Tag: adventure

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Flight Plan

Even Summer thought I should get out of the house a bit today, so I got up this morning, fed the dogs, had a burger, took a shower, and called Dad to meet up. I went to his house and we flew the FPV drone around the neighborhood, and then we were going to go see Kevin at the airport.

Dad had someone coming out to quote some tree removal at the old house, so we had to go there first. Then Summer wanted something to eat, so I picked up some Burger King for her before we finally made it to the airport.

The hangar was pretty impressive. I’d only ever seen the main area, and never been through the offices before, but Julie rented the whole space for their new business. Kevin was hanging out while some glue dried, but we got to see him put a couple strips of fabric down after we got a quick tour of the place. Julie eventually showed up after work and did a walkthrough herself. Dad and I left shortly after that, and I dropped him off before going home.

The girls would be out late, so I finished up the aged burrito stuff. Then I took the dogs out on a hard walk. I finally put together the reason they pull so hard on some of our walks. Today was trash day, and there were drips, spills, and smells absolutely everywhere for them. Stilgar even found a whole Milk-Bone, which I broke in half for them. We eventually made to to my parents’ house again, and Mom got home from a long day of work while we were there.

On the way back home, I happened to run into James as he was driving home, and he gave me back my Ember mug power adapter. He said they sprung a presenter on him with just a three-minute notice, and I had to chuckle inside. That place will never get better.

Summer was home and nearly passed out on the couch when I got back home. She had a long and hard day at work, so we talked for a little bit before she went to bed. Eaddie went to the gym and then got home late for a shower and bed. I did my best not to stay up too late, but I still found time to order some more “free” junk on Amazon.

That is incorrect.

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Instant Offers

I woke up about an hour before my alarm with some stomach pain, which was perfect for a day of travel. I got up and took a shower, but gave myself some time to settle down a bit before leaving town. Summer was working in town, so I brought her a breakfast burrito and then headed to Conway for my first stop.

I really wanted to go to Kohl’s and a couple Home Depots before my interview in North Little Rock, but somehow Kohl’s absorbed every second of my extra lead time. I ended up getting a dog toy, and as I pulled out of the parking lot I realized I needed to get straight to the interview.

The rest of the drive was pretty quiet. I got to the building and sat outside the conference room for a few minutes before they called me in, and it was Randy with four of his guys. I don’t even know what they were doing before they called me in, because nobody else left. The whole process felt like an interview speedrun. They introduced themselves, then I chatted about my time in schools, which actually answered most of their official interview questions. It was a little awkwardly quiet at first, but we eventually got to the laughs and disparaging remarks about K-12 education.

I was done in less than half an hour, and there just happened to be a Home Depot right up the road, so I stopped there to hunt down some clearance Nest thermostats. They had four – one of which was an opened box. I haggled them down from $75 to $60 to clear them out, and then headed to get Ben for lunch.

I thought we might go to Cotham’s, but he chose Three Fold, which was a noodle and dumpling place just a few blocks away. It was a relatively fancy looking place, and though staff was friendly, I found the food to be pretty lackluster. There was zero heat to the “spicy” level, so I should have read the menu and chosen “poison.” I guess the noodles were also supposed to be dry, but they had enough “broth” that I assumed it was a soup with too little of it. The dumplings were bland, and the jelly tea was watered down in an already-tiny cup. The portions were miniscule, especially for $35. I would not go again.

We chatted for a while and then I took Ben back to work. I started to look for other things to do, but then decided to drive up the road to charge a bit at Franklin’s. Unfortunately, the Tesla and the wall outlet were both out of service for some reason. I couldn’t tell if they were disabled or broken, but I couldn’t do anything. Then my plans got derailed again.

Randy texted and asked if I had some time to chat, so I ended up just going back to their office and sitting with him there. He offered the job at $67,145.64 and suggested I complete an associate degree for an 8% bump at the base, but that won’t be worth anything if I don’t stay long-term. With the added drive, I was really hoping to get closer to the $80k mark, but this is still better than nothing. I explained my scattershot applications and week full of other interviews, and he said he wouldn’t hold it against me for taking another opportunity later, so I’m a tentative “yes” until the next board meeting.

