Tag: anger management

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Chauffeur

I got up early after very little sleep so I could get breakfast with Summer before she had to go to work. It was super rainy all morning, so I went back up to the room to take a long bath since I didn’t want to go back to sleep. When I loaded up for checkout, they said the elevator had quit working, so I had to take the stairs. I was just glad I didn’t have to go back up three floors since I got everything in one trip.

I went to Splash and loaded up a bucket of cleaner, then took Summer to the Greenbrier lube to drop it off. It was a tiny one-man shop that was down the road from the carwash. We weren’t there long before heading back to Conway to do some shopping for that store.

I decided to take us to the Dave Ward store since I had already spent so long in the other one the night before. Summer picked up what she needed, and I found some salsa on clearance. I tried really hard to convince her that she could find a better chair at an office supply store, but she insisted on getting the crappy, overpriced one from Walmart.

We were both hungry by the time we finished shopping, so we went across town to Chipotle. It was delicious, but I had forgotten how expensive it is. It was just over $30 for both of us, and she didn’t even get a drink. I think next time I’ll ask if they can make me an open-faced burrito, because her bowl appeared to have much more in it, but I love the tortilla.

Back at Splash, I assembled the new chair and tightened bolts on their old ones, which made a huge difference. I stuck around too long and got really tired, but I made it home without incident. Traffic seemed a bit slow, but at least it wasn’t raining heavily by that time. Eaddie called me just as I left Conway and asked if I would pick her up, but she ended up going to her grandmother’s instead.

As soon as I got home, I started a load of laundry. Then I faced the monumental task of cleaning out the refrigerator so they could pick it up the next day. I pulled a bunch of drinks out of the mini fridge and kept as much here as I could, then loaded up my entire trunk with stuff to take to Summer’s house. I went to get Eaddie, but when I got there, she said she was helping with dinner and that Summer was going to get her. Summer didn’t even realize she was there, which lead to compounded aggravation for me. I was already frustrated and hangry last night. Then I had to unload the trunk and move all of that food into Summer’s refrigerator all by myself after letting it thaw out for a drive across town.

I got everything packed into the fridge and waited for Summer to get home super late from Conway. Then I went home and cleaned up all the stuff I had strewn across the kitchen floor. I really wanted to keep some ice, but there’s no real point. Hopefully the new refrigerator won’t take long to arrive, and also won’t fail and leave me needing to contact the dreaded LG warranty support.

What a waste.

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Return to Sender

I made it in to work a little early again today, and was soon asked to cover the phones while the leads had their meeting. The phone didn’t ring a single time, so it was mostly just babysitting for an hour. It was all around pretty uneventful all day. The morning went by quickly, and we found ourselves at Taco John’s for Taco Tuesday. I ate cheaply again, and it felt pretty good.

Sometime in the afternoon, Thomas wandered to the back and set up a video conference with someone about our ticket reporting system. Evidently he’s been asked for data that hasn’t been collected in Web Help Desk, so we’re looking at spending some more money for something a little prettier.

The end of the day dragged on a bit, but eventually I made it home. I got things ready to stay with Summer in Conway, but had to stop at Lowe’s on my way out of town. I scheduled the pickup of the dreadful Whirlpool refrigerator and talked to a couple of guys about our top picks for its replacement. They required payment for the new one up front, and said the refund of the old one had to come back to me in store credit. I opted instead to just wait for the refund before ordering the replacement, so I’ll have to move a bunch of food up to Summer’s place until the new one shows up.

The drive to Conway was quick, without too much traffic. I stopped in Morrilton for some beer, and then hopped onto Discord to chat with Mitch again until I got to Splash. Summer was busy, so I grabbed some popcorn and headed to the hotel to check in.

After unloading, I went across the street to Walmart to kill some time. Easter candy was half off, and I found a few deals on clearance. I had been assuming we would go out for dinner, but Summer got to the hotel super late and just went straight to bed. I considered going home to sleep in my own bed, because I didn’t like the idea of taking off so much unexpectedly for that plus the fridge pickup, but with the promise of lunch in Conway, I decided to stay.

