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Nein!

It rained all day today. Work seemed pretty slow and quiet, but I took care of what I could. I have a constant feeling of being behind, but there’s also nothing of any urgency. I called Zach, then joined him and Gary at Smackin’ Wings and Things for lunch. It took them a full 50 minutes to get our food out to us. It was a pretty good green chili burrito, but no way worth the $12.52 including tip that I paid for it. In that amount of time, I’m pretty sure I could have prepared one from scratch at my own home.

The afternoon went by pretty quickly, and just as quietly as the morning. I went home for a while after work and waited for the girls to finish at karate. Then I took them home and ate some leftovers at their house as we waited for Summer to get home from her work meeting.

When she got home, she made me take a “short” enneagram test to compare me to what she had been “learning” in Little Rock. I proved her wrong by being as brutally honest as I could for fourteen pages of vague, Facebook quiz-style questions as I could. Ain’t nobody gonna sum up my personality in an online test.

INFP-T

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Plant Proteins

Today was warm enough to take the bike in to work, but it was supposed to rain in the afternoon. I never heard from anyone all day, so I just stuck to myself and worked on things in my office. My morning was fueled by Soylent, but I wasn’t going to miss out on a free Beyond Burger from Hardee’s, so I left for a super late lunch at the end of the school day.

I hate to be at all disparaging toward the employees at our only remaining Hardee’s, because they’ve never been anything but kind. I just can’t shake the feeling that they all arrived for their shifts on the same bus from their community care center. They do manage to get the food out, and my burger was actually put together quite nicely today. The fries were cold though, and every interaction I observed felt really…unpolished? I’m absolutely for the employment of people with special needs; work just wouldn’t be the same without Allen. I’m just suggesting that maybe one of the staff on duty at any given time should be a better trained and better compensated employee. I really think that would raise the bar and maybe help fill some seats. I’d hate to lose the restaurant due to poor ownership.

The afternoon went by super quickly after having such a late lunch. I tried stopping at Walgreens for my blood pressure medication on the way back, but the line was both long and immotile and I had to get back to work. When I left work, I went by my parents’ house to visit while I waited for the girls to be ready to go home. They ate with their grandparents while Summer was away for a work meeting in Little Rock, so I picked at some of what my parents had out. Once the girls were ready, I fetched them, made another stop at Walgreens, then went by my house to change before taking them home.

The evening flew by as the girls begrudgingly took care of their chores. Summer eventually made it home, and it was off to bed with everyone.

If you close your eyes, it’s like you’re eating a real, overcooked hamburger.

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Meet the Cosmonaut

Summer made pancakes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast for us this morning. Eaddie wanted to go visit her father, so she started doing her chores after breakfast while Summer and I watched some Glee. A little while after she left, Autumn was returned home by her grandparents and made to do chores as well. Eventually we had to make something of the day, so Summer got up to start cleaning. I milled around a bit until she was ready to take Autumn back to her grandparents’ for the Superbowl. Then I headed home to clean up a bit myself.

I bought some marimo balls at Petco, so my first order of business was to get them out of the package and into some water. I decided not to throw them directly into any of my tanks for fear of them being eaten up, so I finally set up a little jar I had bought years and years ago for this very purpose. I filled it with shrimp water to try and help it cycle a bit, and noticed a tiny little baby shrimplet near the top of the tank. He went straight into the jar as well, and I figure I’ll finally take it to work with me. While I was doing all of this, I noticed one of my plants pearling with oxygen for the very first time, so I guess conditions are still pretty great in that tank. I just wish the algae would get under control, and the worms have become a real nuisance.

I ended the evening with a shower and a load of laundry.

Why is my house playing country music???

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Running Around Conway

Summer had a Freezin’ for a Reason 10k in Conway this morning, so I got up about 45 minutes earlier than I do during the work week and picked her and Eaddie up. It was super foggy for a good portion of the drive, but it cleared up as the sun came out. We made it with plenty of time to spare for registration, and then the race started late as well. Eaddie and I sat in the car for most of it, and I accidentally burned through a bunch of data on my phone. We caught Summer at the finish line and watched the first part of the awards before taking off to find some lunch.

Don Pepe’s across the street wasn’t open yet, so we ran by the nearby Neighborhood market to kill some time while Summer got changed. By the time they were ready to go eat, they decided they wanted sushi instead, so we went to China Town. I like a lot of the things they have that aren’t available at any of the restaurants in town, but a part of me is starting to get a little bored of it. When we finished eating, we headed across town to do some shopping.

We spent the most time in Kohl’s, where I had to pick up an online order from the beginning of the week. I picked up some super cheap clothes as well. Then it was Target, Sam’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, and finally Petco. Target and Sam’s were both ridiculously busy for some reason. BBB wasn’t bad, but also didn’t have any remarkable deals at all. The overall winner of the day was Petco, where I had a $10 off $30 coupon, and I picked up some fish food that rang up for a penny.