By that time, he said traffic was about to get wild, so I started heading home. I stopped in Conway for some Long John Silver’s, and then made it home with about 10% on my battery. It wasn’t a bad day, though I only accomplished about half of what I set out to do. I was relieved to have at least one offer on the table though, so my next step is to complete my Moodle skills test and see where that goes.

Am I that good, or are they just that desperate?

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To Hale With It

I was kind of surprised at how many people were at work first thing this morning, since I kept hearing that everyone had to work late for the open house. They didn’t have breakfast, but I had some tucked away in my office fridge. I kept getting calls for support unimportant things, and I really only spent any time cleaning up my own things to leave. I took almost everything home, except for my coffee supplies, so I could still have that for the remainder of my time there.

Kim was late, kept getting lost, and even then was super proud of the whole two work orders she completed after I left. I could tell because she texted me while I was on the road that she completed them after. I took off around 1:30 to get Eaddie, and then we picked up her friend Autumn to take Summer’s place at the concert.

We stopped briefly at the Ozark charger before making it to Chuy’s by the Amp. We didn’t quite make it to the first opener, but we didn’t love the music anyway. We were also disappointed in the shirts, so we didn’t get any merch. Fit for a King wasn’t really for us. Hollywood Undead was pretty good. I think I Prevail was Autumn’s favorite, and they had a big mosh pit going with a bit of overproduction on the stage. Hailstorm was slower than the last time we saw them, and it sounded like Lizzy was recovering from a strained voice. They still put on a good show, but there was no encore.

We stopped to charge in Lowell, and then made it all the way home with Autumn for the night. I made them listen to 8-bit covers of pop songs for the first half of the trip, and I think they actually enjoyed trying to sing along.

They’re so angry!

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Three Blind Eyes

Today was a short day at work. I got in and immediately started tinkering with the router’s VLAN settings. I thought I had some of it figured out, and connected to a guest network, and even got the captive portal working for guests. That was when things started to break. For some reason, all of the access points dropped off of management, and a couple of the custodians came in to harass me about the wireless being broken. I was able to get everything back to “normal” again, and then sent a long email to the superintendents informing them of some changes and the fact that I was leaving after lunch.

Summer got home before I did so she could get ready, and once I got home we loaded up for a trip to Rogers. We stopped for a snack and charge in Ozark, and then got to the Walmart Amp where we had dinner at Chuy’s just down the block. This ended up being perfect parking for the concert. It wasn’t much more of a walk than we usually make, but there weren’t any hills or stairs to climb.

Arizona was an odd band. I thought I might like them, but the more they played, the less I was into it. Yellowcard was my favorite. I got one of their shirts. The girls both got Third Eye Blind shirts. Eaddie really liked their part of the concert. They put on a great show, but I didn’t know most of their songs.

After the show, we actually got out super quickly and hit the interstate without stopping in any traffic at all. We did have to stop and charge in Lowell and again in Ozark because I misunderstood what the app was trying to to tell me, but we got home without any trouble. The dogs were sad and staring in the back door when we walked in, so I fed them but had to get to sleep.

Smile big for everyone, even though you know what they done.

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We’re in for Some Chop

I was on the verge of crashing all day long, but still stayed up late trying to get things back into order. We rolled out of the hotel and hailed a Lyft as we walked down the hallway. The ride was quiet, and traffic wasn’t bad at all until we got right into the airport. Evidently there was a convention for the National Federation of the Blind this week, because I’ve never seen so many white canes in my entire life. It was interesting to witness them traveling through such a hectic environment that even we struggled to navigate, and I’m sure they appreciated the time to see each other face-to-face.

We timed things just about right, so we had plenty of time to get through security and grab some pretzel breakfast sandwiches from Auntie Anne’s. I watched part of Dune: Part Two on the first flight, which was pretty smooth. We had just enough time in St. Louis to switch planes, and then I watched a bit more during our much more turbulent flight to Little Rock.

Eaddie wanted Mexican food for lunch, so I found a well-reviewed place called Tortas Mexico in North Little Rock that had some of the best food we’d had all week, at a third the price. I felt rich. Then we continued home, unloaded, and played with Muad’Dib for a bit before Eaddie and I went to get Stilgar from the vet.

