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High School; High Score

I went to the high school this morning to see what Dale was doing. They were just starting to pick up senior devices, classroom at a time. This all leads in to the busiest time for them, and I’ve somehow got to wrap my head around all the RMA processes while also learning a massive new campus. To make things even more difficult, I won’t properly be able to do my own part replacements until I get my A+ and Lenovo certifications. I can already tell I’m going to miss a lot of time that I have traditionally used to learn new things. I kind of hate it, but I’m still hopeful it won’t be that bad.

Teacher appreciation week is here, so Dale and I mooched off of their catered lunch from La Huerta. Then I left to go to the junior high for some work. They were serving hamburgers, so I grabbed one for later while Ben, Jason, and Allen were there. Then I went to work. On his way out, Ben said he basically gave his blessing to move the technology office into a closet, which really got me pretty angry. Evidently it was enough to earn myself a new high score of 200/112, so I went straight back to my room and kicked back for an hour. I tried calling my clinic, but the nurse line voicemail said they only check messages at the end of the day, and I wasn’t sure if I should treat it as more of an emergency. I gave it some time and checked my blood pressure again at a more normal high of 184/101.

Chrystal convinced me to call the clinic again, so I left the voicemail and went back to work. Eventually they did call me back, and told me to double my dosage to 10mg. It’s still not a lot, but the 5mg didn’t seem to phase me at all and I feel like I’m flush more often, or at least more consciously aware of every twinge and ache in my arm, chest, and brain helmet area. They want me to come back in a week instead of the two and a half weeks later for my 30-day checkup.

After school, Summer left for the gym while the girls went with me to my parents’ house. Eaddie came and sat next to me on the couch for the first time, and we both played on our phones until Summer got there. Mom made spring rolls with some pork that Dad smoked, and I filled up on leafy greens. I feel like the fish sauce may have nullified some of that, with a bedtime reading of 150/100. It’d be great if I could keep my diastolic out of the triple digits.

Maybe I’m just too intense.

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Mow Fuel, Mow Problems

We got up this morning, and Summer tried to get the mower out to teach Eaddie how to use it. We could never get it started though, so we spent the whole day playing Magic instead. When she was finally ready to go to the gym, I headed home to mow my own lawn. I decided to take the power cord to the TV as well, and in response, Eaddie attached herself to me like some kind of spider monkey. It took a great amount of effort to get away from her without physically harming her.

Once I got home and started mowing, it went by pretty quickly. I really love my electric mower. My parents came by and saw me outside for just a second before I finished up, and then it was shower time.

Summer picked up our coffee urn from the junior high and groceries from Kroger on the way home, and I eventually made my way back up with a spark plug wrench in tow. It didn’t seem to help, and I’m guessing the mower just has bad gas in it. I asked if she got new gas for it, and I guess she thought “new from the gas can” was good enough. Crank as we may, we only got it to run for a few seconds before dying again.

Meanwhile, Autumn helped Summer make burgers, sweet potato fries, and asparagus for dinner. It was all super good, and I tried to fill up on the asparagus after watching a bunch of videos on how it grows. I never would have expected such a weird swamp grass-looking plant.

After dinner we played a little more Magic, and then watched a few episodes of Parks and Rec before bed.

You know what, I am going to have that third steak after all. Go ahead and put that order in now, please and thank you.

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Friar Cluck

Summer started off super early to get the car show going. I got out as quickly as I could, feeling much better after sleep. I had to go by her place to get some cakes she forgot, then made it in at least before it started.

I didn’t feel confident in running more than one deep fryer because of the lack of outlets, but I managed with just one pretty well. The show had a great turnout, and people seemed to have a really good time. Nick sold out of pulled pork peculiarly fast, but we had chicken strips for days. I just kept churning them through the fry baskets, using the timer on my Pebble to keep them going. While I was there, I had a few esports kids come in to play, but they were just left to their own devices since I was busy elsewhere.

Dad came by to check it out and hung out with the Model T guys for most of the day. I pulled him away for just a bit to climb up to the roof for some photos. The trees were a bit in the way, but I got a decent panorama out of the deal.

I was absolutely beat by the time we got everything wrapped up, but I had to go to my parents’ to clean up their fryer, and then to the shop to drop off the borrowed extension cords. Somehow Summer had the energy for some gym time. I went home to clean up just a little bit, then made my way to her place to pick her up for the Magic: The Gathering open house. Travis met us there, but John and Melissa had something else going on. We ended up wishing we had brought the kids, but they were tired and moody anyway.

We played a couple games, first for Summer to watch and learn, and then again with all three of us in a free-for-all. Summer won that game, and seemed to really enjoy it, so I’m sure we’ll be back for the next open house. One of the esports kids that didn’t show up to the car show today was there learning how to DM a game of D&D, which I thought was pretty neat. They really did a lot with a small amount of space.

