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SUPERSONIC RAGE

Every step I took this morning landed me a little further behind. Split evidently had trouble keeping solid food down last night, so that was a fun surprise this morning. We ended up at work just a hair late, but we jumped right to work. Autumn basically imaged laptops all day long while I ran around the building closing work orders.

We still had leftover Subway in the fridge, so Autumn worked through lunch while I ran to the shop for some supplies. I stopped by Sonic for some drinks on the way back, then continued on through the afternoon. It was nice to get so much closed out, especially considering how old some of those work orders had gotten.

Most of my new Patriot Supersonic Rage USB drives had arrived, so I got them loaded with the student image in record time, and swapped them out for Autumn. I still have a few rooms that I know I have to visit this week, but for the most part I’m sort of just waiting for everything to fall apart once teachers come back on Monday.

We went home after work, and I got the carpet cleaner out to finish what I had started in the morning. Then we went to get Eaddie and dropped her and Autumn off at karate. I cleaned the cat box again to try and eliminate my gnat problem, then met the girls at my parents’ house for dinner.

Dad grilled some great pork chops and shrimp, and Mom put together noodles and veggies for us. Then we headed back up the hill for the evening. Just after we got there, a college kid knocked on the door trying to sell educational books. It kind of spooked us since it was so dark, but I talked to him for a little bit. The books looked similar to the ones my parents bought me when I was young, and I never once touched them.

Eaddie, Summer, and I finished the evening with an episode of Glee, and then it was off to bed a little early.

This is why they’re called “bored meetings.”

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Work Orders

Autumn came in today and crunched through imaging student laptops while I started running around the building taking care of things I’d been putting off. It won’t take long for the workload to explode, so I’ve got to make time for those things now.

We went to the shop to get Allen, then met Josh at Subway for lunch. Then we went back to the high school for more of the same. Kyle came by to help out later in the afternoon, which was great because Summer had to take Autumn to physical therapy. I finally wrapped up the docking station deployment, so that’s a huge load off my back.

After work, I got Autumn and went by Walgreens to ship some packages for work and get my blood pressure meds. Then we stopped by Superfast to see what Summer and Eaddie were up to. Eaddie had gone to work with her in the morning, and was looking a bit bored when we got there, so she came home with us.

Autumn landed in front of the TV. Eaddie really wanted to ride her bike but couldn’t get Autumn to go with her. I let her ride around the neighborhood by herself while I worked on the garage a little bit. I ended up slicing my thumb open on a piece of metal hanging out of the back of an old computer.

Summer hit the gym after work, so I took the girls to Walmart for more wet cat food and some stuff to make barbecue nachos. The girls ordered pizza courtesy of their father, so Summer and I had some killer nachos instead. I completely forgot to put barbecue sauce on them because of how good the white cheese dip was.

Autumn mowed just a little bit of the lawn before she ate. Then Eaddie and I watched the first episode of the last season of Jessica Jones before everyone wandered off to bed.

It’s reality. I accept it and proceed accordingly.

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Living Within the Means

Summer got up and took the girls home while I started cleaning in the garage. Frustration and anxiety about some of the things I’ve hoarded has made it a tiny bit easier to get rid of them, but it’s still not easy. Seeded deep within me is a primal need to be prepared for the day I’ll need some of those things, and I have a genuine fear of not having them when the day comes.

Along with removing the less valuable things comes reorganizing the things that will stay. I have amassed a veritable trove of things larger than I am, and I’ll have to find enough wall space to store them all. I can get a little creative with suspending things from the ceiling, but that will take a considerable amount of work in and of itself. It is neat to be back in a place where I can imagine a realistically finished project though.

The girls eventually came back and we took the leftover barbecue to my parents’ house for lunch. We got there and realized I had forgotten the sauce, so Summer and I ran back across town for that before we could eat. After lunch, Mom seemed to be feeling some kind of way about the way I’ve tried to live within my means, and kept encouraging me to go into debt all just to build a new house. Being out of debt and having money in the bank has been a point of personal pride for me for quite a while, so building a new house isn’t even in my 10-year plan.

We made it back to my house and the girls went home while I cleaned up a bit more. Split wasn’t well, and has gotten to the point where he only eats the gravy out of the canned food I’ve been getting him. Of course he’ll eat the more expensive cans though, so I suppose I’ll be getting more of those tomorrow. Ultimately I made my way up to Summer’s for the evening, and watched some Glee with her and Eaddie before bed.

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”
-Douglas Adams

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The Best Laid Schemes

Summer took the girls home this morning so she could get her nails done. I made plans to pick up some Ridgewood Brothers BBQ for lunch with my parents, then made it across town early enough to be the first person in line. They hooked me up with some incredible banana pudding, but I forgot to tell them what sides I wanted with my Hog Trough, and ended up having to go back for them later in the afternoon.

Uncle Giao came down with Erica to help move Nova into a dorm at Tech, so my parents ended up bailing on lunch with us and went to Linh instead. Summer brought the girls back and we ate a super late lunch at my house.

