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No Charge

I slept a lot better last night, but time is still an issue. I got out the door and made it to work fairly early, and it was a mostly dull day. I brought my new heated leather desk mat, so my hands were warm while the temperature outside stayed super low. Lunch time came and went, and I finally went to pick up food by myself. I got fries from McDonald’s, which is consistently the worst McDonald’s I’ve ever visited. Then I picked up a sandwich from Arby’s, which has traditionally been pretty good, but was cold and lackluster today.

The afternoon dragged on a bit, especially considering how late I took my lunch. I left a few minutes early since I spent most of my lunch at my desk. Then I supercharged in Conway before making it home to take the dogs out. Eaddie had some friends over to practice their instruments for All Region, but they were mostly done by the time we got back. It was so cold out, that Stilgar had to play on the ice in the pond.

I got a couple more travel car chargers in from Amazon Vine, but one of them wasn’t long enough to go from the nearest outlet to my charge port, and the other was a replacement for one that I couldn’t get to work. The new one wouldn’t work either, but did at least seem to try harder. I’ll have to reach out to the manufacturer to see if I can figure out what’s wrong, or else just return both of them.

I ate some leftovers, and then Summer got home and wound down for bed pretty quickly. Eaddie seemed to be taking some time to relax and worked on some Lego for a while in her room. I got a load of laundry done and made it to bed before 10, which I thought was a pretty good accomplishment, and that made me sad.

Being an adult is awful.

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FOMO Anxiety

I burned up all of my Vine orders pretty quickly yesterday on accident, so when a very specific Model 3 accessory just happened to become available after I had been pining after one, I was unable to order it. I don’t know how much of my anxiety that caused last night, but I couldn’t sleep at all. I ended up waking up right around two when the counter reset, and of course it was gone.

My alarm eventually went off and I got going for work. It was cold out, but the car had been preconditioning for a little while and was nice and toasty. I assume it was the crosswinds that caused it to howl down the interstate, because I don’t remember that happening at all the day we got it. It was a very eerie sound, especially to my groggy, sleep-deprived ears. I got to work in plenty of time, passing Randy just before we got to the exit. There was less fanfare than I expected when I got there. It almost seemed to mirror my own experience, but that was fine.

The morning went by pretty quickly, but not much how I expected it to. Things were quieter, possibly because kids weren’t back yet, though we’re several miles from the nearest campus with actual students. I got a text from Cici’s that they were doing their early week deal, and we actually had several takers. Maggie and I met Randy, Kyle, and Jim there. Jim said it wasn’t really pizza, but I countered that for $5, it didn’t have to be as long as it was the right shape.

I actually kept kind of busy in the afternoon, and of the three of us in the office, I was the first one out at the end of the day. I stopped to supercharge more than I needed to make the trip, since the electricity was free. There was a guy there that appeared to be working on the equipment, which I assumed was why it was quite a bit slower than it should have been.

Summer was making some kind of stuffed peppers for dinner when I got home. I took the dogs for a quick run before it got dark, and then Eaddie and Eli came to eat. I messed with some more accessories for both cars, got Summer’s tires aired up again, and then tried to start settling down quickly. I’d felt high-anxiety all day, and was ready for some sleep.

Find Calm

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Too Early; Too Late

I didn’t sleep in very late today, but I meant to get moving a little bit earlier in preparation for going back to work. Summer was up with some coffee. I had some turkey soup and got sucked into Vine shopping. Eaddie eventually got up around noon and went to church, then brought Eli back home with her.

I took a shower, and after a while, Summer said she was feeling so bad that she was concerned and wanted to go to the doctor. I got her loaded up and we went to the Conway Regional clinic to see the evening nurse. Mondalisa was there to give us a hard time, but we got in and out reasonably quickly. Summer had an inner ear infection, so we ran to Walgreens to fill her prescription before heading home.

I took the dogs out for a run in the cold before it got too dark. Stilgar didn’t seem to mind, and still wanted to sit in the pond water. We did a couple loops and made it to my parents’ house to see if they still had roast beef going for dinner. I made it home, then Summer and I went over to eat relatively quickly so we could get back home and wind down for bed.

Summer had been doing laundry all day, so I finally got to start a load myself as I finished up the rest of my evening chores. I wanted to go to bed about an hour earlier, but I didn’t make bad time. Hopefully I sleep well and have an easy start in the morning.

Bummer, lost pick.