Eaddie had gotten sick of shopping after about three minutes, and she passed out in the back seat long before we started for home. When we did finally get home, we spent the rest of the evening watching a bunch of Glee.

Do you know what goes down in Lima Heights Adjacent? Bad things!

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Folly Friday

Today was a lot of work disguised as fun. Jason had a project with Allen, and Ben had me catch up on work orders at Oakland. I hadn’t been able to visit in a while, so it was great getting to see everyone again. I don’t ever get that kind of love from any other campus. We caught up just a little bit in the office before I wandered the building taking care of business. Then I made a stop in the cafeteria before heading out.

Ben and Heather were running a fax line at the junior high, so I joined up with them. We got really close to our destination when we ran out of cable because nobody checked what direction the length markers were counting. Heather had to run and grab a box of another color, and we used the first line as a pull, then continued on to the finish line. I’ve made it a little bit of a game to be extra-ridiculous around James, and it helped to keep things light for me. We worked right into lunch, and Ben left to eat with one of his kids.

Heather had other errands too, but Allen called to let me know he and Gary were going to Wendy’s, so I caught up with them. Gary fussed over the girl spelling his name with two Rs, but then I beat him by placing a mobile order for a salad with added onions, and the girl asked if I wanted them on my salad. I confirmed that I would not be eating the onions by themselves, but she still gave me my order with a cup of onions on the side. I’d never seen the girl before, so maybe she was just nervous and new, but that still felt obvious.

After lunch, I ran by the high school to grab a charger before meeting up with Ben at the middle school. He wanted to take a truckload of discarded electronics from the technology office there. It took us a couple trips, but we somehow managed to load it all into his truck. Then I loaded us up with popcorn and we headed back to the shop. Jason was out for the afternoon, so everyone that was left took it pretty easy in the shop. I like it when Ben works back there with us, because he’s helpful and fun with random chatter while we’re doing other things. It just always feels more like a team effort, even if we’re all working on completely different things.

When I got home, I put my car back on the charger and cleaned it up a bit for the trip to Conway tomorrow. Summer has a run early in the morning, so I actually have to get up an hour earlier than I do for work just to get us all down there in time.

Let’s be honest. I’ve already done as much work as I’m going to do this week.

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Meeting the New Doctor

I had to go in for my 6-month checkup today, and my old nurse Stephanie had left some time ago. They actually scheduled me with Doctor Carter, whom I’d never once met. I got to sleep in a little, then went straight to the clinic where they got me back behind the door in record time. I still had to wait a while for the doctor to see me, and once he got there he basically went on a 20-minute rant about how I can’t eat starchy, fried foods. Both times in my life that I’ve had to meet a new primary care physician, that’s all I get. This time was probably the worst with assumptions about the kind of diet I have. Just tell me to exercise and move on with it.

When I finished up with that mandatory meeting, I went to Superfast for an oil change and to convince Summer to go to lunch with me before I had to go to work. I wasn’t sure if it was because I had left my car idling in line for a while, but after the oil change I had to get a jump start to get moving again. We stowed my car in the back bay for a charge, then took hers to Denny’s for a couple free Beyond Burgers.

Steven and his coworker were there for lunch as well, and they seemed to be having a better time. Summer seemed genuinely surprised that our service was horrible, but I’ve only very rarely had a good experience there. The food is always fine, but it’s always incredibly slow. It took us half an hour to get our drinks, and mine wasn’t even what I ordered. Our waitress actually brought them out with our food, so we just scarfed everything down at once. The burger was decent, but they were definitely disguising it with a fancy bun. The bun was great, but it was about three times the size of the burger patty. The patty itself tasted okay, but was a bit too tender.

With lunch out of the way, we headed back to the shop so I could go to work. Alex evidently tightened my battery terminal, so I didn’t have any trouble the rest of the day. I went by a nearly empty shop for a little while, then went to the high school and spent a good hour walking back and forth, getting in my steps, to work on the sign. I still couldn’t get the radio to talk, so I gave up again. The rest of the afternoon went by super fast as I did mostly things for which I did not have a proper work order.

After work, I went home to change and then ran by Superfast again for a tire rotation. Then I went to AutoZone to have them check my battery. I thought Alex had just adjusted the charger earlier in the day, but Summer said he actually moved the connector down the terminal, so the tester at AutoZone read my battery as low, but healthy.

By the time I finished there, Summer was on her way home with the girls. I stopped by Dollar General to kill a little time and ended up buying a rake. I joked with the cashier that this is why I’m normally not allowed out of the house. Then we had huge salads for dinner and watched The Matrix Revolutions.

Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. The temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose.

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Deep Diving

I didn’t really have anything new come in today, so I got to spend my time working on some older work. I started at the arena messing with one of their Crestron iPads. Then I tinkered around in Group Policy for a while because I couldn’t figure out why a printer wouldn’t deploy properly. I ended up heading back to the shop, but lunchtime snuck up on me. Gary and Heather were going to Taco Villa, so I tagged along and we brought food back to the shop. Then Gary helped me pick through my Group Policy issue. It all came down to a rogue space in the share name of the device.