Once Travis had had enough, we headed home and I fried up some rice and egg for dinner. We watched a couple episodes of Parks and Rec, and then crashed.

Oh, oh, it’s Magic!

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Taking Things Without Asking

Heather came to the junior high early this morning, and I tried to show her around a bit while we picked up some more computers that were going out for auction. Matt came along and said they were probably going to move technology out of my office and into a closet so James and his people could have the space, which got me really riled up. It was at that point that I decided it was okay to go gut a teacher’s classroom of student devices without asking.

I forgot my medication yesterday, but was back on it today. A big group of us met at Old South for a very slow lunch. I tried the taco salad with their Old South dressing, which seemed like it was all mayonnaise and garlic powder. The waitress even had a little spiel about how she couldn’t tell me all the ingredients because then it would be “everybody’s” dressing, and that it would ward off vampires, boyfriends, etc. It was a little surreal getting all of that considering how busy they were. The taco salad was good though, even with the weird mayo dressing. I felt like it was more taco than salad, but I’d never complain about it because then they would just give less meat.

After lunch, I had to go to Oakland to help with a National Board video conversion. Erica stopped me cold in my tracks and said Ben told them he was moving me to the high school. It was a bad day for everyone.

When school let out, I went back to the shop to chat with Ben until we went to Alene’s retirement shindig. They really do it up big for those at the top of the food chain. Dale gets his party in the library. I imagine mine will be in a bathroom somewhere, assuming I don’t die from it first.

When I got home, I started some laundry and then tried out Breath of the Wild in 3D. The pictures on the TV were way too diverged, and I think it gave me a pretty good, lingering headache. For a bit I thought it might even be the blood pressure, but I went by Oakland to check, and it wasn’t any worse than usual. I stopped by the shop to get the blood pressure cuff from Jason’s office so I could watch it over the weekend, then went to my parents’ to borrow the deep fryers for the car show. There, I found out that Alene was actually the travel agent for my parents’ honeymoon. If I hadn’t been born two years later, I might have been concerned that I owed the woman my life.

On the way home, I stopped by the shop again for some extension cords because I forgot them the first time. Then it was home for the evening to try and relax and sleep before the big day tomorrow.

Space Cadet.

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Tuckered

Some woman came to my door in the rain this morning, but I was just out of the shower and didn’t get to see what she wanted. Unfortunately nobody recognized her from the school, so I guess it will remain forever a mystery. It was another quiet day of testing once I got in. I took care of a couple things, but the morning went by really fast. It felt like no time at all before my half day was up, and Summer and I started our afternoon of errands for the car show on Saturday.

We went to Advance Auto Parts first, and picked up two car wash bucket kits. Then we went to Tyson to pick up 100 pounds of chicken strips. This is what I was most excited about, because if there’s anything I enjoy, it’s a good chicken strip. We had to ask a guard for directions, and then weaved between a bunch of semi trailers to get where we needed to go. They were very specific in mentioning that we couldn’t take any photographs, but that level of security seemed a little silly to me.

Summer’s freezer was too small to fit the unopened boxes, so rather than cram bags of chicken in there, we went back to the junior high and unloaded it all into the cafeteria freezer. Being in there for only a couple minutes reminded me of working in pizza, and made me really miss it. More specifically, I missed being able to go into a big room that is instantly winter. It’s so nice to just go in there during the summer time to cool off.

With that unloaded, we headed to Morrilton Walmart to try and find a clearanced Yeti microphone. I spent way too much time there, but it looked like they were remodeling and had a ton of stuff on clearance. I couldn’t help myself. In the end I couldn’t find any of the mics I was looking for, but I did pick up a Logitech G430 headset for 15 bucks. I still question whether those mics are just hidden in the store somewhere, but it wasn’t obvious, and the employees seemed clueless to it, and even insistent that they have never carried microphones.

From there, we went across the street to Chopsticks for lunch. It was too late in the afternoon for it to be particularly fresh, but they still did a good job of keeping the food decent. For at least a little while, we were the only ones there, but others did trickle in afterward. The éclairs were unexpectedly delicious, and I think Summer ate a hundred of them. I ran out of room, or I would have done the same.

Finally, we continued on to Conway to go to Sam’s Club. We loaded a full cart, and subsequently my car. Barry came strolling out just as I was loading up, and they were parked just a couple spaces away. I swear I run into him in the wild more than anyone else. We headed back home to unload at the junior high, and then I brought Eaddie back home with me for a while.