What book are you even reading???

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That’s Mister Karen to You

I went to Oakland first thing again this morning because they were screening kids for GT. Oddly, they did the screening in the worst, most disruptive corner possible, but I suppose they did what they set out to do. It all felt a little silly to me. Dana had the only kids that needed my help, so my time there was short.

Back at the office, most everyone else was out doing their own thing. It must be quiet everywhere, because I didn’t get any calls from anyone. Gary showed me a fix for something I had been working on, and I deployed that.

After some thought last night, I decided to call Lowe’s to try and return our new refrigerator. There are just too many poor design decisions that I couldn’t make peace with, so I didn’t want to be stuck with it for the next decade. The first girl I talked to seemed pretty receptive and told me she would have the store contact me to arrange for a pickup. Then the assistant store manager called to let me know he had no power to override the 48-hour return window. I attempted to escalate, and almost immediately got a call back from the store manager, who told me the same but in many more words. I called the corporate number back and escalated there, which lead to me talking to an older lady that indicated it shouldn’t be a problem for the store to override the policy. I guess we’ll give them 24 hours to make it right before I really go Karen.

Otherwise there wasn’t a whole lot of anything going on. Nobody left for lunch, so I just had a Soylent between a couple of apples and a bag of chips, and powered on through the day. Autumn wanted me to pick Eaddie up after tennis practice, so I hung out at the high school watching them for a bit. Summer made it back to town a little earlier, so I made dinner plans with her at Brown’s to use my birthday coupon.

After eating way too much, I came home and almost immediately laid down in bed and very nearly started to nap. I felt better for it, but then had recurring cramps in my calves and shins. Since they happened all at once, there wasn’t any direction I could turn or bend my legs to stretch them out, so I just writhed in pain until it went away every time. Hopefully that’s not a look into my future sleep tonight.

Life should be Gooder.

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Strange Design

I went to Oakland first thing again this morning to take care of a couple things. Luckily it didn’t really start raining until after I got to the shop, so I missed the torrential downpour until lunch time. It was quiet downstairs because Gary was locked away doing some training in his office.

Greg, Gary, and I met Zach at La Chiquita for lunch, and witnessed some pretty spectacular lightning strikes along the ride. The rain calmed down a bit by the time we got there, and fortunately the storm never got super bad right over us. We made it back to work without incident, but the rest of the afternoon was a challenge in staying awake.

When I finally left for home, Eaddie texted and wanted a ride, so I picked her up at Oakland. We went to my house and started the third season of Stranger Things. After one episode, we went to Burger King so she could get a chicken sandwich, because when I think of chicken, I think of Burger King. My Big Bacon King was too much. We watched one more episode before Summer got back home and picked Eaddie up.

I spent the rest of the night cleaning up my old refrigerator. The right half of it looks pretty nice now, but my arm was too tired to continue with the other half. I also did a little exploring on the new fridge, and discovered the reason for the warm water out of the dispenser. For some reason, the water line travels outside of the refrigerator nearly the entire way. It goes up and into the fridge for the water filter, then comes back out and down to another hole where it goes back into the refrigerator for a cold water reservoir line. After that, it comes back out of the fridge again so it can be routed under and around to the door. This must have made perfect sense to someone who didn’t have to deal with a refrigerator that was powered on, otherwise they would have noticed the heat from the compressor warming the water back up before it gets to your cup.

From that moment on, I went to bed dreaming of trying to perform a return outside the measly 48-hour window at Lowe’s. Maybe someone will pity us for being put out for two additional weeks and scheduling our spring break vacation and one additional weekend around what we thought were going to be deliveries.

Everyone knows backlights are superior. Idiots.

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Waiting for Nothing

Though I wanted to sleep in today, I knew that doing so would keep me up way too late tonight. I got around and made a chicken wrap with the leftovers that were successfully kept fresh by the cold weather outside. After a little while, I headed home to decompress and clean up before the refrigerator showed up.