Muad’Dib seemed a little happier to see us specifically, while Stilgar seemed happy to see anybody. He did pee a little in the excitement. The lady that helped us was really concerned that we might have lost Muad’Dib, but I told her they simply didn’t have room to board both of them while we were gone, and we decided to make sure the younger spirit was kept safe.

Stilgar wolfed down a whole bunch of food, as though he hadn’t eaten anything all week. We played with them for a bit, and then I went inside to unpack and get things in order. Noah came back after work and Summer had a talk with him about some responsibilities, but you could tell he was just sitting in silence to receive the lecture.

Once I had things put away enough, I took the dogs out for a roll through the neighborhood on the Onewheel. They did really great, but I did finally see worms in Muad’Dib’s poop. He had to stop a couple more times on our journey to and from my parents’ house. We didn’t stay to visit for too long, and made it nearly all the way home before Stilgar got too hot and tired, and flopped onto some cool dirt. He refused to move, so I tried to get Summer to bring us some water. She and Noah walked up the wrong street, but it didn’t matter because a girl came out of the house across the street from us, and her dog ran at us full-force off-leash, which got Stilgar up and full of energy immediately. They wagged and sniffed, and then we were on our way home.

One or the other of the dogs kept chewing on potted plants I had on the deck, so I repotted what was left of one of them. Hopefully having both of them here again will settle them down overnight, but more importantly, hopefully they can’t get out of the fence again.

The ants we had in the master bathroom looked to have moved on, but after just a short while they came back. They went straight for the bait, but I wish I knew what triggered them to come back in the first place.

Finally down for the long snooze.

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Dusted and Busted

It was super hard to wake up for a second day in a row with only a couple hours of sub-optimal sleep. We didn’t make it out of the room quite as quickly as yesterday, but we still got there for park open. Summer scored us really early virtual queue tickets to the new Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind coaster, so we ended up cancelling our breakfast reservation at Akershus and tried to be first in line. They didn’t actually open that ride until 8:40 though, and recommended we try something else for our early hours. We didn’t want to walk far, so we just stopped next door for some Starbucks and then came back.

The whole ride seemed pretty out of place for EPCOT, but it was super cool nonetheless. We were so early that there wasn’t a queue at all yet, and in fact we were the only three people on our train. The ride was incredible, and I only partially jokingly asked if we could stay on for another ride. The first guy said we didn’t want to know what was behind the door that led back to the start of the ride, but then another woman asked if we wanted to ride again, and took us through a staff door and loaded us on the back of the next train, which only two other people were on. After riding both first and last cars, I think the rear was my preferred. It really was an excellent experience, and getting to ride twice, back-to-back, was super special.

The rest of the day was some tough bouncing back and forth, partially to hit rides, and partially to make our lunch reservation at Space 220. Overall the food was great, but the experience was fairly middling. The screen for the “space window” could have been way better, and we were seated too close and too far to one side for it to be even noticeable at all.

By the time we got back to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, the reported wait time was like 160 minutes. I think we actually got through in just under an hour though. The ride was super cute, but we kind of thought it was more kiddy-cute than something we really cared to ride repeatedly.

We squabbled a bit in pain as we decided how to attack the rest of the afternoon and evening. I really wanted to at least experience the new Frozen ride, and we eventually made it. Eaddie and I both came away with the exact same thought, that Disney has started relying too heavily on projections for their rides. We preferred actual animatronics, and felt the projections just took away from the experience.

Overall, I think most of the things we’ve experienced this trip have been disappointments, and I’m definitely falling out of love with Disney. There are just an intolerable number of people here, and everything feels like a blatant money grab. The only other highlight for the day was really the special fireworks display over the United States pavilion. Julie and Kevin missed it because they went to the front of the park, but we watched from right next to the pavilion and it was intense.

We all made it back to the resort without too much trouble, but a little worse for wear. Everyone’s feet were hurting pretty badly. I have a pinky-toe that’s more blister than toe. The girls crashed pretty quickly, but I didn’t get to sleep until late because I kept trying to wake Noah up off of our couch at home by playing music over my speakers remotely. Then I had trouble stopping them when he finally woke up. I just wish he’d leave, because I’m tired of him blatantly disrespecting us.