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Hot Drinks and Pie

Summer was hurting pretty bad today, but she got up and spent the day on the couch. I had more energy, but my back was hurting pretty bad all day. Eaddie left around noon to go practice with her quintet in Fort Smith. I made Summer some Theraflu and hot tea throughout the day, and spent some more time cleaning things up out of the fridge. I got a Lectron level 1 charger in, and was able to get my car charging within minutes, unlike the “Very Van” brand one I tried yesterday.

The day went by quickly, and it was cloudy and cold all day, so I had to make it a point to take the dogs out. We had a pretty good run, visited my parents, and I played with them a little more than I’ve been able to all week. When we got back to the house, some door-knocking kid from Brightspeed came by and talked to me. He had a lot to share about his skateboard injury, but he wanted to try the Onewheel. He couldn’t sell me on a new ISP, but the price does seem to be getting more competitive. I wouldn’t mind having a proper public IP, but I really haven’t needed one for anything I’ve had time to do lately.

Once I got back inside, I ordered a pizza from Little Caesar’s, then went to get it. The new Model 3 still feels a little surreal because of the timing and how I went about ordering it. I bought it on much more of a whim than the last one, but I guess I need to settle in on it. It hasn’t helped that I just haven’t felt good enough to take it out on a drive anywhere. This next week of commuting to work again will get me back into that routine.

Eaddie got home just as we finished eating, and had some pizza herself. Then everyone started to settle in to bed. I was up late with a bit of a belly ache, but hopefully I’ll feel a little more motivated when I get back into work and get my routine going again.

Too much pie.

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Down Girl

Summer went to work this morning, but ended up coming home early as her illness progressed rapidly. Eaddie left early to spend the day with friends, and I got a ton of Vine deliveries at like three or four different times throughout the day. One of them was a big door sill protector kit for the Model 3, so I got the driver side installed without a terrible amount of trouble.

I cleaned up a bunch more leftovers before taking a shower and running the dogs. Right out of the driveway, one of the neighbors had her dog off-leash, so that stopped the boys dead in their tracks for a big sniff. Her little guy was feisty, and she kept complaining about him, but I was overall fairly proud of mine for just standing there and sniffing back quietly.

When we got to the end of my parents’ street, a car stopped for us and it was Melissa, the old custodian from Two Rivers. I think she said she was picking up her grandson for a movie or something, so I caught up with her for a moment and shared stories about how we were both screwed out of money at that school. Then we finally made our way around to see Dad before heading home for dinner. I still wasn’t feeling great, but needed to be productive around the house. I cleaned up quite a bit in my office and the kitchen. Two of the Vine deliveries were EV chargers. One I couldn’t test without a dryer outlet, and the other didn’t appear to work, so I filed for an exchange.

Eaddie got home pretty late after a good day out. Summer was in bed all day watching TV. I got a message from Diana that her poor cat, Jasper died suddenly from kidney failure. She just can’t catch a break.

I’ve got so much more to do, all while spinning my waking schedule around for work. I mustn’t forget laundry, or else I won’t have anything to wear.

Big bills here. Bigger bills coming.

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Thornsday Cleanout

I was jarred awake this morning when Maggie called around eight to ask if I was coming in to work. Maybe she was worried, because I’m always there around seven, but I told them I wasn’t going back for just two days this week. I got out of bed then, since Summer had to go to work anyway. Even Eaddie got up and took a shower, but then she left with friends. I warmed up a plate of some hot turkey, twice-baked potato, and sour dressing instead of going out to eat like I had imagined all night long.

I felt pretty bad all day, and started to fall asleep in the afternoon, but made myself take a shower and take the dogs out for a long run. We caught my parents just as they got back from somewhere, and then we came home so I could clean up the kitchen.

I had spent all day in my head, mad and frustrated with the girls and our living situation, and their habits around the house. I was glad to have the kitchen finished when Summer got home, but she reeked of gasoline. Eaddie got home and mostly stayed in her room as usual, and I dawdled a while longer before making it to bed. My nerves and anxiety were shot.

Ya hya chouhada!

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Buffalo Weak Wings

I was starving for some hot, good food this morning, so I announced that to Eaddie when she finally left her room, and we got out of the house to find something to eat. I was between Chinese or Mexican. She chose Mexican. The new place I drove to was closed, so we ended up going in to Buffalo Wild Wings. I hadn’t even realized they were open again, but the parking lot was full and the music inside was turned up to eleven.