I knew Robert had quite a bit of trouble with green wood yesterday, but I didn’t expect to taste the difference in the meat. The smokiness just wasn’t there the way it usually is, and all the meats seemed a bit drier and less flavorful than we’d ever had before. We did finally get some burnt ends though, and they were super rich, fatty, and juicy. Honestly, I think I would actually prefer them left on the brisket, but that may not make sense when you’re serving by the slice. Overall, I hate to say it was SubparBQ, but the expectations at this point are so impossibly high, and everyone deserves an off-day. They’re still my number one pick hands-down, and I’m not even playing favorites.

After we ate, Summer left for her hair appointment. Eventually I got the girls loaded up and we went to my parents’ house to swim for a while. Summer took forever to meet us there, but her highlights looked great. We sat around for a while talking to Mom about cars, then eventually made it back to my house for the evening.

Eaddie and I stopped along the way to get some Dairy Queen for everyone, then they watched some TV for a bit before getting up and exploring the house a bit to make plans for The Great Cleanout. There’s a lot to do, but everyone seemed genuinely excited about it, which felt pretty good. I dug out my box of greenman suits, and Eaddie danced around the living room for a bit. I got some intense stomach cramps from all the laughing.

Autumn was the first to crash as usual. Then Summer went to bed while Eaddie watched some TV and I poked around the internet until the yawning took control.

Nothing can stop it cause you’ve just gotta ride ride ride ride ride!

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Model Whee!

Today was our makeup holiday for Independence Day falling on a weekend, so I had the day off with the girls. They slept in pretty late, so I played a little Overwatch before getting ready to leave the house.

Ethan finished training a bit early and came to town to show me around his Model 3. We didn’t waste any time getting to the ride along, and I was kind of surprised how quiet the car wasn’t. Everyone always goes on about how electric cars are so silent, but I think the wet roads made everything quite a bit louder than usual. The road noise, some low music, and the air conditioning made for a pretty normal sounding ride.

He demoed the self driving for me, and I was surprised to see that it worked in town except for lane changing and braking for lights. I don’t know if that has changed for current models, but if it hasn’t, then I don’t really see much need to drop another $8k for the full self driving package yet. We made a pretty big loop around town, and then he said I could drive.

Holy torqueamole.

I expected the driving to be a bit different, but it didn’t take long to get used to the regenerative braking. In fact, I really liked how sensitive and tight the controls felt, and single-pedal driving was pretty awesome. I didn’t wind it up too high, but he let me floor it a couple times and the instantaneous torque was just incredible. It really was like nothing else, and it didn’t even matter what speed I was already going. It just went.

We stopped to say “hi” to Summer, then chatted for a while longer after the drive. We ended up getting rained out by a sudden and slightly heavy shower, so we both dove into our cars and I headed to Mark’s office to do some more work.

We wrapped up pretty quickly, and I got a check made out to the description I wrote for the job. Then I stopped across the street to chat with Robert for a bit. He seemed excited for company, and eventually Felix showed up as well. He gave me a tamale, and then I went back across town to check in with Summer before going home.

The girls were still laying around watching TV. Eventually I started the oven to warm up a loaf of bread for an Everything Sandwich. Summer got home after work, and they watched TV and ate. I poked around at a few things for a bit, and it wasn’t long before everyone filtered off to bed.

BYE401K

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Say, “No” to “No!”

I decided to go in for a half day today since I had a few things I wanted to take care of before the three-day weekend. Everyone started at the shop, but then I was off to the high school. I stopped at Casey’s for a free slice, then got to work on testing printer deployment to users instead of computers. It took me way longer than I expected, and I think the point of failure was initially drivers. By the afternoon, I had it working on at least one computer.

I left a while after lunch time once I reached a stopping point. I cleaned up some leftovers at home before trying to earn some loot boxes in Overwatch. It was pretty frustrating to work so hard for them, only to get almost exclusively duplicate items. Eventually I started working on cleaning up a bit around the house before Summer was ready to get gas.

I met her at Shell to use my 30¢ discount, then came home again to continue cleaning until she brought the girls over for the evening. We had planned to go to Harbor Freight, but I think picking up dinner took a bit longer than expected. On top of that, the girls had gotten a bit too comfortable in their disobedience and needed some firm direction. You know you’re off track when they start suggesting their own punishments. It will only get more strict from here.

We ate our Popeye’s and put off Harbor Freight for the following morning. I got a little distracted while the girls watched some TV, and then we called it a night.

Go ahead and add the number to Child Protective Services to your contact list, because you’re gonna need them if you act like that again.

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Captaining 101

We skipped the shop this morning and got Autumn straight into imaging laptops. It took me a little bit to get any traction with any particular task, but I got a few miscellaneous things accomplished throughout the day.

Allen called for lunch, so Autumn and I picked up some Arby’s and took it back to the shop for him. The fast food deals have been pretty rockin’ since Coronavirus came to town. As long as it’s only a looming fear and doesn’t kill anyone I particularly care about, it can stay around as long as it dadgum wants, man.

It was a short afternoon with more of the same. Then I had to take Autumn to physical therapy again. While she was there, I stopped in to Mark’s office to take care of a failed email import task. That didn’t take long, then I got Autumn and we went to see Summer at work.