Wake me up before you verti-gogo!

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Fencing Duel

The dogs were out again, but just in the front yard a couple doors down. They came home quickly and easily, but I lost sight of Muad’dib and thought he got right back out. This time they had moved some pretty large concrete blocks, so we’re just going to have to find a way to repair the fence properly. I went back out to try and find him, and Summer had to go to work for a bit. I went in to make some coffee and have a little bit of food, and when she got back home, she decided she wanted to do some yard work in the middle of the afternoon. I had to ride to my parents’ house for some string trimmer line, but then the cap on her trimmer shattered and the reel wouldn’t stay in. Muad’dib ended up coming out from under the porch later, so he must have just been hiding from the sun for a while.

Eaddie’s afternoon plans were cancelled, so we all got cleaned up and decided to go do some shopping for swimsuits and dog stuff. We shared some food at Zaxby’s first for a late lunch, and then went to Walmart, JCPenney, T.J.Maxx, and Ross. I just happened to see a 100-foot bundle of rope for like eight bucks and decided to buy that to make a couple leashes myself. I may start the Salty Dogs Pet Company after all.

By that time, we were ready to get home, so we stopped by the old house to feed the fish and then picked up some Domino’s for dinner. We had the bright idea to try and walk the dogs to my parents’ house where we would eat, but of course they weren’t in the yard when we got back. Fortunately they were just at the other end of the road talking to those neighbors, but Stilgar was the only one that would willingly run home. He was soaked from head to tail. Muad’dib had no interest in following me home, but eventually ran to the girls.

We loaded the food into the Pathfinder and the girls started to walk the dogs over, but just barely made it to the end of the street before we decided to put them in the truck. The dogs did super well for that really being their first group walk. Only Stilgar had walked with me in the past, and he does spectacularly.

Dad was home by the time we got there, and we ended up eating outside in the mosquitoey dark. The dogs sat quietly watching us eat, which made me really suspect that I’d stolen somebody’s dogs. There’s no way we’re that lucky to have found dogs that are just naturally that well behaved. We eventually went back home so we could patch the fence again, and then I brushed the dogs with the new grooming kit I got from Amazon. Both the rake and the brush I tried worked perfectly, which was also a surprise since I got the cheapest set I could find.

The girls went to bed pretty quickly. I stayed up with the dogs for a bit, and went back out again when they started barking along with the neighbors’ dogs, but then it was off to bed so I could get up early and smoke some ribs.

Salty dog and frog clip strip!

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Secondhand Dogs

By the time I got out of bed this morning, the dogs had disappeared from the back yard. I came back in to get dressed, and then rode around the neighborhood on the Onewheel to see if I could find them. I talked to over a half dozen groups of people because so many were outside either on a day off, or working on utility lines all through the neighborhood. I figured it wouldn’t be a terrible thing if we never saw them again, but I wanted to be sure they weren’t just wandering around. My last stop was a garage sale just a block in the wealthier direction, and just as the question left my lips, I glanced down and saw Chani laying on the floor of their garage. Then I saw the other two laying just behind them. She said they fed them some Blue Buffalo and called Animal Control, but that they probably weren’t coming.

I ran home to get the Pathfinder, and one of the ladies gave me a pair of shoes that one of them had been chewing on. I didn’t really want to encourage chewing on shoes though, so I ended up throwing them out. One of the ladies said Stilgar had rolled onto a “MAKE OFFER” sticker from their sale, which I thought was really funny. I got them home and fed them some more, and then Dad came over with some flea and tick shampoo from the old house.

Eaddie had a hiking trip with some friends and left, so I got a roast going in the slow cooker before Summer got home from work. Julie invited us out to the airport where they were grilling burgers, so I took a shower and ended up going out there. Eaddie brought Eli back and they stayed home with Summer.

I took the Onewheel with me, but didn’t really have much use for it. They just had a bunch of friends out in camp chairs, and we had simple burgers and stuff. I left when Dad did, and stopped by the old house to feed the fish before going home. Then I got the dogs out of the back and took them for a walk around the block. They did pretty well for the first stretch, staying right by me. Then they got distracted by a toddler with a diaper, and took off after some sort of critter. They didn’t get super far, and would periodically lag behind or run ahead of me before circling back. We made it back home though, and everyone came in without too much fuss.

