. Gary suggested CiCi’s because Brody wanted it yesterday but couldn’t get Greg to go along with it. Gary and I met him over there, and they were just packed. After lunch, I went to the junior high with the last of the flash drives and found some of the ones Brody was missing. I think we’re still missing a couple, but now Gary has some new ones mixed in with the rest and I’ll never be sure again.

Gary joined us at the very end of the day, but four people was way too much for the number of flash drives we had, so I went to the high school to catch Mike and grab some flash drives from him to make in the morning. When I left, there was a road crew tearing up 16th Street and I had to take the long way home.

It was a pretty quiet, slow evening at home for the most part. I waited for Summer to get home from a day in Conway, and then the gym. I would have liked to get some more done around the house, but hopefully at least the garage door sensor will stay put.

Ah, screw it.

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New High Score!

I had to get up early this morning for my Catapult Clinic appointment. The first couple doors I tried were blocked, so I had to walk all the way around to the front like some kind of commoner peasant. The checkup went well compared to the last time when they thought I was dying. After the video conference with the nurse, I went back downstairs to make another round of flash drives for Brody’s new laptops. Then I headed up to Summer’s before she had to go to work.

While I was there, I managed to get her gas mower running again. I think I just had to burn off some bad gas at the bottom of the tank by tilting the mower all the way back with the handle on the ground. After running it for a few minutes, it seemed to work itself out and I think the girls will be able to use it again.

Eventually I made it back home where I could poke around the house. I threw away some old packaging that matters less to me now than it did before. I’ll have to do a bunch more of that. Summer came over when she got off work and we ate the leftovers I brought from her house. She watched TV as I continued sporadically picking up around the house until bedtime.

Dubble Bubble