Tag: adventure

Uncategorised

Steam Bath

Summer said she saw the rat on top of her car when she left for the dentist this morning. I thought I felt it watching me as I opened the door to feed it last night, and I was surprised it didn’t escape earlier. Without knowing where it went, I left the garage door open for a couple hours with the hopes it would leave on its own.

I had some cereal, but then the girls got hungry and I ordered some pizzas from Domino’s for an early lunch. Summer left for work in the early afternoon, and Eaddie left to hang out with Eli, so I decided to take a hot bubble bath after being cold all night. I played Don’t Touch Anything on the Steam Deck and got half a dozen or so of the different endings.

I eventually got around to leaving the house, and took the Onewheel for a long ride to the Neighborhood Market to drop off recycling, and then to the old house to feed the fish. I plugged in to charge a bit while I aired up the R1 tires and took it for a ride to the carwash. The front brake lever was super squishy, so I’ll need to bleed that line before I take it out for any lengthy rides. I’m super late for an oil change anyway, so I might as well tear it down and do that myself too.

While I was at the wash, Summer said she got a call from the bank that her account had been compromised. The more she talked about it, the more it sounded like a scam call, which upset her even more. I took the bike back home and rode the Onewheel back to my parents’ house before sunset, and Mom made me a bánh xèo for dinner.

After I ate, I rode on back to the Neighborhood Market and got behind a smokey truck that seemed intent on leaving me in clouds of black soot. I picked up a bag of oranges and dropped it off back at home, and then made a couple more loops around the neighborhood before parking it for the night.

Eaddie was out late, and Summer kept dawdling at work, so I had to call both of them home. When Summer got home, I had her reset a bunch of passwords to try and mitigate any other account shenanigans, and tomorrow we’ll visit the bank.

Just throw your phone away.

Uncategorised

Three Wheelin’

I got up relatively early this morning, but almost immediately gave up and went back to sleep for a couple more hours. The second time I woke up, Eaddie had gotten up and taken a shower. I had some cereal for breakfast and then took a shower myself before texting to request a tow for the old Pathfinder. I asked Eaddie if she wanted to go out on her bike while I rode the Onewheel, and to my delight, she was agreeable.

I aired up her tires, and we took off down the road toward Splash. I had the 16-mile achievement in the back of my mind, but it would take some lollygagging and probably a bit of charging to make it. We got as far as the city park before we stopped for a little break. Eaddie tried riding the Onewheel a time or two, and then we continued to Walgreens. I picked up an online order of some clearanced toothpaste, and then we continued all the way to Splash.

Summer was too busy to entertain us, so we circled around to get some food at Freddy’s until I got a text that David was on his way to pick up the Pathfinder. We went back and got Summer’s car, and met the tow truck at the old house, and then followed him to Orr Nissan. Tim got my information set up for service, and then we went back to drop off the Model Y.

Summer was ready to leave work, but didn’t want to have to do anything with us, so Eaddie and I rode back down the road and ended up stopping at La Huerta for dinner. The food was great, and we had a pretty good time. Afterward, we went back to Freddy’s for dessert before starting back home.

The ride home was pretty long and tiring, and by the end of it, I still needed four more miles to get my achievement. We rested for a little bit, and then Eaddie decided to ride with me to the marina, where Dad had his cameras set up to try and capture a comet. It was super windy and cold, but she got on the Onewheel some more and managed to ride around reasonably well while grasping my arm for dear life. As she got colder, she sat in the car while I rode out my final four miles.

By the time I came back around, Dad had given up on the comet. We headed home and I made us some hot chocolate, and we watched a couple episodes of Better Call Saul. It’s been on our watch list for long enough, and the show started off pretty good, so I think we’re in for an adventure.

I feel so cool!

Uncategorised

31,680

The girls went to work and school this morning, so I had the morning to myself. I didn’t sleep in super late, but I got plenty of rest before getting up to finish some biscuits and gravy. Then I watched some YouTube before I took a shower and eventually got dressed to go out on the Onewheel.

