Adventure Time!

Talk Dirty to Me

I got up a little later than I wanted in order to make it down to Magic Springs as they opened. Michael came over at noon, and we stopped by Taco Bell in Dardanelle for a quick bite before heading down Highway 7. His bike needed a cam chain tensioner, so he took the Corvette, and I rode the R1. We made good time, but it was super hot and sweaty by the time we got there, so we took a few laps around the lazy river to cool off. Afterward we went down a water slide, then got pretzels.

While we were eating, a guy named Gary chatted us up, and then joined us for a couple roller coasters. He was really proud of his sobriety, and kept talking about his church. It’s nice to see someone actually getting something positive out of it, though it still makes me leery. He was super nice though, which is nice because he stuck around until we finally broke out for dinner. We ate at this little Mexican joint in the park. The food wasn’t bad, but I feel like it could have been a lot better without much effort.

After we ate, we went down to the amphitheater to catch the last bit of Moxy before Bret Michaels came out. It was a good show, but it seemed way shorter than the others I’ve been to in the past.

We actually got out of the park pretty quickly, and I made short work of the trip home, only nearly dying twice. The first time was a near miss with a large piece of roadkill, and the second was a near miss within about six inches of a live armadillo that was sitting on the line in the middle of the road.

Everyone made it back home safely, but I had to go pick up the stuff I left in Michael’s trunk. After that, I played a round of Battlegrounds with Johnny, Clint, and Josh. Now I’m off to bed as a crispy critter.

Though it’s been a while now, I can still feel so much pain.

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Late to Bed, Late to Rise

I was so exhausted this morning after being up so late from the movie last night that I decided to take a half day off to sleep in. When I finally got up, I went in to work to have lunch with Allen and Jason. They wanted to go to the taco truck on 4th Street. There were two trucks there – Smackin’ Wings and Things, and Guerrero’s Mexican Food truck. I ordered a few tacos first, then a wing plate from the other truck just to try them both out. I definitely had a better experience with the tacos. I think El Noa Noa is better, but these were good. The wings were disappointingly small, and I got what basically amounted to two “cube-sized” “sticks” of celery. The fries were great, and the wing sauces were good (even the PB&J), but they were some of the smallest wings I’ve ever had from a restaurant.

After lunch, I was informed that we were having our floors waxed in our office, so we moved everything off of the floors and then went home at 2, and were also told not to show up Monday, so we get a surprise extended weekend. I’ll actually be taking advantage of it this time, so I’m pretty excited about this weekend, with only a hint of dread due to the heat and expected thunderstorms.

When I got home, I checked on the duck who had been sitting in relative darkness without the heat lamp. As soon as I walked in, it looked at me, and then made one big leap up to the edge of the bucket, and hopped away. Luckily it wasn’t too hard to catch it again, and so far it’s stayed in the bucket since I returned it.

I went to my parents’ house for beef spring rolls in the evening, and took Bác Vân along to visit since she’s been cooped up in her house for the past few days. When we finished, Mom asked me to take her 49″ TV back home for Bác Vân to replace the TV she currently has hanging up on her wall.

Finally, I played some Battlegrounds with Keno, Jack, and Clint until bedtime.

It’s still just so hard waking up early on the weekends…

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Spider-Man: Homecoming

I think I finally figured out a couple of my deployments at work today. Time will tell. The real fun started later.

I went to my parents’ house after work to help with their sound system. Mom keeps pressing buttons on accident, and once the receiver is set incorrectly, she’s completely lost. After that, I went home and prepped some greens for the duck.

I don’t think your arm is supposed to do that…

After a little while, Johnny came over and we went to Conway for Spider-Man. We ate at Chipotle where I got a burrito the size of my head, then walked around Dick’s for a moment before they closed. The movie was incredible. They took some liberties, but all of the movies have. I really enjoyed it, and it definitely amped me up for the next installment of any Marvel movie.

I’m really just glad I didn’t have to watch Uncle Ben die again.

 

 

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The Mighty Duck

The deployment I’ve been working on didn’t work as it was supposed to. I’d expect these things to be made more deployment friendly for companies that do this regularly, but apparently nobody cares. I spent a lot of the day gathering Chromebooks for teachers to check out for the next month or so.

Dale suggested Old South for lunch, and Allen excitedly agreed. I had the server surprise me with a bacon, jalapeño, pepper jack burger and fries. It was super good, and I took half home for dinner. They cut us loose at 3, so I came home and prepped some greens for the duck, and let it spend a bit of time in the bath tub.

When Johnny and Josh finally got on, we played some Battlegrounds until I realized I had stayed up too late again and went to bed.

It’s quiet… Too quiet…

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What are Traditions: Brexit 1776 (Independence Day 2017)

#farmlife

I woke up with tremendous back pain this morning, so I went back to bed until around noon. When I finally got up, I played a quick round of Battlegrounds with Clint until my parents came by to drop off some insurance paperwork. They invited me to my cousin Lelan’s farm for a 4th of July shindig they were throwing.

It was a bit hot and humid at first, but after the sun went down it was quite nice outside. There was a ton of food, and plenty of room for everyone to hang out on the deck or in the yard, and several of the kids went out into the fields to ride fourwheelers. They had a nice fireworks display to end the evening. I’m really just glad my parents got out of the house. I wish they would do something – anything just to live a little. Sometimes it makes me feel guilty for some reason, but I really shouldn’t let it. It’s up to them to enjoy the life they have.