I needed an oil change, so we made Autumn pull my car into the bay under much duress. We couldn’t figure out why she was so adamant that she wasn’t going do what we told her, but Summer didn’t take any guff. She did slightly run over an employee, but he lived.

From there, we spent a little time at my house with the cat, then went up the hill to start making dinner. I cleaned the grill and cooked some chicken breasts for salads. Autumn, always having to be different, made a little wrap instead. While I was grilling, I made her come outside so I could talk at her about her feelings earlier in the day, and I think she ultimately appreciated the gesture. The chicken also turned out great, and the salads were awesome. Afterward, Summer watched a little bit of Moana with Autumn, then went to bed. I wasn’t terribly far behind.

At least someone accomplished something today.

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Docked Out Till We Clocked Out

I woke up this morning with a knot on my head, and no idea how it got there. I didn’t remember hitting my head last night, but I did hit it pretty hard a couple weeks ago when we were unpacking student laptops. I couldn’t imagine why it would start throbbing and grow into a lump again today after all that time, but there it was.

Autumn tried to stay home today, but I refused to let her. We went by the shop first thing to see if we could take Kyle with us again. Then we let him image student devices while we swapped docking stations. We left him just before lunch to meet the others at the shop. Then Allen joined us for Cici’s.

After lunch, we got some additional new-hire paperwork signed for Autumn, then went back to the high school to continue with docks. Kyle needed a break from that monotony, so I traded him for Autumn and let her image laptops while Kyle and I finished docking stations.

We got almost all of them finished, but had a couple that were checked out to inverted room numbers, and I think a couple that I will have to swap out tomorrow. We got a little bit lost in some of the older parts of the building, and even locked ourselves out once, so we had to walk around the safe room to get back in.

Autumn and I finished up with one last dock at the indoor practice facility, then went to my house for a while so I could put some ice on my head. The knot just sort of swelled up and hurt worse throughout the course of the evening. We stopped by Walmart so she could get some bath stuff and some chicken to cook for dinner, and then we headed up to their house for the evening.

Summer got home in the middle of Autumn making her chicken pasta. It didn’t take too long for us to eat and split up again. Summer and I chatted for a while and watched some more car reviews before bed.

Ahoy hoy, Captain!

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Work Permitted

Autumn and I got up to go to work this morning, and did our best to find a groove. She started imaging student laptops while I put out a few fires. There was a power transformer issue over the weekend that left our main switch closet downstairs without power, but that was an easy fix by the time I got there. Kayla was in and out to bring me returned teacher laptops.

We met at the shop for lunch, and went with Zach and Greg to Las Palmas to eat. Afterward, we stopped by central office so Autumn could sign her tax paperwork, but Cindy had just stepped out for lunch. Instead, we shipped back off to high school to accomplish as much as we could. Autumn replaced a couple laptop LCD panels, which I thought was a good break from imaging laptops, and wasn’t as scary for her as it might have seemed without any prior experience.

Kyle was supposed to come by to help, but only showed up just as Autumn and I were leaving for her physical therapy appointment. It was nice to be able to give a quick 20-second rundown of how to image devices and then leave without having to explain things in more detail. I dropped Autumn off and went back to the shop to get Autumn’s paperwork, but she’ll still have to sign it in the morning.

I went back to the high school so Kyle wouldn’t be sitting there without any other direction, but we didn’t have long left in the day. He took off shortly after quitting time, and I wasn’t terribly far behind. I ran home to change, then met up with Mark again to take care of a few issues they had uncovered.

We finished up right about the time that Summer and the girls were done, so I met them at my parents’ house for bún thang. Summer was pretty bad off with nerve pain again, so we didn’t stick around terribly long. I stayed to chat for just a little longer, then met the girls at their house for the evening.

Time to over-analyze for maximum-output decision making.

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Ruby Steaks

Twoscore ago, my parents made the brilliant choice to hitch up and start a life together. Julie was out of town, but Summer and I thought it would be fun to grill some steaks for them after the letdown of the year yesterday at Logan’s. She left to go to the gym and mow the lawn while I cleaned up a bit at home. The girls would be back in time for dinner, so we had their father drop them off at my parents’ house.

When she was ready, I picked Summer up and we headed to Walmart for a quick run-through for the meats. My parents had everything for mashed potatoes, broccoli salad, and some other vegetables, so we got steaks, kielbasas, some smoked cheddar sausages for Autumn, and then some frozen shrimp at the last minute.

I had a little trouble with the heat on the grill, and I think I overcooked Mom’s strip steaks. The others seemed to come out a nice, pink, medium rare. I had a porterhouse all to myself, and the tenderloin side just melted in my mouth. I knew I ate too much, but I had some making up to do after those sirloin atrocities from yesterday.

We didn’t stick around too long since the kids were exhausted. Summer still felt pretty nauseous, so we headed back to their house where she climbed straight into bed. Eaddie and I stayed up a little while playing more iMessage games, and eventually I headed to bed.

Without you, none of this would have been necessary.