Back at the high school, I finally got the Crestron app working after receiving a call back from our vendor. Then I ended the day setting up a bunch of computers in the field house. Autumn and her friend were at the high school for the Harlem Globetrotters, but Summer came to get them and I just went home.

Dad and I talked a bit more about my clogged drain pipe this morning, so I dug out an old, long piece of aluminum to shove down the hole. I poured some more boiling water down the hole to fill it up, and then shoved the stick down as far as I could go. It bent around the angled pipe almost perfectly, and I managed to clear the drain. I still wasn’t sure if there were any roots inside it, and the closet flange was still offset on the pipe, so I left it for another day. I ran by Lowe’s to check out some parts to fix it, and to pick up a windchime on clearance.

Heather had told me during lunch that the Globetrotters event was free for employees, so I tried going out there to check it out. There was a huge line of people, and none of the other employees I talked to knew anything about it being free or even discounted. I wasn’t even aware that it was a charity event, so that made me feel even less good about trying to get in. I ended up going home and doing more research on toilet repairs until bedtime.

Still not hard. Just gross.

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Rooting For You

We started testing today, so it was pretty quiet. It sprinkled for most of the day too, so I didn’t make it down to the field house. Gary had a few minutes to call me and help with some things I had been tinkering with, and I think I learned a bit, and maybe even proved myself a little.

I took an early lunch to meet Ronda, Steven, and a coworker of his at Ruby Tuesday for $5 salads. It was pretty quiet there today, but it’s possible that was just due to how early we were. I went by the shop for a little bit afterward, then went back to the high school in the rain.

I guess I was a bit too ambitious, because I didn’t quite finish all I wanted to before quitting time. I actually ended up staying pretty late, fighting with a replacement computer I deployed. I actually didn’t even finish, so I’ll have to check on it in the morning as well.

Dad left me a big, flat drain tape to run up under the house, so I met Summer at home to see what we could do. The girls sat in the car the whole time because I don’t think they realized how long it was going to take me. I ran the snake all the way up the sewer pipe without too much trouble, so I had to coil it all back up and go down from the inside of the house. It wasn’t too difficult in spite of how gross the toilet mounting bolts looked. They were so rusted that I could just about pull the whole thing straight up.

With the toilet out of the way, I could see a bright orange root snaking around the drain. Inside was a literal wall of cat poop, completely blocking the pipe. Water could only seep out the drain, and a lot of that was probably my fault for flushing dry cat poop out of the litter box. I’m about at the point that I’m ready to quit using that half-broken automatic CatGenie and go back to a regular box. I called Dad, and we decided to get Roto-Rooter back out to properly snake the drain.

I spent the rest of the evening cleaning up a bit, then went to Summer’s for the evening. All the extra work running around the house made me hungry, so I cleaned up some random leftovers and eventually made it to bed.

Well, shit.

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Hot Swaps

I made it to work a bit early this morning and went straight to work swapping out computers so I could take the older ones to the old fieldhouse. Other work kept coming in as well, making it a super busy day for me. Allen wanted to go to lunch, and was actually willing to go five minutes late because I was in the middle of working on something. I met him at Arby’s, and luckily found a pretty good meal-for-two coupon in my car.

After lunch was just as busy, but I was still mostly fighting with imaging the old computers I pulled out. I didn’t get them to the fieldhouse today, but I can have an intern help me tomorrow. When I got home, I started right away on cleaning the cat box. That’s when the trouble really started.

The toilet in my guest bathroom slowed down after a few flushes, and eventually stopped up almost completely. Gross water came out from the bottom, so I know the seal is broken. I spent a while cleaning everything up again, but I’ll probably try and pull the toilet tomorrow to see what’s going on down there.

The remainder of the evening went by pretty quickly as I parsed more email and skimmed through articles of varying interest.

The handyman can, ’cause he fixes it with tape…

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Eat Your Damn Eggs

I got up this morning and cut up some fresh tomatoes and serrano peppers to scramble into some chopped bacon and eggs. Mom used to make something like that, but I’ve always just cheated and used a can of Rotel. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but after cooking off all the liquid, I thought it was perfect. We barely had enough rice for everyone, but Autumn initially refused to touch it anyway. She came into the kitchen and got really quiet when she saw me cooking, which was a good indication that it was about to get dramatic. Summer turned on her Mom Voice™ and made her sit at the table until she ate the bowl I fixed her. A bunch of yelling later, and Autumn called out to me that she actually liked it as we all let out a collective eye roll.

We spent the rest of the day watching TV. The girls each spent a bit of time cleaning up house, and I pulled all the literal trash out of the junk drawers. We sobbed through a bunch more Glee, and had leftovers for dinner. I wanted to be more productive, but I guess it was my own fault for not just getting up and going home.

Who started this tagline tradition anyway?