What can I say except, “you’re welcome!”

I slept in again today, but made time to clean the aquarium and living room before going out. The girls went shopping and wanted CiCi’s, so I met them there for that. Afterward we stopped in to Shoe Carnival so I could look for some sandals. I don’t really understand it, but the sandals I wear are at least a size larger than my shoe size.

When we left there, Summer asked what the plan was, and I told her that I was going to go play video games by myself and she could do whatever she wanted. Eaddie said she was with me, so I took her, which I think was a surprise to everyone. It looked like Summer and Autumn went toward their house, and Eaddie and I went to my house, but then made a detour to get half a sandwich out of the office refrigerator. On the way back, we passed a bird sitting in the gutter of the road that didn’t move, so I circled around and we walked over to look at it. I managed to poke it before it wobely flew across the street. We followed it, but I never got to touch it again. I did get a sweet picture of it when it landed just outside arm’s reach in a tree.

Giving up on the bird, we came back to my house and met the others and played some Blokus before settling in to watch Moana. I loved the movie, and the 3D was spot-on.

If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me…

Are you serious?

We crawled out of bed this morning just in time to get some breakfast from the bar downstairs. I had just about one of everything. I only regret not making it in time for the free beer the night before.

After we got up and around, we checked out and headed into town. I thought we’d have enough time to hit the mall and the strip, but we ended up only shopping at the mall. We spent most of our time in FYE, one of the last remaining general media and entertainment retailers. Then Summer tried on some swimsuits, and I remembered why I hated shopping at Dillard’s. By the time we got out of there, it had started to sprinkle, and we decided to start heading home. We did stop for some spring water on the way out, but then we hit the road.

It cleared up pretty nicely for the trip back, and I was surprised again that we didn’t encounter any leisure riders, either by motorcycle or car. It was mostly stupid trucks. The ol’ Murano carried us back swiftly enough to make me proud, and I dropped Summer off at home before heading to my parents’ house for a pre-birthday dinner.

They tried to broil some lobster tails to go along with a hodgepodge of other food. Mom made fried rice, but didn’t fry the lobster in the rice. I had a bit of everything, just like breakfast. My sister tried to fix 30 years of incompatibility by griping at it, and I had a Coco Rico.

When I got home and unpacked, I played a couple rounds of PUBG with Clint, and almost carried us to victory, but landed second place after getting shot in the face by a bush.

You make it hard to take anything seriously.

Shiny Rocks

We decided to spend a night in Hot Springs this weekend. The weather was great, and the roads were surprisingly clear. We didn’t encounter a single motorcycle until we stopped at Iron Springs, where we got out to wander around and dig for quartz.

Once we got into greater Hot Springs, traffic had us riding the break all the way through town. It must have been a big day at the horse track, because there were a ton of people walking down the streets dressed to the nines.

We stopped by Red Lobster for dinner before finding a hotel. We probably could have gotten by way cheaper, but I decided to stay at the Staybridge Suites where we stayed for HSTI. I liked the rooms, and the girl at the counter gave us a better price than what was advertised online, so overall I was happy.

Just in time to miss the sunset!

Fire When Ready

This morning was mostly rain-free, but then it started in the afternoon and just wouldn’t quit. I had Sumo for lunch two days in a row because Summer wanted to meet up there. The afternoon had me down to less than a handful of work orders remaining, so I felt pretty good about that.

After work, I went to my parents’ house where Mom fried some shrimp for dinner. Then Dad, Julie, and I all went to a friend’s place where he had an indoor shooting range set up and could test us to renew our concealed handgun carry licenses. It was pretty fun, but I can’t afford any more expensive hobbies.

After that, I came home and played some PUBG with Josh until bedtime.

PEW PEW PEW

Christmas Filets

Summer wanted to get some Christmas shopping done in Conway today, so I got myself up early and we made the trip. Traffic was pretty dumb, but overall it wasn’t that bad being around that many people in the stores. We stopped at Logan’s for lunch fillets before walking down the other side of the strip mall. On the way out of town, I showed her Game Point, and she marveled at all of the old video games they had.

Once back to town, I dropped her off at home before heading home myself for a little while. She invited me along to see Ferdinand with the kids, which was interesting. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a family movie in a theater, so I didn’t even really register the trailers as movie trailers so much as cartoon shorts. It was kind of nice to not take things so seriously though, with all the other random screaming kids in there. It was a good time.

You can’t see me, my time is now!

What are Traditions: Work Holiday Shindig 2017

Today was kind of a weirdly relaxed day, mostly due to a pep rally at the junior high. I did make some decent progress on some things I had been working on though, so overall it was a successful day.