Sandy got a hold of Summer and wanted me to hook up a computer for her, so once Summer showed up after her workout, we headed out of town to meet her. She chatted with Summer for a bit while I poked around under her enormous desk and got her computer replaced. Then we went back to my house to wait for our delivery.

Getting impatient, I called the Lowe’s customer service number as well as the local store number. After about four tries, I got through to someone in a call center that said the order was delayed by a week. This was particularly upsetting because we’d basically built our spring break vacation around this expected delivery schedule.

With the day basically completely wasted, Summer and I decided to go to La Huerta for dinner without the kids. When we got back to the house, she checked the coolant level in the Murano and found it to be low. I had a little bit of fluid at home, but we ended up going to Superfast to fill up with some more. We don’t know how low it really was, but we’ll have to check it again tomorrow before we leave.

Summer continued home while I went back to my house to pack. I caught up on some email and hung out for a while before loading up and heading to their house for the evening. Everyone was in their own rooms, so I wrapped things up and went to sleep as soon as possible.

No plan like dog’s plan.

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Crystal Clear

I was in and out of bed all night, but managed to get up in time for some breakfast with Summer before the girls got up. Then she went down with Autumn while I started getting ready for the day. Eaddie was the last one out of bed, and then we loaded everything up to head home.

Autumn wanted to stop at a crystal shop on the way home, so we went to Miller’s Rock Shop. They had a couple anoles in a sunlit window, and evidently they just hang out loose there, and they put food and water out for them. Autumn picked up a slice of rock, and then we continued to Iron Springs.

The girls were less enthusiastic about the thought of hiking, but Summer coaxed them across the wooden bridge and just off the path to dig in the dirt a little bit. Summer found a decent sized crystal, and then we continued home. She took the girls home as soon as we got to my house, and I got unpacked.

My parents were at Burger King before their trip to Eureka Springs, so I ran around the block to see them. Then I loaded up some leftover chicken strips and went to Walmart for salad to take to the girls.

The chicken lost a lot of its water to ice crystals, which caused some trouble as I tried to split it up into smaller bags and then fry. I ended up having to take the deep fryer outside, and also melt the ice in the toaster oven before frying the chicken. I eventually had a decent system, but it was a huge pain in the ass, and in the end none of the girls were really hungry. I made Summer and myself salads, but was frustrated that they watched me spend a lot of time making a lot of food for everyone, knowing that they didn’t have a refrigerator to keep any leftovers.

After Summer and I ate, they wanted to play a game of Uno Flip. Eaddie gave up after Summer won first place, and then Summer won again finishing Eaddie’s hand before Autumn gave up. Then the girls went to their rooms for the night, but stayed up either tinkering or moving and cleaning up their rooms. Summer went to sleep really quickly, and I was tired enough that I didn’t stay up much longer.

I can’t like anything out loud any more.

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Find Time to Chill

Thomas came into my office this morning to say that he, Kelsea, and Gary would be in Plumerville for some Cognos training, and to be on alert in case the new superintendent needed any technology help. I didn’t really expect to hear from anyone, so it wasn’t a big deal. Greg mentioned needing to run some cable at the central office, but wanted Zach to find someone else for that.

It was pretty quiet with everyone out, so I mostly stuck around the office to babysit Tammy. I did have one pretty animated guy come in for an account creation, but otherwise it was business as usual. Zach and Josh showed up for lunch, and we went to Zaxby’s where I saw Aaron’s dad for the first time in a little while.

Shortly after we got back from lunch, Thomas messaged us to run upstairs and help with an unspecified technology issue. When I got there, the air seemed tense and they really didn’t seem like they wanted me there. They said she was busy, and wanted to know if I could be reached later. I didn’t really see the point in them calling us for help and then turning the help away, but maybe she figured out how to set her MacBook’s sleep settings on her own.