I rode over to Ridgewood Brothers and saw Grant and Kyler for a bit. Then I started to ride toward the wash before I remembered Summer was out of town. I circled around and headed back toward home, but stopped near Sequoyah when I got a call from Tesla. They’re about ready to buy my car back, and wanted to schedule a drop-off during spring break. I told him we were traveling, and he said he would check on the paperwork dates to make sure we’d be okay.

While I was stopped, I got a text from Dustin asking if I was okay, or if I needed a ride. I continued back toward the house and then split off to see Dad for a moment. Then Summer finally made it back to the wash and I decided to run across town to see her. I stopped at Sonic along the way to try one of their “dirty” sodas. The cream and coconut were most pronounced, and then there was a whole lime thrown in, which was surprisingly subtle.

By the time I made it to the wash, I only had about 20% left. I let one of her employees try it out, and without any experience, he jumped on and just took off around the parking lot. It was pretty impressive. I hung out for a little bit, but Summer was going to be a while, so I took the Onewheel home in her car to charge.

Eaddie was home, but about to leave the house again. I chatted with her for a little bit before she left, and then waited for Summer to finish up at work. She wasn’t hungry and just wanted to go home and take a bath, so I took her to the house and rode the Onewheel back to Ridgewood for a little smokehouse treat. It got cold out, but I kept riding and went back to my parents’ house to pick up a couple drain plugs for the kitchen sink. By the time I made it home for the night, I had ridden about 15 miles, which more than doubled my personal best.

Summer was watching the new Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle until Eaddie made it home. Then we watched a few episodes of the The Office original UK series before the girls headed to bed. I fought my computer for a couple more hours, but eventually settled in.

That’s a lot of revolutions for such a little tire.

Uncategorised

Clammy Wednesday

My temperature was down under 100º this morning, so I went back to work. Kim kept wanting to talk at me, and Denice kept bringing kids back for testing, one at a time. I had to turn her daughter away when she tried to come get her backpack out of her office. She started to get an attitude with me, and the whole ordeal is kind of coming to a head for me.

I brought along some ramen in case all the cafeteria had was hotdogs, but they ended up baking potatoes too. Otherwise it was a long afternoon of humidity and slight sweatiness until I finally got to head home.

Summer warmed up some leftovers for dinner, so I fed the fish and grabbed a couple things to take home. The three of us ate, and then I rode the Onewheel to the Neighborhood Market for a couple things. It was pretty nice out, so I dropped that stuff off at home and then went to my parents’ house to see them for a bit. Dad and I went out to fly his little drone a bit, and we kept crashing when the thing was set to use GPS. Flying without was much better.

Afterward, I saw a kid riding a Onewheel on the next street up, so I rode up to try and find him. It ended up being the son of The Sign Hub folks. I met Nick and chatted with him for a little bit, but their son was off doing other things by then. I continued on home, slowly rolling by to chat with a couple old ladies that were walking the neighborhood.

The girls were both off to bed pretty early. I went out to check on the empty rat traps, and Summer and I watched What Women Want, which I don’t think aged super well. Then it was bedtime.

What an ass.

Uncategorised

City Swamp

I didn’t catch our rat last night, but it made another appearance on camera. We ended up having to take Eaddie to Little Rock today for less than an hour of rehearsal, but she was at Tech for the state robotics tournament all morning. Summer and I picked her up around lunch time and headed out of town. We were hungry enough to stop at McDonald’s in Morrilton, and then we made our way to the Wilbur D. Mills University Studies High School.

We left Eaddie, and then I took Summer down the road to the Lorance Creek Natural Area where we walked down a trail through a swamp. It was pretty neat, but there were clouds of gnats everywhere. We almost made it back to the car when Eaddie texted that she was done. We picked her up, and she wanted to head straight back home to catch the end of the tournament, so we didn’t get to do any other shopping or adventuring.

Charge was low, so we had to plan a stop somewhere. Fortunately they built a new Supercharger in Conway, so we stopped there for just a few minutes before completing the journey home. We left Eaddie at the coliseum and then the two of us went to Ridgewood for an early dinner. Grant looked to be doing better, and things were kind of slow and steady at the restaurant.

