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Western Hierarchy

We didn’t do breakfast today, so I quickly toasted some bread for a couple more dried pork foldovers. We got out of the house early to pick up some phở from the same restaurant we’d been going to, and took it to Uncle Tuấn. He still had something in his mouth when we got there, and was super groggy and disoriented. We got him cleaned up, and then Julie did much of the feeding. Lan eventually showed up and finished the job as he became more aware of his surroundings. She kept cramming him full of more and more, even after he finished an entire serving of phở, and Julie was worried he was going to be made sick. That was the start of it all.

Julie wanted to go to Open Rice for a dim sum lunch, and Lan and her sister followed along slowly after us. Our server was great, and worked around our family feud incredibly well. Julie ended up picking a fight with Lan over turning in the dim sum menu, which turned into a fight over unearned Asian family hierarchal respect. It got loud super quickly, and we just continued to pass apologetic glances back and forth with our server.

The food was good, and Dad won the race to pay the check, which got Bác Trân a slip of receipt paper that said “Happy Lunar New Year” on it. She really was the best server I think we’ve ever seen. Lan’s sister brought a plastic sack full of nylon webbing that was “like parachute rope” for Julie to take, but of course she didn’t want any of that. They disappeared and I decided to walk the block to Best Buy to charge my watch a bit more, because I figured they’d be right behind me.

Nearly an hour later, my watch was full and they finally made it to the car so we could leave. We went back to the house to rest for a bit, and Julie and I sat out back with some beers in the nice weather. Mom came to get us when it was time to get dinner, and they tried to take him some leftovers from lunch while Julie and I crossed town to find a Costco to make goodie bags for the staff of 35 we were told cared for Bác Tuấn.

We got a bunch of stuff, then stopped at Michael’s for some craft paper for notes, and made it back to the nursing facility just before closing. He ate something Lan had brought, and we eventually all loaded up to leave. Julie had everyone in an assembly line to make goodie bags, and then wrote over 40 “Thank You” notes to not only the 35 caregivers we were told, but also some extras with the extra goodies we had.

With that, it was finally time to settle in for our last night in the Airbnb. We’ll have to check out pretty early tomorrow, but only after packing up and helping to clean up some of our mess in exchange for getting an early check-in and late checkout.

Diacritical Hit!

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Family Reuniration

I didn’t sleep great on the hard, flat, box spring-like mattress last night, but it could have been worse. I was pretty tired, but not as tired as I would find myself after another full day with the family. Dad got up and started making some breakfast. I made it downstairs and made myself a couple eggs to eat with the rest of the Ethiopian leftovers, and it was absolutely spectacular. I may have some eggs with the last of the injera tomorrow. Bác Trân brought a load of shredded pork with him for some reason, and kept setting out bowls of it in the kitchen, so I kept eating little bits of it any time I would pass by. Mom always made it with chicken when we were younger, but it was all pretty similar.

Julie ended up taking the adults to get some food for Uncle Tuan while I got ready to go. I hate shower curtains because they always blow in toward the shower. This one was twice as bad because my shower had a window with a curtain that stretched the span of that entire wall. So there I was, taking a shower between two full-sized shower curtains, having a terrible time. It could have been worse too.

I noticed a vehicle parked out front before Julie got back, but he got out when she pulled up. He was here about a couple maintenance issues she reported, and then he was gone. We headed on back to Park Village to visit with the family, and Uncle Tuan seemed to be doing much better than the night before. He seemed to be all smiles, had eaten all of his soup they brought him, and Julie even had him talked into rolling outside for a bit of sunshine.

I wasn’t ready to blame it all on her, but when Lan showed up, things seemed to shift. The Vietnamese started flowing, so nobody else could keep up. Their voices escalated as they always do, and we could see Uncle Tuan’s smile shift to mild anguish and eventually some tears. It was all we could do to force all of the adults out of the room to have their discussion elsewhere, but from that point on, Uncle Tuan was back to being disinterested. I don’t know how much of him was ever there, but the family needed to make a better effort of keeping things positive around him.

Dad found us a room across the property and I said my peace. Then Julie and Lan came down and Dad and I ended up going back to sit with Uncle Tuan. We watched Teen Titans, but didn’t make any other progress after that. Eventually the rest of the family came back around and they wanted to go eat, so we drove up the road to Phở Hoà for a late lunch with Lan’s family.

