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Cold Water

I got up early this morning so I could try and get a bunch of things done before my appointment with the hematologist, but the dogs had other plans. Dad said they were on their side of the neighborhood, so I rode around the block and they came running out from behind someone’s house. I ran them home off-leash and they did pretty well, but I wouldn’t have felt safe doing that any later in the day.

I got a text from Zany a little while later while I was trying to get showered saying that Paul was on the other side of their house in Olivia’s yard. Stilgar was yapping in the back yard still because he hadn’t gotten through the same hole, so I rode around looking for Muad’Dib. He ended up coming out from the backyard neighbor’s house on Ridgewood, but Stilgar came running too.

I got them back home and ended up chaining them to the tree so I could actually get ready for my appointment. I didn’t even get to the courthouse before I had to get to the clinic. Summer pulled in right behind me and we found the office attached to the hospital. It ended up being a super short visit. They got me back fairly quickly, took my weight, blood pressure, and temperature, and asked if I was depressed. That was really it until I saw the doctor in the tiny exam room. He asked a few more questions, most of which I had already answered in the new patient paperwork. Then he told me to keep taking my iron, along with some vitamin C for the next few months until a follow-up visit in May when they’ll actually draw blood again. It all seemed super steep to pay $115 for literally zero input from anyone there, and answering what felt like very surface-level questions.

It had started to sleet a little bit when we left. Summer went back to work and I ran by the assessor’s office to add the Model 3 to my personal property tax. They got me assessed and I continued on to the revenue office to get the car tagged and my license renewed. The office seemed fully staffed with a handful of people waiting, and they were churning through them. It wasn’t long before they called my number, but I failed at both tasks. I’ll have to go back with a blank check to pay the sales tax, and they absolutely would not take a new birth certificate from the health department. My birth card and the hospital birth certificate were both worthless there. They also locked the door for fear of the freezing rain, though things didn’t really get bad until long after they would have closed normally.

After being run out of there, I tried to find the health department, but the one building I tried was locked up. I figured, like the schools, anyone in a government office was likely sent home. I decided instead to use an expiring free pizza from Domino’s, plus ordered a couple more to take home. I got to the restaurant early and chatted with the guys, and then Neal showed up and I talked to him for a bit.

On the way home, I noticed Robert and Kyler’s cars at the smokehouse, so I stopped by to say, “hi.” It was actually Kyler and Grant outside because Robert was inside fighting with Toast. I chatted with the two of them for a bit before making it home, where I discovered one of the pizzas had leaked some grease onto my seat. It appeared to clean up well, but the ventilated seats had me worried about what got beneath the surface. It looked clean when I finished, though.

Eaddie had a little bit, but had just eaten some chili before she found out I was bringing food. Summer was on a call for work, so I ate in the kitchen by myself before going out to check on the dogs. They were looking pretty miserable after being chained to the tree for so long, and were staying on the porch with their heads down. I eventually got to catch up with Summer a bit, but then Dad wanted to go move the computer desk out of the bedroom at the old house. Summer and I went to get him and made it to the house, but then we found out that the guys probably wouldn’t be coming back the next day to clean the carpets since they were done with everything else. They could come back when it wasn’t freezing rain, so we didn’t have to be there dealing with packing and moving with the car out in the weather.

We took Dad back home and then I went outside to try and fortify the fenceline some more. The problem appeared to be a soggy spot where the downspout from the outbuilding was constantly dripping water. Muad’Dib is a digger, and Stilgar is content to follow him through a hole. Hopefully they’ll stay put over the next few days, and I ordered some anti-dig fencing that we can hopefully hammer into the ground to help with our little problem.

Once we finally settled in for the evening, I spent some time cleaning up and then watched some YouTube on the TV with Summer. Eaddie came out for a little bit, but I ended up by myself for most of it. I’ll have to dedicate some time to catching up on bills and other paperwork tomorrow, because the tax man cometh, and I am not prepared.

Can you pay my automobills?

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Whatever. Works.

The roads were nasty today for some reason, even though they seemed clean after the rain this weekend. I got peppered multiple times and ended up with several pits in my windshield. I didn’t notice any obvious paint damage, but I counted at least three tiny divots in my glass. Somewhere after Conway, a loose tire ring flew up from under a truck in front of me. Fortunately it bounced up and off onto the shoulder left of me, but then I saw a girl in the right lane with her hazards on, driving on her bare rim on the rear right wheel.