Summer came over eventually to get her for the band concert. I didn’t feel great, so as soon as they left, I passed out and took a nap until about the time I normally go to bed. When I woke up, I spent a while cleaning out my inbox before cleaning up for bed again.

Calling that “7.1” is absolutely false advertising.

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It’s Snot What You Think

Heather was supposed to come work with me at the junior high this morning, but she ended up being pretty busy back at the office. I just kind of piddled around until testing was over, and then went back to the shop to meet up for lunch. Jason wanted wings and suggested Zaxby’s, so he, Ben, Zach, and Heather all loaded up with me to go. I had a salad that was really pretty good, but it still made me sad. It wasn’t even a healthy salad, but I just get so much joy out of their chicken strips that it made me sad not to eat them.

After lunch, I chatted with Gary for a while before going to Oakland to clean up a virus our firewall detected was being synced by OneDrive. Then I went back to the shop until the end of the day.

On the way home, I felt a mass inside my right nostril that I thought I could extract. It took some back and forth, but eventually I blew it out. It was so big that my curiosity had me weigh it at just over five grams. I felt like I had never breathed clean air before in my life, but that only lasted a few minutes before I felt the congestion start to move back in.

The Dumbo betta’s fins seemed to have gotten worse since separating her, so I spent some time getting her into some medicated water. Then Summer came over to help clean up the leftover pizza and some dill soup Ronda gave me. Ronda didn’t care for it from Stoby’s, but Summer and I both liked it. Then I spent the rest of the evening on the computer haphazardly researching things I keep putting on the backburner. Clint and Aaron got on for a bit, so I ended the light with a couple rounds of Overwatch before retiring to bed.

Is that my brain?!?

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Dinghy Gamer Peripherals

Testing saw another boring morning. At least I finished making esports giveaways, so it’s on to the next cleanup project. Zach, Summer, and I all met at Ruby Tuesday for $5 salads. It didn’t seem to help my blood pressure any. I lack the commitment to go on a completely Soylent diet because I’m a social eater. The American workday and lunch schedule just doesn’t fit how my body wants to be treated. Vacations are splendid at correcting this, and I’m feeling like it’s about time for one of those.

I stayed at the junior high all day, because Heather wanted to come check out the building for a bit at the end of the day, and then I had to stay late for esports. I’ve lost some of my motivation here just because of the lack of payoff so far, but I’m still hopeful. I just can’t afford to keep pouring more volunteer time into it when I’m feeling short on time at home too.

After work, I stopped by the house before going to my parents’ for dinner, and then to Walmart to do some deal hunting. I picked up a Corsair keyboard and mouse at a pretty steep clearance price as sort of a treat for all the anxiety I’ll be going through to move over to the high school. The Executive Director and Game Master of Esports can’t be seen using rubber dome keyboards, after all.

Back home for the evening, I don’t even know where my time went. I swear I just got out of work.

You can’t get there from here.

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Removing Tech

Finals started for my campuses today, so I spent all morning at the junior high while Ben covered Oakland. I used the time to dust and wipe more computers for esports kids since there wasn’t any real need for me anywhere. Dale called for lunch and nobody else was interested, so I met him at Subway for an overpriced 6-inch sub. We didn’t stick around long because the parking lot was packed. I went back to the shop for a bit before visiting Oakland.

Steven had texted earlier about his laptop not working. Ben okayed the swap of his old desktop and laptop for a single laptop to use, but I considered it a small success to have him agree to use the office loaner on those very rare occasions that he needs a laptop, and I’ll replace the desktop with a current model over the summer.

I finished the day at the shop, partly messing with a Chrome tablet and partly chatting with Ben. Then I went home and had to clean up a bit and separate my betta pair in the kitchen. The Dumbo’s fins have been getting worse every day, and though I haven’t seen the other betta pick on her in any meaningful way, I had to start eliminating variables to get her better. Afterward, I went to visit with Summer for just a little bit before going to get gas, exchange the incorrect toilet seat I had picked up from Lowe’s on Saturday, and finally to Tractor Supply to pick up some bags of Black Diamond coal slag sandblasting abrasives to use as a soil cap in the aquariums. I really hope it pans out, but it’s going to be quite a bit of time consuming work ahead.

Back home, I started some laundry, installed the new toilet seat, cleaned up, and played some Overwatch with Clint, Jack, and Johnny before bed.

The socks won’t sort and number themselves!

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Avengers: Girl Power

We got up this morning and headed to Little Rock for lunch and an IMAX showing of Endgame. Our first stop was at Sam’s to pick up a bag of rice for Summer’s mom, and then we went to Chuy’s to eat. The food was amazing as usual, but looking back it was probably too expensive to be taking all of those youngsters. They end up ordering cheaply made food and not enjoying the value of the more expensive dishes, but everything there is a bit higher anyway. I’d love to go to happy hour at some point without them though.