The food was pretty good, and then we had them over to the Airbnb for a tour. I caught up with Summer while she walked the dogs, and the elders took a nap. When they were ready to go back, Julie and I dropped them off while she went to a wax appointment in the city. It happened to be right next to the Best Buy, so I went there to stand by their Pixel Watch display and borrowed their charger to get my watch back up to 97%.

Julie actually finished before me, but I found her at the car and we headed back to the home to visit. Lan had brought him some more food from home that he ate, which seemed to have spirits up again, but then he was getting a little hazy from his evening medication so we left for the night.

Lan really wanted to show off the house she just bought, so we drove way across the city to see that. She was there with one or two sisters, but I couldn’t be sure without speaking the language. She had some nice things, but overall it felt more like a college roommate situation than anything else. We stood there for a while before we finally made it out.

Julie and I spotted a Jack in the Box nearby, and I was a little bit surprised to see that it piqued her interest as well. We stopped on the way out to try and get some food, but they were only open for drive-through. Julie wanted to order at one closer to the Airbnb so the food wouldn’t get so cold, even though it meant driving past our exit and then turning back. Neither restaurant had good reviews, and they definitely messed up our order, but it was interesting having a late-night munchies type meal with the elders.

After that, everyone fell out pretty quickly. It was a long, difficult day, and I honestly couldn’t predict whether the next two days will be even more difficult, or if they’ll turn around. Eventually a decision will have to be made, and I just don’t know how well it will go for someone who thinks it’s 1990-something.

Oh, how I’ve missed these little talks.

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Half Awake

I got to sleep in a little bit from my normal work schedule, but still had to hit the ground running. I had all but a couple of things packed and ready to go and thought I might have enough time to take the dogs for a quick run, but after staying up so late to pack, I just didn’t make it out. Dad felt like we were super late, so he sped over to get me and then had to go back and get Mom, but they could have just finished loading themselves up first.

After a harrowing trip across town, Julie took over and got us to the airport. We got parked, through security, and onto the plane without any trouble or much wait. Things seemed pretty quiet in the airport. We had a straight shot to Charlotte, but then that airport was under major construction. It was a mess getting out of there, but we finally got our rental van and made it to the Airbnb.

It was an old house, next to some brand new construction, all behind a church. It seemed like an odd place, and just a couple blocks away there was a coliseum where Jo Koy would actually be performing on the Saturday after our departure. The house was pretty rough, and it basically looked like someone moved out and filled it with a bunch of cheap furniture to rent out. I suppose it suited our needs at a better price than multiple hotel rooms, but I think I would have preferred something with better housekeeping.

We didn’t get to spend much time settling in because we had to get back to the airport to get Bác Trân. If anyone thought it was a circus before, then I don’t know what it turned into at that point. It was a wonder he didn’t get kidnapped, but with some help from a kind stranger we found him and loaded him up. Julie wanted to look for food, but we went back to the Airbnb first to get him settled. I finally got a call from the Genesis Cancer and Blood Institute to schedule my visit, and of course that’s another two weeks out. Then we ended up going to an Ethiopian restaurant just up the road called Abugida.

We struggled to get some help with the menu at first, but after talking to who I presume was the owner, we ended up on a big platter for all of us to share. It all came with one spoon for serving, and the rest was eaten with our hands. I think it went much better than any of us expected, and the food was great. Mom ended up using the spoon to load her injera, but everyone got fed.

After we ate, we went further into the city and found a Trader Joe’s, which I think was too organic for everyone but Julie. Mom wanted some sweeter coffee creamer, and they didn’t have any eggs, so Dad and I walked to Target a couple of blocks back. Julie drove Mom and Bác Trân to meet us, and we got the rest of what we needed. Importantly, I got some Simply Spiked and mango Blue Moon for Julie and me.

Most of us were up too late once we got back to the house. I eventually had a video call with Summer to catch up. Julie and I sat in the dining area on our laptops for a while, and eventually everyone but Mom and Bác Trân went to bed. They stayed up in front of the TV until the wee hours of the night, talking too loudly and watching gameshows.

Half Asleep

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Professional Emailer

Work was a bit of a blur today because I was rushing to clean things up for the rest of the week. I still didn’t really tie up any loose ends because Jim was having trouble with imaging and I got sucked into SCCM. I did send out a couple of my trademarked customer service emails, where I resolved one issue and started helping someone on another.

Randy said he wanted a pizza buffet for lunch, and I reminded him that Cici’s was still doing their early week $4.99 deal. He, Charles, and I ended up going there, and it was pretty good. I missed out on my barbecue and spinach Alfredo, but I loved my salad.