I took the Onewheel around the neighborhood when we got back home. It wasn’t any surprise that Summer didn’t want to get out of the house again, so we settled in to watch some TV for the evening. Eaddie got home late, without a trip to Worlds, and then everyone was off to bed to do it all over again in the morning.

That’s just a lot.

Uncategorised

Downtime, Downtown

I was actually early for work today, but I got a text from Kim just as I was pulling in that the internet was down. I spent the entire day trying to get the switches to respond again, and nearly overheated in the server room. I had to take a break for lunch, but ended up there again at the end of the day. I installed a pretty big upgrade on the Ubiquiti controller, which I had been saving for some downtime. Forced downtime won, but I couldn’t tell if the upgrade actually helped or not. I had Kim call DIS to try and get some help, but as soon as she got to an agent, she handed the phone to me, not even waiting long enough to hear that the poor girl couldn’t troubleshoot, and would only be submitting a ticket for us.

I eventually got the switches back online after school let out, and then I got into some fast traffic to get home quickly. Robert called from DIS, and we scheduled a call for the morning to check for the cause of the day’s outage. I fed the fish and grabbed a couple things, and then ran home to get the Onewheel.

Dad wanted to know if anyone wanted to go out for my birthday, so I rode the Onewheel across town to the carwash to find Summer. Along the way, I spotted a couple girls at James Park that looked like they stepped straight off the streets of Grand Theft Auto. Then I crossed the tracks and rode through the Superfast lot before crossing the street and coming into the back side of the wash.

Summer was slow to leave work, and was back and forth on whether she wanted to eat. In the end, Mom wanted New China, and the two of us met them there.

I thought about riding the Onewheel home after that, but Summer made a B-line for the passenger seat again. I drove us home, and settled down pretty quickly after a tough day.

Did I just get catcalled by a daywalking prostitute?

Uncategorised

Dam Skate Park

Summer went to the gym and Eaddie went to a robotics tournament today. A little after Summer got back, we decided to go to Old Post so she could practice the Onewheel on level ground. She did really well, and got to turn around in the road and ride around on the sidewalk a little bit. On the way back home, we stopped at the Neighborhood Market for some brats and fries for a late lunch or early dinner.

Eaddie got home from robotics and wanted to go out on her bicycle. I fried and grilled some food, and then went out on the Onewheel myself for a bit as it got dark. I tried stopping by Ridgewood to see Grant, but they were busy and I didn’t want to be a bother.

Summer and I watched Modern Family when I got back, and Eli came over to hang out while Eaddie made brownies. Everyone went to bed at pretty reasonable times except me. For some reason I just kept getting sucked into time-wasting.

Woah, again!

Uncategorised

Flaxen, Waxen

I woke up feeling much better after feeling sick last night, and got up to bake the breakfast pizza I picked up on Wednesday. I took a slice to Summer while she was in bed and then did the dishes before I started getting ready for our trip.

We didn’t get started until nearly lunch time, so we ran by the old house to feed the fish and grab some water bottles before going to BFD for lunch in Dardanelle. I thought the fajita portion was large, but didn’t realize that I didn’t get the lunch price until after we’d left.

The drive to Hot Springs was quick and uneventful, and we made it just in time to check in at the Hotel Hot Springs. Eaddie was busy doing her own thing, so we didn’t see her at all. We walked the strip a bit as things were closing down. We were too late for the Gangster Museum, but Summer really wanted to go to the Josephine Tussaud Wax Museum. I hadn’t been since I was a kid, and by now I was more interested in the historical stuff they had from the old casinos.

They had a free wine tasting after the tour, and then we walked back to the hotel to use our free drink coupons before dinner. It was pretty late by the time we got out, so our options were limited. We ended up going to A&W, and it was great. Evidently they were under new ownership with a strict fresh-to-order model. It was probably the best fast food burger I’ve ever had, but that may have been the root beer talking. I love A&W.

I took us to Crumbl for some cookies after that, and we got a box of a dozen cookies at over three bucks a piece. They were a little soft and rich for me, but I thought it would be a good treat because of the baking show celebrity around it. I guess it worked, because we got to watch A Knight’s Tale instead of baking shows when we got back to the room for the night.

Time for a deep dive on coffee grinders!