It’s nice to follow tradition occasionally.

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The Backbreaker

There were only four of us at work today. I split off and worked at my building while the others kept busy at the shop. I pinched something in my back while I was bent over a computer desk, and have been hurting all day from it.

We went to Spices “Grandma Recipe” food truck for lunch, and I had the girl surprise me with something. Based on the receipt, she got me a spicy stirfried noodle dish with shrimp, steak, and chicken, but I didn’t really see any steak or chicken that I recall. It was delicious, though, and I had no expectations going in. I’d definitely go again.

Ben let us out at 2:00, so I came home and fed the duck some fresh greens, then sat down at the computer for some Battlegrounds for the remainder of the evening.

When did I become old enough for back problems?

Adventure Time!

Impromptu Morning Trips

I woke up this morning with just barely enough time to get showered and out the door to meet Clint for breakfast in Fort Smith. I was running a bit behind by the time I got on the interstate, and was admittedly driving way too fast. I almost made it all the way there, but was pulled over by the very first state trooper I saw, camped right before my exit. I exited and pulled over in a parking lot, and it was a female officer that approached me. She introduced herself, and asked for my papers. I mentioned that I had a concealed carry license, but did not have a weapon on me. She, like many others, asked why and told me I should get one. I told her the brief story of how I had only gotten the license with my dad and sister as a family affair, and then she left to run my papers. She came back with a warning for my 15-over the limit. I was shocked but grateful. She was all smiles throughout the interaction. Even pretty cute. I rate this a 10/10 – Would get pulled over again.

I made it to Clint and Johnny’s, and nobody was awake. I called Clint and got him to at least meet me outside when he was ready to go eat. He, Landon, and I went to Furr’s Fresh Buffet, which is always excellent. I love their variety, and the food is always super fresh. I guess it has to be when it’s a part of their name.

After breakfast, we went to Cashfish to clean up some old junk that was left in the building. He never asked for help, but I still left wondering how I ended up in that situation on my weekend. From there, he had some other errands to run, so I went to visit Jesica and ran in to her father and Skye as they were taking a truckload of things to her apartment. It was super humid outside, so I broke a major sweat trying to piece together an annoyingly and unnecessarily heavy particle board dining table for her, and then left.

While sitting in the parking lot mapping out my next adventure, Jae pulled up and knocked on my window. We chatted for just a bit, but then I had to leave to meet Clint at Walmart to pick up Johnny to go to Jack and Nichole’s. Clint couldn’t decipher the map, though, and ended up going to the wrong place. Rather than have me backtrack, he came to me, and then Johnny and I continued our quest. When we got to Jack and Nichole’s, I asked Johnny if they knew we were coming, to which he responded that he thought I had made plans. Surprise! Jack came down to let us in, and we hung out there for a while. I finally got to see his projector setup, which was awesome, and Penny was pretty fun for a baby. I also got to pick up Jack’s unused motorcycle communication set, so I can put it to use again.

When Johnny and I left there, we went to Rolando’s Restaurante for dinner, and I had an awesome burrito. It was really tasty, but the presentation was probably the most impressive part. It’s not often I eat somewhere that any care has been placed into plating the food. The salsa was more of a mix of corn and beans, and was a little bland, but nice that it was different.

After we ate, I dropped Johnny back off at home, and I went to watch Wonder Woman at the Carmike. I couldn’t get anyone to go with me, so I just went alone. I really enjoyed the movie, though I really wish I had gone early enough to catch it in 3D. I’m going to have to revert to my 2010 self and just start doing things alone, because it’s the only way I can reliably get anything done. It’s lonely, but it beats sitting around at home like every other weekend.

That drive home from the Fort is just brutal, though.

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It wasn’t really Lynyrd Skynyrd anyway…

I went to bed craving pizza, then woke up and took my Bác Vân to Ci-Ci’s for lunch. In the afternoon, I cleaned out the duck’s bin and took a bath with it to try and get it used to me. I think more than anything I just wore it out to the point that it couldn’t keep trying to get away from me, but I’ll just have to keep spending time with it.

That’s about all I accomplished all day. I didn’t go to Magic Springs again, though I’d been planning on it for weeks. It was just so hot outside, and I didn’t want to ride with the heat and humidity from the chance of rain we had.

I’ve got to make some real friends…

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Create Your Perfect Salad

I spent all day by myself at the junior high, trying desperately to get software deployments ready. I met up with Jason and Allen for lunch at Ruby Tuesday, where we all three had endless salads. I love the variety there, and I should probably do that more often.

After work, I picked the duck some fresh greens, then lost track of the rest of my night over some Battlegrounds.

Hummus. I need hummus.

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Drama Mamma

We took down more SMART board speakers at the middle school today. Too many cooks.

A big group of us went to Stoby’s for lunch, where I had the waitress surprise me with something off-menu. She got me a pita taco, which was tasty and cheap, which was awesome. I love it when they get excited to choose something for me.

After work, I just came home and picked a few things for the duck before settling in for some Battlegrounds and then a bit of Overwatch.

Somewhere along the way, I found the mango nectar close to expiration, and imbibed so much mango whiskey.

I missed a call from Kristin at some point, and later found a message that she wanted to explain her side of the story, but I’ve had enough drama in my life that I don’t need to involve myself in other peoples’ affairs.

I’m just trying to do it right, man.