When we got back to the office, Greg and Scott were in the building, which startled Randy. He disappeared for a bit, and then had a meeting with them afterward. I ended up staying a little bit late just trying to clean things up, but I couldn’t stay very late because I had to meet Summer in Conway for our dinner date.

I stopped to charge first, then met her at Old Navy to return the pants Eaddie didn’t like. Then we went to Outback and had what I thought was a super overpriced, poorly-cooked meal. The Bloomin’ Onion was good, but my baked potato was burned. The steak was pretty chewy, but it was a deal for a sirloin that came with a salad and cheesecake for dessert. Paying $70 for all of that plus a tip was wild.

From there, I headed home quickly so I could take the dogs out. Of course it was super dark out by the time we made it, but they did fairly well. They did try to chase a cat, and I had to yank them back and discipline for fear they’d yank me off the board again. We made it to my parents’ house, where Julie called in to verify some travel plans. Then I got the dogs home for their dinner.

Summer was settling in quickly, Eaddie came home and went straight to her room without a word, and I spent all night trying to pack and get things cleaned up for the girls to minimize their stress while I’m gone.

All my bags are packed. I’m ready to go.

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Crampache

Summer and I both got up fairly early today. Eaddie’s friend snuck out early while we were on the couch. I got a major thigh cramp that may have caused some muscle pain in my leg for the rest of the day, because I didn’t recall hurting that badly from yesterday’s fall when I first woke up.

Summer went to the gym and Eaddie left for church, and then was gone for the entire day. Summer said she wanted to clean up the back yard when she got home, but it was still soggy. I need to dig some trenches for the water to flow away from the house, and we probably need to clean out the gutters again before the spring rains show up.

I loaded up on some vitamins after cramping so much, and ate some leftovers for lunch. Then I took care of the plants, took a shower, and Summer and I took a bunch of bags to Walmart for recycling. We walked the store to try and stretch my legs out a bit, and picked up some dog food. Then we went by Lowe’s where she saw a couple of people from work. Our last stop was PetSmart to browse, where I encountered my old buddy Keith.

Summer needed to get home after we left there, so we made it to the house and I took the dogs out for a run. They did better than yesterday, and I was much better about staying behind them after the tumble I took. Both of the dogs wanted to splash in the creek a bit, but Stilgar wanted to dam up the stream. We met Dad in the street again, then made it home for dinner.

I finished up some leftovers with Summer, then spent the rest of the evening trying to clean up the kitchen area before I leave the girls for a week. They’ll have to bring in all of my Vine stuff while I’m gone, so I didn’t want that to stress them out much more than it already does.

Drop it!

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Blunderive

I woke up several times last night with terrible shin and calf cramps. Then as the night progressed, I started waking up to Stilgar barking at something outside. I eventually got up when Summer got out of bed, and she made us some bacon and eggs for breakfast. Then she went to the gym and Eaddie got up to go do something in the early afternoon. I had plans to meet with Mark to help with some computer questions, so I eventually got cleaned up to go help with that.

I stopped by Walgreens to pick up my iron pills, and I should have just asked the pharmacist if I could take it with my antibiotic, but I didn’t think of that in time. I made it to Mark’s place and waited a couple minutes for them to get in, and then I tried to help him talk through the concerns he had. They’re never really deeply technical problems that he has, but rather software quirks he has to work around because he just seems to have a lot of stuff he wants to manage. I ended up hanging out there for about three hours, in part waiting for OneDrive to sync, and he handed me a hundred bucks as we finished up for the day.

Summer had Eaddie outside taking pictures before the Sweetheart dance when I got home, and I made it inside to find my Mothman onesie just in time to get dressed up and take some pictures with her. Then we took pictures of her with Eli when he showed up.

Dad invited us over for spaghetti earlier in the day, and I still had to run the dogs before dark, so I took them out while Summer saw the kids off. We were doing pretty well until we made it around to Promenade Circle. We got to the last stretch of that road, and Stilgar decided he had to make an emergency stop to poop. Muad’Dib was already pretty far ahead, so that yanked everybody by the rope, and I tripped off the board as I tried to slow down. I landed on my right hand hard enough to draw a little bit of blood on my palm, and the dogs both wanted to come up and check on me. I got myself up, picked up the trail of poop, and we made our way to my parents’ house for dinner.