The others were sat inside watching a movie, so I cleaned up in the kitchen and then wound down for the night.

No leash; No problem

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Staring at the Sun Again

Eaddie and I got up this morning and went out on the Shadow. We were hungry, but wanted to cruise around town quickly before going to my parents’ house for the eclipse, so we stopped at Zaxby’s to pick up some chicken. Then we ran by my old house so I could put in some contacts and feed the fish, and we continued past the nearly empty Hickey Park and high school parking lots. We wanted to go by the soccer complex, but we ran a little behind. The Confederate Mother’s Memorial/Pine Knob Mountain Bike Park was full of people, much like the back of both Walmart parking lots we passed, but Sequoyah was empty as well.

Dad was outside with several telescopes and cameras, and Mom came in and out as the moon slowly crossed the sun. Summer left work early and met us there with plenty of time to eat and peek through the telescopes. Totality was longer than the first time we saw it, but it didn’t seem quite as momentous for me. Maybe it was because there was so much else going on with so many telescopes, or maybe because I kept having to tell Summer to take her glasses off. The solar prominences didn’t seem as big, there weren’t any big jet trails revealed, and the mountain blocked our view of the 360º sunset. The crickets and bats came out though, and everyone really enjoyed the event. I preferred being in a quiet place away from all the public screaming or music playing.

We didn’t watch much of the last half of the eclipse. The girls headed home and I ate some bánh bèo that Mom made before catching up with them. We went back out to check out a pretty disappointing “eclipse market” that was just a small handful of vendors that didn’t interest any of us. Then we finally went past the soccer complex and Old Post Park before going back to the other side of town for some free Freddy’s. Much to the girls’ dismay, I took us to Price Break, and Eaddie waited in the car while Summer and I sorted through bins of Amazon returns. I had to poke fun when Summer bought way more stuff than I did by the end of it all.

Once we made it back home, the girls settled in. I had a leftover burger and then rode the Onewheel to the Neighborhood Market to take in the recycling and pick up some more oranges. I ended the night with some laundry, and it’s back to the grind in the morning.

Thank goodness we missed the rain.

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Preclipse Day

I got up and made Summer a freshly-ground cappuccino this morning, which she seemed to like. I’ve only used it twice, but so far I’m pretty happy with the grinder we got. I finally cleaned up the corned beef and had a shower, and then struggled to start the smoker to get the ribs cooking. Summer and Eaddie ran to Kroger to pick up some charcoal for me, and the lumps were tiny. I eventually got the smoke rolling, and the girls prepped the bikes to go for a ride downtown.

We parked at the middle school, which in retrospect wasn’t much better than if we had just left from the house. The girls biked and I rode my Onewheel through some neighborhood trails before going back up to Kroger and heading downtown. There weren’t a ton of visitors there that we could tell, but there were tons of cops and “workers” riding around trying to look important. We stood in line and got some stuff from NASA, and I couldn’t tell whether I had actually offended the guy when I asked how long NASA has known the moon and sun are the same size, and why they were keeping it from us.

We didn’t really find much exciting at the depot after that, so we got Eaddie a shirt and then rode through Tech to Bona Dea. We did a small loop and then headed straight back to the car. Eaddie decided to ride all the way home, and I actually had plenty of battery to do the same, but I drove Summer home instead.

I decided to assemble the outdoor sink and prep table with the hopes that I could use it for the ribs. Summer “helped,” but we didn’t get it done in time, and I ended up bringing the ribs inside to wrap. Eli came over, I eventually got the ribs sauced, and then we had dinner. The meat was way too tender and just turned into mush off the bone, but it was still good. I just wanted a bit more bite to them. Everyone else loved it. Summer made mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts, and we had a good meal.

The kids hung out for a while and Summer wound down quickly. I started dragging pretty hard, and felt a bit sick from sinus trouble. I assumed it was allergies this time, but I just felt crummy all night.

He’s really not gonna like my questions about why the moon is a flat circle instead of a flat square.