The service was pretty poor. Our server only came by the table once after bringing our food, and that was to drop off some napkins and waters. The cheese curds were good, but the chicken was overcooked with dark, dry breading, and very little sauce. The chicken was really small, too. Overall, the whole meal left us feeling very dry in the mouth. The atmosphere was also terrible. The audio for the TV channel kept cutting out constantly, so the constant barrage of advertisements we were forced to hear at maximum volume was even more jarring than it would be otherwise. We did not want a club atmosphere for lunch on a Wednesday.

After we ate, we headed back to the house and I got the garage cleaned up so I could park the new Model 3 inside. Eaddie helped me deliver the Shadow and the R1 to Kevin’s hangar. On our second trip, we spotted Julie at their big hangar, so I stopped in to see her briefly before going back home.

Eaddie left to go to the park, and I took the dogs on a quick run before moving the last of the stuff out of the garage. I finished just in time to park inside before Summer made it home. She was visibly beat from her day, so she took a bath and went to bed. Eaddie wasn’t out much past dark, and I was still feeling pretty awful, so I made it to bed super early.

Accessorize

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Down and Pout

I started to feel a bronchial cough coming on late Sunday, and by Monday morning I was feeling chills and aches. The head cold came on quickly after that, and it wasn’t long before I was riding a >102ยบ fever. I basically stayed in bed the entirety of Monday through Tuesday morning. By then, my back was hurting so badly that I couldn’t get comfortable in the bed for more than about a minute. I still felt pretty terrible, but I was able to get up and move around the house to warm up some turkey soup. I think I ate over 20 mandarin oranges within about 20 hours.

I remember Eaddie wanted to go to the park both days. I spent a few hours trying to clean up the kitchen before Summer got home. She took a bath, and I started really craving a cheeseburger. I should have gone to get it myself, but she insisted. After harassing me to place the order, then stopping in the bathroom, then taking Eaddie along for the ride as she got home, they finally made it home with my cold food. I could have finished my meal twice over in the time it took them, and all they could do was call me mean for saying as much.

My heart raced for a few hours after that, and the metoprolol didn’t do much to keep it under 100bpm. At least my blood pressure was fine. I finally took a shower, which did help me feel a little bit better while Eli and the girls watched Jack and Jill to ring in the new year.

At least.

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Double Dooty

Summer woke me up because someone knocked on the door this morning. We both assumed it was probably a package, but there wasn’t anything at the door when we checked. She got around to come coffee in an Ember mug and remarked on how nice it was to have hot coffee to the last sip. I commented that it’s also nice to have only one cup that’s immediately washed and put away, rather than a countertop full of poorly-rinsed coffee mugs that collect over the course of a week or two. That upset her, which irritated me.

Eaddie snuck out for church at some point, and Summer wanted to go to the gym. I went outside after the dogs tore something else up, and had to drain the flooded basement. While I was back there, I noticed a hole in the roof where something was likely nesting. Summer took my car to the gym after some protest because of the lack of turn signal and drive stalks. I took a shower, and when she got back, she had a glum look on her face. She then proceeded to tell me about witnessing a hit-and-run in the parking lot in such a way that I was on edge the entire time thinking something happened to my car, which irritated me further.

I eventually took the dogs out for a run since it was finally mostly dry out. When we got back, the girls were home doing a ton of laundry and cleaning up. I messed with some more accessories for my car and installed some kick panels on the center console, then went back to my parents’ house for mango soup.

When I made it back home, I spent a bunch more time cleaning up while Summer cross stitched in front of the TV and Eaddie finished up her laundry. I got Summer’s license plate frame installed, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about adding one to mine. We’ll have to test it out once I get it registered.

I was sleepy for most of the evening, but general aggravation that had accumulated throughout the day got my blood pressure up. I felt a bit of a bronchial cough coming on all night, so hopefully I’m not getting sick.

Easy

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Rainy Review Day

I got out of bed with Summer this morning instead of letting myself sleep all day. It was rainy out, so we played with the dogs on the porch for a little bit. I got a few more things from Vine later in the day, so I spent some time catching up on reviews. The girls both left for a while and I took a shower in the afternoon. Dad invited us over for egg rolls again, so Summer and I went to eat dinner with them in the evening.

When we got back home, I spent some time messing with more Model 3 accessories. I got all of my puddle lights installed, and swapped out some console trays. The hardest thing I did was attach some rear seat vent covers in both cars. They just didn’t want to snap in on the Model Y. The ones I got for the Model 3 didn’t actually fit at all, but laid in place in a way that seemed mostly secure, so I left them.

Summer had been working on embroidery and cross stitching all day in front of the TV. Eaddie brought her some more when she got home, and we all eventually made our way to bed pretty late.

Productivity Pit