Best I could tell, nobody died on the way to work. I thought I’d have to fight SCCM some more, but it just worked this morning without any other effort. I changed nothing. I dug around in group policies after that and tried to find our AppLocker policy, which I could have sworn we had set up, but I couldn’t find it.

Jim came to the office and mentioned needing to take a ton of Chromebooks to FedEx, so I offered to lend a hand. He wanted some help getting a document scanner to work anyway, so he drove us to the high school where he left me in the office to work on that while he loaded shipping boxes onto a dolly. I made quick work of the scanner software and then we left for FedEx, followed by lunch at Red Lobster.

After our bougie lunch date, he dropped me back off at the office where I quietly chugged away at cleaning up my task sequence for the rest of the afternoon. Randy came out and said we would be closing school after a half day tomorrow due to anticipated ice, so I cancelled my sick leave for the freebie. I finished the day filling out my new patient paperwork for the hematologist tomorrow, then made it to Conway to charge.

Summer called when she got home and said the dogs dug out under the fence. She went to see if they were at my parents’ house, but said they weren’t. Then Dad called maybe five minutes later and said they were there. I made it home and rode over to get them. I tried to run them pretty hard on the way home, and then they didn’t get dinner or treats. I drained the sump room, then spent the night cleaning the kitchen and dining room, unpacked Vine stuff, and eventually made it to bed late. Tomorrow we’ll see how many government offices I can hit before my appointment with the blood doctor.

Nobody said to fast, but I don’t like to slow anyway.

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Pack and Roll

I woke up to barking this morning and swatted the dogs for carrying on. Summer got up right after me and had to go out and investigate prepaid cards to loan Noah some money for a trip to Texas and then possibly Louisiana to start working outages at a plant down there. Noah eventually came over with his friend Michael so we could talk about their opportunity. Summer mostly wanted to understand why he kept insisting on borrowing such a large lump sum instead of letting us refill him as necessary. We finally got out of him that he did have a Cash App account and card, so he won’t just be carrying around a wad of cash.

Eaddie left for church and Summer went to the gym while I ate some leftovers and got some things cleaned up around the house. Then after she got back and we both had showers, we went to the old house to pack up the master bedroom. The wood planks on the bathroom floors looked nice, but the showers had cosmetic problems with the walls and trim.

We loaded the Model Y up with several boxes, but still had more to pack and nowhere to go with it. I got super frustrated when I kept pulling things out of the trash that I had intentionally kept, or that belonged to other things that had been jumbled around. It was my own fault for not having things together, but moving out was so impromptu after the storm damage and losing Bác Vân. I’ve been more or less a wreck since then without any signs of turning around.

When we got back home, I took the dogs out for a run in the light. They were pretty well behaved, but we encountered a loose dog after we left my parents’ house, and he kept bounding around trying to chase us, and I kept having to hold mine back. They did reasonably well, but I had to be super careful on the Onewheel. We got back home for hot dogs and dinner while I did some laundry. I had too much to do and not enough time to get back to the old house, but fortunately the smart lights took care of themselves.

Eaddie got home super late and caught up with Summer while I struggled to wind down. Tomorrow will be a busy day at work followed by an even busier Tuesday, and I just can’t wait.

Chew on this!

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The Captain is a N***

I felt sick to my stomach this morning, and my best guess was that it was from taking my iron pill later than usual, at a point where my stomach was emptier and more hungry than usual. Summer went to the gym and Eaddie had a robotics meeting that ended up lasting until the afternoon. When Summer got home, we got cleaned up and went to Taco John’s for a quick lunch before heading to Little Rock for our movie.

It rained heavily the whole way, and autopilot didn’t want to cooperate. We were about an hour early for the movie and didn’t have any other plans, so I decided to stop in Conway to charge early so I wouldn’t have to on the way home. That was a slow process, so I ended up going in to Five Guys to use the restroom and came out with a bag of fries and some peanuts.

We eventually made it to the IMAX and waited nearly another hour for the movie. They played previews for about half an hour, which I’m sure was way longer than usual. I was surprised at how far back they referenced in the Marvel timeline for this movie. Harrison Ford as Thaddeus Ross was already a bit strange, but he was also a much softer, weepy character. The whole start of the movie was pretty slow in spite of starting with an action scene. The story was slow and simple, and lacked the spy thriller moments that we enjoyed about the other Captain America movies. The last third of the movie was better, but still not great.

Summer didn’t want to do anything after the movie, so we headed straight home until I decided to pull over in Conway for some Whataburger. Summer wasn’t hungry, but I didn’t want to have only eaten a single burrito all day, and I was actually really pleased with my burger.