A little while later, we got a truckload of Newline touch panels in. We went with the next size up, so these were pretty unnecessarily heavy. I’ll say it again – I’m all for removing technology from schools. Educators primarily use it to babysit, and rely too much on it for classroom management. It just gets in the way of teaching.

I ran to Oakland at the end of the day to collect some backup battery inventory information, and then just happened to realize that Eaddie needed a ride home since Autumn went straight to work after school again. We went to my house and started the second season of Stranger Things. It seemed to jump right into things, but I couldn’t really tell where things were going to go from there.

Summer came over as soon as she got back from Cabot, and we went to La Huerta for dinner. Then I headed back home to decide on a refrigerator. I narrowed it down to a side-by-side with water and ice in the door. I wasn’t thrilled with the ice capacity, but that seems to be how it is on most of those things these days. Now comes the time to manipulate discount methods.

Keep hustlin’, not bustlin’.

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Mid-to-Late

I woke up at a pretty normal time this morning, having slept on my left hand in some way that my middle finger was completely numb. It took a few hours for it to feel normal again, which was worrisome. I assumed I was just falling apart. I got a few well wishes from friends throughout the day, but my favorite was catching up with my old friend Tasha. We always wish each other happy birthdays, but this year we actually carried on a full conversation, and it was really nice to be able to just catch up after so long, even if that was mostly just fussing about parenting problems.

Bác Vân called to tell me happy birthday, and to offer some eggrolls she was warming up. I went next door, and she had me look at her sewing machine to see if I could find a replacement gear for the one that had crumbled with age. Then as soon as I got back home, Eaddie called and wanted to know if I was picking her and Maristella up from their all-region band event. I rushed through a shower and brushed off a couple more fussy phone calls rushing me along to get there. Then I took them through Wendy’s for some lunch before taking them to Summer’s to eat and change clothes.

I sat in the quiet dark until they were ready for me to take them back. As we made our way back to the Center, Eaddie asked me to record the entire concert. It would have been really nice to know ahead of time so I could find a tripod or something. I dropped them off and went home to change and try in vein to find another solution. Then I met up with Summer for the concert after she left her quiz bowl tournament.

The concert was okay until they went to play Africa by Toto, and the conductor basically stood up there with her hands by her sides just sort of wiggling around like she was dancing. I hoped that Eaddie would get a flute solo for the part I had encouraged her to play years ago, but instead the song was slow and relatively awful. She could have done the entire song better by herself.

Summer took the girls back to their respective homes and then came over so we could go to Lowe’s. I didn’t recognize who he was at first, but Kelsea’s husband, Manuel was there and tried to help us find a fridge. I was already cranky after a pretty annoying day, and then I felt like I basically lost Summer to a sales guy, so I got hyper annoyed and kept wandering off to look at things I had already researched online. At the end of it all I felt really shitty and apologized, and we just left so I could continue shopping online.

We went by Superfast so Summer could retrieve the gift she had gotten me, and then went back to my house for a little bit. I had a moment, or several, and then she went on home to the girls. I wrapped up and eventually followed after her for the night.

Eaddie was up watching TV with her when I got there, and just kept wanting to eat my food. I was still having a rough go and just went to the bedroom to listen to music and play on my phone. Then Eaddie wanted to watch Stranger Things with me, but I was just too tired. Summer came to bed and put on a documentary about mushrooms. Mom and Dad called to wish me happy birthday, and eventually we all went to sleep.

Does 39 feel cranky?

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About 180

I got up early today so I could pick Gary up for work. Zach and Thomas went on a trip with Jeff and possibly others to “experience” Avigilon at a couple of other schools, so they were gone pretty much all day. I don’t think anyone was super motivated to work, but I kept occupied. Gary came and spent some time with me, and then Justin came downstairs to talk about maintenance pay. It didn’t seem to take very long to get close to lunch time.