Uncategorised

Server-Client Privilege

I took Summer’s car to work today just to be safe, since she would be working on town. Just as I got to work, I got a very apologetic call from Tulsa Tesla to say that they were sending someone out to bolt my car back together tomorrow.

Apart from that, I kept pretty busy working on SCCM all day. I seemed to be having trouble getting the client installed remotely, and I couldn’t tell whether it was a settings issue, or if I was just being impatient. Hopefully I’ll know more tomorrow after it sits overnight.

Kim brought me some leftover lunch trays again, so I ate while she was at duty. The last part of the day dragged on a bit, and then I headed home to feed fish, see Summer at Superfast, grab some tacos, and then head home to eat.

Eaddie was at robotics a little late, so as soon as I finished eating, I headed out on the Onewheel. I forgot to get more dishwasher detergent, so I rode it to the old house to get that. My legs and feet were burning, but it was a load of fun. I stopped by Gary’s on the way back for a break, but he didn’t answer the door. Then I saved myself from wiping out on a crack in the sidewalk. The streets are way better to ride because of the frequent breaks in concrete.

The girls were home when I finally got back, exhausted from my ride. Everyone wound down pretty quickly, and I thought I’d make it to bed really early, but then I watched the first episode of the newest season of The Daily Show since Jon Stewart is back. I’ve missed him as the host, and I think the world needs him for what this election cycle is going to bring.

Carve away.

Uncategorised

So Long, Dot

We got up early this morning so we could make it to Tulsa early enough to make a day of it. Eaddie didn’t feel great, so she went to school a little late. Summer and I left for my house, then the wash to vacuum out the car. From there, we made it to Ozark to charge and get breakfast at the restaurant inside. It wasn’t bad at all, but I had kind of hoped for better, given my experience at truck stops in the past.

That got us enough juice to get all the way to Tulsa, but we stopped briefly at the Love’s oasis for some energy drinks for ourselves. When we got to downtown Tulsa, we parked right by the Center of the Universe “art piece.” The look on Summer’s face when she finally spoke up enough to hear the echo was priceless. We didn’t stay long though, and went to the nearest supercharger to get some juice before finally just heading straight to the Tesla service center.

I met several new people this time. Blake was working the service counter and contacted the manager, Jess, about my buyback inquiry. He indicated that he had already escalated it internally, and that I should hear something back in a couple weeks. He blamed the weather for the delay in getting the replacement battery pack. After that I met Tam, who introduced himself as a Vietnamese American for some reason after I asked his name. I drove him down the road to try and reproduce the rattle in my passenger door, and of course it really had healed itself. I don’t know if someone heard it and fixed it, if it was changed due to the weather, or maybe someone fixed it on accident somehow. When that was all done, I moved everything over from the loaner and got Summer into the car. She made a comment about my trunk being loud again, so I had Tam check it out while we were there. He didn’t seem to think there were any adjustments they could do, but said they could replace the trunk strut if I wanted to submit for a new service request.

We left after that, and got some dinner at Cheddar’s. I tried their Cajun pasta, which was pretty good. I kind of wished I had stuck with the pot pie though, just because it really is delicious with their croissant crust. Summer really enjoyed her tilapia and shrimp as well. We started home after that, but on a whim I stopped at The Peach Barn after seeing a billboard. Peach ice cream sounded good. They had a cute little store with lots of jarred goods, nuts, fudge, and some other stuff. Then we got a peach sundae, smoothie, and a couple hand pies and fudge to take with us.

The drive home was mostly rainy until we got back to Arkansas. We stopped in Van Buren to charge, and then almost made it home when we got into some heavy traffic with a bunch of trucks, and I took a bunch of gravel to the face a couple of times. I had a few new speckles in the paint, as well as a small surface chip in the windshield, dead center in my vision. Now I’m really hoping the buyback works. If not, I’ll have to raise concerns with the service center due to at least one paint bubble that I think happened due to the freeze while it was in their possession.

We made it home, Summer went to bed, and I pumped the basement out again. Eaddie made it home late after all-region, but went to bed almost immediately after. I was up for a while just wasting time until I went to bed.

Rotten luck.