We eventually made it home to an empty house. Summer went to bed and Eaddie got back home shortly after. I spent a while wrapping things up, and tomorrow will be a busy day.

What’d he say???

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Destruction Derby

The dogs were barking in the back yard when I left for work this morning, but Dad texted shortly after I got to work and said they were at his house and killed his cat. Summer was already nearly to Conway, so nobody was around to take care of them. They kept getting out of his fence too, so he ended up getting their leash from our house and dying them up. Stilgar chewed through that and got out again, and even destroyed the oil drain pan they were using for water.

Meanwhile, I broke PXE booting at work and could never get it working again. It was a miserable day trying to undo whatever change I made that broke it, and I had zero success. The only win for the day was Waldo’s Chicken and Beer for lunch. I had their Fowl Mouth spicy chicken sandwich, and it was probably the best chicken sandwich I’ve ever had. It was awesome. The cheddar biscuits were too small, but tasted good, and the service was great too.

I had to charge at a nearly full Supercharger station on the way home, then quickly patched the hole in the fence while Summer worked on a cake to go with the chili she made for dinner. I rode to my parents’ house to get the dogs, and dragged them home pretty aggressively. I think they knew they were bad, because they pouted on the porch all night.

I had to run to the Neighborhood Market for some cheese, and then Summer and I ate. Then I took care of my Vine haul while Summer watched Mary Poppins and then went to bed. Eaddie got home really late and went to bed. I was underslept, exhausted, and frustrated all day, so I was anxious to get there myself.

Straight to doggy jail.

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Just Wandering

I got to witness someone going off the road into the grass this morning because they were outdriving their brakes. I think someone hit a deer at the 430 split, and it had traffic backed up for a couple miles. I still beat the important people to work, and it was another day in the doldrums after that. I brought some containers to take the leftover barbecue and coleslaw home, and I helped plug in a TV.

Dustin took us out for a vendor lunch at Brood & Barley. I refused to pay $4 for parking, so I reparked a block away for free. The components of our meals were good, but I thought the Philly sandwich special had about a third of the filling that it should have for the price. It honestly tasted mostly of corn and avocado. Maggie had a meatloaf sandwich that would probably have been better as a burger.

The afternoon was quiet and dull, and I was still hungry. Not much success anywhere. I was eager to get out, charge, and make it home to run the dogs. Summer was making dinner, and just as I was walking out the back door, Zany called to say they had gotten into her yard and that she was about to walk them back, but they had gotten out and run off. I rode toward the basin, then came back up and found them at the top of Ridgewood. We took an odd course to my parents’ house, then came home backwards.

Summer’s salmon, asparagus, and potato dinner was actually really good, but then she wanted to talk to Noah about his asking to borrow money. Eaddie had Eli over for a bit, but Summer and I were stuck talking to the misguided one. I stayed up way too late after that, and I was exhausted.

What union?!?

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Chicken Wings are Fried Chicken

It was nasty and rainy again today, and conditions were a bit worse for the drive in, so I took over driving for a bit when the car wouldn’t let me reactivate FSD. Somehow we still managed to get to work before everyone else. It was another pretty quiet day, and I picked at some PaperCut stuff for Jim. The water dispenser hasn’t been working, so I’ve been having to melt ice to drink, but that went okay today.

Lunch time came around and nobody was quick to jump at anything in particular. We ended up going to Wingstop, and Jay initially turned us down for “fried chicken” but spun right around when he heard the word “wings.” I just don’t get that kid. I thought the food was decent, and the ranch did seem nice and thick compared to most others.

The afternoon was even more quiet, and I spent a bit of it by myself. Then I had to charge on the way home again because of the wet and cold. The streets were still a bit wet when I got home, but I took the dogs out. Muad’Dib didn’t eat his breakfast again, but he had dinner and a hot dog after our run. They did pretty well until Stilgar took the wrong side of a telephone pole and clotheslined us again. I managed to stop in time, but the leash snapped tight and gave me a little bit of a rope burn in the cold.

The girls were both home and ate some leftovers on their own accord, so I finished up some others once I got settled in. Then I had several Vine packages to break down. One of them in particular was a portable charger and battery pack that turned out to be way better than I initially thought, so that was a win. Then it was off to bed super early.

Bureaucracy? More like bu-YUCK-racy!