I left the dogs in the fence out back, and Summer showed up while Mom was prepping the last of the salad. It was completely dark by the time we finished eating, so we didn’t stay long. As soon as I stepped out back, Muad’Dib was there to greet me at the door. They must have pushed their way out through the fence and run around and back in somewhere else. I called to Stilgar, and saw him climb out of the pool cover to excitedly come greet the three of us. Dad and I tried to inspect the fence by phone flash, and he found a couple loose boards they probably pushed through. Luckily Stilgar didn’t appear to have pushed the cover all the way into the pool, but it made another good case for a taught cover.

Summer followed me home and the dogs were rowdy enough that they didn’t get dinner. Summer sat on her phone in the living room while I wrapped up on the computer, and we eventually made it to bed. Eaddie ended up bringing her friend Emma over to stay the night because she lives a little ways out and it was late.

Don’t oversync it.

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Rolled Foods

The drive to work was super foggy this morning. For the first several miles, I could barely see a couple car lengths ahead, so I had to take things slow. Gary and Randy were there, but things were quiet. Maggie gave me a sausage, egg, and cheese eggroll from the donut shop up the road. After that, the most excitement we saw was our CDW rep getting successfully phished. He tried shipping us a lab-worth of laptops, but luckily they caught it. Randy wanted to gripe at Steven, but of course when the conference call actually happened, he was much less confrontational. I told him not to rag on him too hard in spite of the PO printed in Comic Sans. He’s a human dealing with paperwork from possibly hundreds of clients.

I ended up taking lunch by myself, so I thought I’d try Blue Coast Burrito. It was a bit like a Chipotle, but for the hood. The food was good though, and they had individual cups of different salsas available by the drinks. I would have preferred a salsa bar to eliminate the plastic waste, but the salsa was good. After that, I went by Walmart to check their clearance aisle. It’s always sparse, but since they also sold beer, I picked up a couple things for Summer.

On the way back to the shop, I picked up some fries from Rally’s since I had an expiring coupon. Then the afternoon was mostly dull and quiet. I tried getting Jim into SCCM, but for some reason his laptop wouldn’t connect to the server.

There was an accident or something on the way home, so traffic was super slow for about a quarter of the way to Conway. I didn’t really have to, but I stopped to charge so I wouldn’t run my battery too low. Summer had dinner going again, so I quickly ran the dogs and made it home to eat. She made a sort of baked chicken cordon bleu with Brussels sprouts and mashed sweet potato. I thought it was all really good, but the potatoes were cold, which made them taste more like pie.

After we ate, I had a bunch of big Vine packages to process. My absolute favorite was a watch winder that felt pretty high quality from the moment I opened the shipping package. It was in another brown shipping type box, which housed a well-padded retail box. The winder itself was super cool looking. I never thought I’d actually get one, but I’d wanted one ever since I saw the dressup scene of the first Doctor Strange. I had to search to find out why his watches were spinning, and from that moment I knew I wanted one. Funny enough, his setup probably didn’t actually wind his watches because they were all laying flat instead of standing upright.

I tried not to stay up too late after that. I contacted the clinic again because I still hadn’t heard from a hematology referral. She sent me a prescription for iron, but the antibiotics she put me on specifically say not to take them with iron products because it reduces their absorption. Hopefully I can just take them a few hours apart, but it still got me worried about how urgent this alleged anemia is. She said to call the clinic myself on Tuesday, but didn’t tell me which clinic. I was feeling really good about having a new PCP, but now I’m questioning it.

Ah, cramp.

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Division of Duties

It rained all day today, and the latest version of FSD won’t let me just step on the accelerator for an unlimited amount of time any more to keep it moving along at higher speeds. That meant I had to drive for a few miles until things got a little less foggy and misty. I was a little bit late, but Randy was still at the conference and Kyle didn’t come by the office in the morning.

Jim and Jay came in and were going to help me hang a TV, but Jim ended up having to pick up Maggie because she was dropping her husband’s truck off for a tint job. Jay and I got the old TV down, but the screws for the new TV were too big to fit into the holes on the old mount, so we were stuck again. I don’t know why the whole move has been such a priority, but the secretary called Maggie again to check on a timeline, and we were later asked to write up a statement about the whole ordeal.

I met Kyle at David’s Burgers for lunch in the rain, and they were pretty good but slow for how many people were in the kitchen. I don’t love their fries, but I love that they’re unlimited if you can ever catch someone with a fresh bowl. I do like the seasoning on their burgers, but every time I ask for “all of the extras” they just give me the typical burger build instead of the jalapeños, grilled onions, and everything else.

The afternoon dragged on a bit. Randy showed up after the conference and we all caught up. I had been bouncing between tasks all day, but my biggest accomplishment was shrinking my SQL database so the drive would no longer be completely full.