Gary had an appointment to check on his arm, so I took him to that around 11. We thought he was early and wouldn’t actually get to his appointment time until 11:30, but he ended up finishing relatively quickly. I had driven across town to pick up Summer, and we had just gotten some cheese dip at Stoby’s when he called and said he was done. Summer ordered some food for him, and I brought him back to the restaurant for lunch.

The afternoon dragged on a bit. Gary took a half day, so I took him home after dropping Summer off at work. I spent a little time gossiping with the girls up front until Josh came downstairs with a question from one of his teachers in the virtual academy. I took him back to my office for a little research, but couldn’t come up with a real answer from Google’s documentation. Zach and Thomas eventually showed up, and Zach spent a while on my couch before making his way to his office.

Eventually quitting time arrived, and I headed home to try and move my computer around. That went relatively poorly, on account of the questionable reliability of the computer I brought home, the home theater amplifier that wouldn’t receive audio from the computer’s HDMI output, and the awkward size of my monitor and speakers on such a small desk. I thought it was going to be great, but it’s actually pretty awful so far. Now my room is a mess, and I can’t even make it through a blog post without my computer freezing up on me.

But at least it’s quiet…?

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Stand Up

I got in to work this morning and continued work on what I had to say for the CPPC meeting. Justin happened to call me with some thoughts just as Gary came back to review it with me, so he came down and they both listened to what I had to say before the meeting at 9:30.

It was drizzly out, so I drove around the building to our central office. I got there without much time to spare, so once the meeting started I actually took a little bit to get myself situated to make my speech. I got all kinds of looks, but I was too concentrated on breathing through my mask to notice much. I said what I had to say, and I got roughly the response I thought I would. It’s our meeting, and we’re welcome to come up with whatever policy changes we would like. Janie was back after being out for the last meeting, and her response was actually less incendiary than any of us expected. I think overall it went well, because everyone was pretty involved in the discussion of every policy moving forward for the rest of the meeting – at least until people started to disappear, one by one.

I made it back to the shop about half an hour before lunch, which gave me just enough time to get settled before Gary came around and said we were going to McAlister’s. I drove him, Josh, and Thomas there to meet Greg, and of course my online order that I submitted while we were still halfway through the line came out after they had gotten theirs at the table and already started eating. Mine was deliciously customized though, with every free vegetable they offered.

After lunch, I spent most of the afternoon working on the CPPC minutes. I decided to leave out my 30 minute diatribe about Chrissy, and instead stuck to the policies we changed. I’ve felt better, but it didn’t feel bad to stand up for something I believe in either. Near the end of the day we got an email announcing the closure of school for the students tomorrow. Thomas’s policy is that we would work unless Central Office closed, which was a break from what we were used to with Ben. I’d much rather just have the day off like everyone else, obviously.

Just as I got home from work, Julie called to talk about our Disney trip. She felt that I was making a grave mistake by threatening Autumn over her grades. She didn’t think it was right to position our family vacation either as a punishment or reward. I tried to stop and let her know that it was a non-issue, but she stood on principle. It was clear there was nothing I could say to satisfy her. She started the conversation with clear intent. Frankly, I had run out of polite ways to tell her that it was none of her fucking business how we choose to parent. She ended the call by saying that Disney was cancelled, and hanging up on me.

I’ve only ever had one other person that was able to stress me out so instantaneously, and I swore myself out of that situation. Julie is evidently incapable of accepting that there are things that she cannot change, and she refuses not to fight over it at every chance possible. I’m absolutely through with it. I’m mustering every bit of will that I have to make good decisions for myself and for my family, and I will not have anyone bring me down from that. She can blame me or our family for all of her issues, and I do not care. In the end it is personal responsibility that you can rely on. I hope she makes a better life, but I won’t have her making mine worse.

I walked a brisk 1.6 miles on the treadmill with a glass of apple pie moonshine and a cream ale to calm the nerves, and ended the evening with a couple tacos and some fries because I’m no stranger to bad decisions either. Eyes forward.

Quit wasting my time.