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Curb Your Enthusiasm

I was super late for work today because somebody went off the road just after Menifee. We were dead-stopped for several minutes, and as I finally approached the scene of the accident, there was dirt all over the road. I was so late that I decided to stop in Conway to charge back up to 80% so I wouldn’t be stuck doing it after work, and could drive straight home. Traffic was stop-and-go after Conway too, so I was just over an hour late in total.

There wasn’t much going on in the office. I mostly fought Jim’s laptop that wouldn’t image, and I figured it was a drive failure since I could image anything else. There was still some leftover Corky’s “BBQ” in the fridge, so I eventually just ate a bunch of that at my desk for lunch.

It was rainy all day, but mostly dry by quitting time. I worked a little bit late to make up for being late, and then made it home to run the dogs. I thought they had gone missing earlier in the day, but Summer said they were still in the yard. Normally they come running when they hear me on the cameras, but not so this afternoon. They had a good run with me though. I was a little worried about Muad’Dib because he hadn’t eaten the last three or so meals Summer had given him. He didn’t care for his little bone treats either. He still pooped a little, and he didn’t have a problem with his hot dog, so I messed with his new slow feeder. I think he may have been bothered by the raised portions, because once I lowered them and made it easier for him to eat, he finished his whole bowl.

The girls made tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, but I wasn’t very hungry and just skipped it entirely. I felt a bit bothered most of the evening, so it was a quiet night until bedtime.

All Filler

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Back to Packed

I was a bit out of sorts this morning, but I managed to swing by the new Starbucks for a free coffee and still made it to work just a couple minutes late. Randy said last week was super rough without me, which I guess made me feel good about myself, but I feel like a placebo. Surely I’m not contributing that much most of the time. I kept fairly busy trying to image a couple of laptops all day. Jim was having trouble with it, and I’m still having trouble setting a naming standard for everyone across the district because of our weird mix of devices.

We went to Skinny J’s for lunch because they had a $9 sandwich deal, and then $3 pickles on top of that. Dad called while we were there and said the dogs were at his house. Luckily Summer was home and could go pick them up, and she reattached the pallet they tore off of the fence. It started sprinkling a little bit after lunch, but it didn’t really rain hard until the evening. I supercharged for a while on the way home, and just as I was changing clothes to take the dogs out, it started to pour.

It let up a little bit and I took a bunch of Amazon returns to UPS. Summer was home from the gym when I got back, but she didn’t want dinner. Eaddie showed up and said she would be down for a $4.99 Cici’s buffet, so the two of us went out. They were packed and kept a good rotation of pies up, so it was pretty good.

When we got back, Summer had to get on a Zoom call for the band trip. I played with the dogs for a bit since they didn’t get to go out on a run with me, and Muad’Dib wouldn’t eat any dinner. I hoped that he had just found some other food somewhere else, and wasn’t just sick and not eating. Stilgar hadn’t lost his appetite.

As I was getting ready for bed, my head felt completely clogged, and I hoped I hadn’t caught whatever Eaddie brought home. I just finished two rounds of antibiotics that didn’t really seem to help my cough at all, so we may just be going into month three with this crud.

Don’t blink!

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Chilly Mac

I felt sick to the stomach for much of the day, but it could have been yesterday’s milkshake catching up to me. Eaddie left for church for a bit, and Summer went to the gym. I felt like I kept getting stuck in a loop. I felt like I kept getting stuck in a loop. I did manage to take a shower, and I got dressed to take the dogs out on a run in the early afternoon because it was getting super cold again. They didn’t come running when I opened the door, so I knew something was up.

Eaddie and I walked out to the fenceline, and they had torn down the top halves of three pickets, and climbed out. She and Summer worked on fixing that while I rode the neighborhood looking for them. It was a bit of a wild goose chase, because a lady that walked past our house said she saw them on Honeysuckle where they started following some other walkers. I went down that way and over toward the basin, then encountered two different walkers that had seen them around Ridgewood. As I rode up Ridgewood, a car passed me and stopped to flag me down. He said they were just up on Eastwood, and that one of them was WET. I made my way up and over the hills to find them on Ridgewood, so we collected ourselves and finished the walk to my parents’ house to visit Dad.

We got back home and Summer was working on a tres leches cake, and eventually some baked crab macaroni and cheese for dinner. I felt like I kept getting stuck in a loop. I didn’t really feel good about anything for a while, but dinner was pretty good. Eaddie got sick up in Jonesboro, but appeared to mostly be dealing with a head cold. I just hope I don’t get sick again myself.

Freezing temps, but free coffee!