After we ate, we went to The Promenade At Chenal to walk the food off a bit. We never even made it to any of the stores, and just did one loop around the area. We did make a couple stops at some benches to rest, kill some time, and take a few pictures. I made Summer mad because I wouldn’t pose with her in front of a concrete LOVE sculpture, but I didn’t like having to get someone out in the street for a proper angle. I did take a couple from behind that could be mirrored, but by that time nobody would really cooperate anyway.

The kids walked on ahead to the theater, so Summer and I went on in even though we were over half an hour early. The entire process was ticketless, which was kind of a bummer for me because I like keeping them as a sort of souvenir. My glasses were dirty too, but they washed well in the sink. The kids got some small popcorns and drinks, and we made our way to our seats. All of my bladder training paid off, and I made it through to at least the start of the regular credits.

Endgame was an amazing movie. It was constantly full of emotion. I thought there were some moments that could have been shortened a bit to shave some precious seconds off of the total film length, but I was pretty happy with the screen time that the characters got. I wasn’t a fan of Captain Flythroughyourships, and I was surprised to see her get a lesbian haircut in the middle of the movie. I also didn’t really care for the girl-power moment. I’m all for powerful female characters, but we already had some that we killed off. What happened here was too forced. In the end, I thought they did a fantastic job of bringing the story to a close. I’m interested to see where Spider-Man goes from here.

We weren’t really hungry after the movie, so we headed home to drop Noah off, and then we watched some Parks and Rec until bedtime.

I am Iron Man.

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Planted Fitness

Summer had her RussVegas Half Marathon this morning. I had delusions of getting the girls out early enough to eat breakfast and cheer her on, but we weren’t up in time for West Main Donuts, and Hardee’s evidently closed due to a fire. We ended up getting some Burger King to go and made it downtown, parked, and walked toward the finish line just in time to meet Summer at the last turn toward the finish. She didn’t see us and I didn’t have my camera up to take a picture, but she looked to be in significantly better shape than pretty much any other run I’ve seen her participate in.

We walked toward Old Bank and sat at a table just outside for a while to eat our breakfast. I ran inside for a moment to say hello to Ryan and told him we were going to come in for a Quiz Bowl watch party for the high school team on AETN. Nobody around him had heard anything about it, but eventually we meandered in and ultimately filled up a room with maybe 50 people. The girls picked mostly a bunch of snack food to eat, and I had some “street tacos” that were good, but not what I would consider deserving of the “street” title. I’m only just remembering that I forgot my leftover cheese dip on the table when we left.

Summer took Autumn back home, and Eaddie and I went to my house so I could clean up a bit. Evidently the litter box took off on its own and left wet litter, so I had to spend most of my time cleaning up after that. She watched TV until I was ready to go, and we went back to their house so I could swap Eaddie for Autumn. I had to take her to her grandparents’ house to mow the lawn, and then I went to my parents’ house and helped Dad plant the baby raspberry bushes. I really hope they make it, but I also secretly wish they were blackberries.

It started to rain a bit, and Autumn finished with her mowing. I went to get her, then Noah, and we went to Lowe’s to scope out the promotion they were running. You could basically get free money to use in store today only by texting a word to their promotion number. I had everyone and then some try for me, but I never found anyone with more than $5. Autumn and Noah were pretty restless and agitated that I kept them there as long as I did, so we grabbed some snacks for (mostly) free and went back to their house.

Some of us were getting hungry, so I made a game plan and loaded everyone up. We went to my house so I could measure the toilet seat. Then I tried unnecessarily to switch Noah’s phone service to a different device so I could get his coupon code. I didn’t realize he was able to get the response but unable to view the web page, so in the end I just had him forward the text to me. Then we went back with all five codes and picked up a new toilet seat and four bags of Miracle-Gro® Performance Organics™ All Purpose Container Mix, which I’m hoping is their new name for Miracle-Gro Organic Potting Mix. I wanted to use it to plant my aquariums and also not murder my fish. Time will tell.

We finally made it out of the store just a little bit before closing time, and went to my parents’ house for dinner. Autumn ate boring ham and steamed rice, and the rest of us had bún bò Huế. After dinner, I tried to troubleshoot my parents’ first generation Chromecast. It would show video during the boot process, but then go to a black screen after the “G” logo. The online support just had me submit a feedback report, so we’ll see what happens.

With the whole troupe exhausted, we headed back to their house for the evening. I couldn’t resist a huge glass of water before bed, but I think tomorrow will have to be mostly dry to make it through Endgame.

Peaches come from a can! They were put there by a man in a factory downtown.