I had to stop and charge on the way home due to the rain, but I ended up getting a leg cramp and wanted to get out to stretch anyway. Luckily it wasn’t raining and I paced the parking lot for a bit, then got back in and made it home. Summer had dinner ready and we ate some kind of weird orange glazed hamburger meat and green beans over rice. It was sort of “Hamburger Helper Meets the Far East.” It was alright, but I think it would have been far better on chicken.

Eaddie was helping at a swim meet, so the two of us just had dinner and a calm evening together since she wasn’t stressed from work and I didn’t run the dogs in the wet. Then it was a slightly earlier night to bed.

Who’s responsible for this???

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Don’t Break Anything

I got out a little earlier today and had a slower drive in to work to save some battery power. I could have made it home on the charge, but I still ended up supercharging on the way home anyway.

Randy was out at a conference, so it was just Maggie and me all day. She was in better spirits after her friend passed yesterday. Randy emailed us some things to do, but it seemed like those weren’t entirely our job to do. It’s confusing what we’re actually responsible for because the district is so overstaffed. We personally handled much more at both of my previous districts. On top of that, people kept knocking at the door all day, pulling me away from whatever I was avoiding.

I actually didn’t even take a lunch, but Maggie made me eat her leftovers. I can never tell if she’s just worried about me being hungry or if she’s just genuinely not hungry enough to finish her food. It’s a pretty regular occurrence for her to have leftovers, so I try not to feel guilty about eating stuff she gives me. I thought I’d leave a little early because I never left, but I only got out about ten minutes early.

I stopped in Conway to charge a bit just so I wouldn’t have to shuffle cars late at night. Then I got home and ran the dogs to the Ridgewood Brothers to see if I could catch Robert. I actually saw Grant, and he seemed to be doing a little bit better. I think their whole situation has probably just gotten to the point where you throw up and then start to feel a little bit better.

We got rained on a bit as we made our way back across town. Just as it started to sprinkle, we encountered Hannah driving the opposite direction. She stopped to chat and we caught up for a little bit before we continued on to my parents’ house. By then it had started to rain pretty hard, so my leg was soaked by the time we got home. The dogs were good though, so they got hot dogs before dinner.

Someone had brought a bunch of Vine packages in for me, so I sorted all of that before Summer got home. The morning went by fast, the afternoon went by slowly, and then the evening flew by. Summer had a bad day at work, and I think we’re both feeling pretty unsatisfied in general. We chatted for a bit before she went to bed. Eaddie got home late and went straight to her room, and then I crashed as quickly as I could.

You broke it.

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Bummers

Traffic was pretty bad on the way in this morning, but I got there. Randy was early again, and we all sat and chatted for a while in the morning. Maggie was stressing out due to something happening with a friend or family, so she ended up taking the afternoon off. I tried to help Jim with some stuff over the phone and was mostly successful, and Randy was in his executive team meeting all morning.

Lunch came a little late, and I met Kyle, Jim, Randy, and Jay at Brewski’s for their version of Taco Tuesday. I remembered thinking their burger was okay last time, but it was still bar food. I was even less impressed with their tacos, so I’ll never order those again. Everything was incredibly dry. Even the limes fell apart into pulp when we squeezed them. I actually ended up stopping at McDonald’s on the way back to get some fries, which were actually pretty good since I went to the one on McCain this time.

Sometime in the afternoon, Greg stopped by our office and for some reason wanted a tour of our shop area. I had a feeling someone put him up to it, but eventually Randy came back inside and said I couldn’t charge my car in there any more. That’s a pretty big bummer, especially in the winter, and it may be the straw that prompted the camel to update his resumé. It’s all about minimizing my time away from home, and if a few pennies worth of electricity is going to keep me away any longer, then it’s just not going to be sustainable for me.

I got home without any trouble and took the dogs out for a run. They weren’t great, so they didn’t get any treats when we got home, and I cut down their dinner a little as well. Muad’Dib hadn’t been eating some of his meals anyway.

I took care of some large Vine stuff before Summer got home, and she didn’t have a great day at work either. Then I had to fire off a message to the clinic because I was completely out of amlodipine for the next morning. Luckily they phoned it in to Walgreens and I was able to pick it up just a few minutes before they closed.

After I got back home, Dad said Uncle Tuan wasn’t doing great, so it looks like we’ll be going to visit. I don’t really know what happened to him for the past several years, but I know I’ll have a very different memory of him than what we’ll find, and he likely won’t remember me at all.

No Win Tuesday