People have been so impressed with my Pixel 2 XL that both Sarah and Ronda ordered smaller ones for themselves. I played with Sarah’s for a bit, and really liked the size. The top and bottom bezels didn’t feel as bad as they looked in pictures. I still feel like mine is way too big to comfortably use, but I like the smaller bezels.

After work, I had to run to Walmart to pick up the stuff for a broccoli, rice, and cheese casserole for Ben’s Christmas dinner at his place. He smoked a pork shoulder, and we had all the fixings for a nice barbecue meal. Gary and I traded high scores in Seaquest on the Atari, at one point taking turns doubling each other’s previous scores. It was a really great time with everyone.

Centuries worth of technological advances, and this is what we do with it?

What are Traditions: Magic Club Potluck 2017

I got up this morning after a late night of sneaky Photoshopping to the blog with plenty of time to get ready to leave for the Magic Club Christmas meeting. It’s late enough in the year now that I think we can accept a little bit of festivity.

We were pretty late leaving my parents’ house, because why wouldn’t we be? I brought my HTC 10 along for the ride to try and compare service. Overall it seemed about the same, but I didn’t spend all day with my face in my phones either. Surprisingly my data at the Riverfront Park was actually a bit faster on straight Sprint. I probably should have gotten an app to monitor what towers I was hitting before we left.

I felt a little removed for most of the meeting. It’s grown quite a lot over the years. This year they had a string quartet while we ate. There were enough other people there for setup and teardown that I didn’t really do anything. The show was almost entirely for the kids, and I don’t think anybody really talked to me at all except to say hello.

We hit up some Oriental grocery stores on the way out of town, and I picked up some shrimp and cuttlefish chips and some dried squid. My snack game has been off lately, which I suppose is good. Once home, I did a load of laundry to cap the weekend.

Please enjoy this “tastiness.”

A Show of Art

I tried sleeping without earplugs last night, and just as I expected, I kept waking up to every mask leak all night long. On the plus side, my back was significantly better today. There’s still pain, but it’s no longer debilitating.

I met Summer at the River Valley Arts Center for Miranda’s art show. I wish I had taken some pictures, but I also don’t know if that’s a thing that’s frowned upon, so I guess it doesn’t matter. She had some really great work though, and it made me want to try being artistic again.

When we left there, we stopped by Arby’s for some lunch until she had to go to the school to prep for class tomorrow. I came home and basically spent the rest of the afternoon trying to find a photograph that seems to have disappeared. I even tried Josue to see if he still had it, and though he managed to dig up a couple others, he didn’t find the one I was looking for.

I went to my parents’ for some chow mein for dinner, then came home to do some laundry for work tomorrow. I’m having to try and shrink my new polyester work shirts, and I don’t think it’s going to work. Evidently Holloway sizes their sport pollos at least a size too large. Standards aren’t hard, people.

I watched the first half of The Avengers while the laundry was going. I haven’t seen it in quite a while, so I felt like I needed a refresher.

That guy’s brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him.

ACoT 2017: Day 2

That bed was AMAZING! I’ve never had such a comfortable bed in a hotel in my life. The mattress, the sheets, the blankets, the pillows… Everything was just exactly how I like it. I was really blown away.

I was mostly on my own for classes today. I went to a 3D printing session, and then a couple of sessions on phishing and security with a guy from Palo Alto that I had talked to at the bar the night before. The phishing session ran a bit long into the break, so after a while I got up for a few minutes and then returned with Allen for the second session. When we got there, the guy was leaving for lunch. We checked the schedule with him to confirm that he was supposed to be there, and then the three of us sat down for a really loose conversation for a few minutes before breaking for lunch.

After we ate, we started to pack up and headed back home. I ended up hanging out at the shop for a while until Ben let everyone go home. We chatted for a while, and eventually I made my way home to unpack. It was a good couple of days, but I’m exhausted, and now I miss the hotel bed.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Let’s do something stupid instead.

ACoT 2017: Day 1

After an early start, today was pretty awesome. We’re at the Arkansas Conference of Technology, and so far the classes seemed really great, and the vendors are always a great plus. While I could have learned as much just on my own given a whole day of focused playing around, this really helped to have a guided tour.

After the conference, we went to dinner at a Benihana in the hotel. I totally got the high score. Then we went to a bar on the Riverfront for a vendor’s shindig. It was just Ben, Ryan, and me, and I had a blast. It’s weird to see a bunch of tech people get down to music that always makes me roll my eyes. You really can’t beat 12 drinks for a $5 tip to the shuttle driver.

Today was a great full-day class, but I’m looking forward to normal classes all day tomorrow. I wonder what I’ll learn.

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