Tag: anger management

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Overtaken by My Own Shadow

It was a quiet, brainy day at work today. I made some progress, but it was slower than I would have liked. I didn’t get distracted much, but I did get frustrated a couple times with others pulling my attention, which I’m sure is why Gary is so grumpy most of the time.

Brody wanted to go to Fat Daddy’s in London, but they were evidently closed due to staffing issues. The same went for Zaxby’s. Slim Chickens was a solid win today with the salad I got, and then we dropped off some strips for Summer, who was stuck in the pit all day.

I left near quitting time today and went by the shop to order some new tires for the Murano before going up to Summer’s to heat up her lasagna. I made it about halfway to her house before I realized I didn’t have keys to get in because I was on the Shadow, so I ran back home to change and get the keys.

As I came back outside, I hopped on the bike and started to pull away, only barely remembering to get the keys. I stood up to get off and immediately lost all balance due to the low, heavy nature of the bike. I had forgotten that I already lifted the kickstand, so the bike tumbled over on top of me and threw me to the ground. I avoided any major damage, but the handlebar controls and mirrors got a bit out of whack. The handlebars themselves were still bent from before I got the bike, so the only new “damage” was to the rear, left turn signal that now rattles from something being broken off inside it.

I finally made it up to Summer’s with bruised palms, and heated up the lasagna and baked some garlic bread. She and Autumn both made it home from work and we ate. Then Summer had to tend to some work business as we waited for the scattered showers to wane enough for me to make it back home for the evening.

I tried to pick up a little, and ended up on a trip down Memory Lane when I found a bunch of folders from my time at NEW. Then I went to bed as hastily as I could, since someone decided that working at 6am tomorrow will be fun when moving some old laptops around at the junior high. At least by then it will have reached the day’s low of 74º.

More like PowerHell.

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I’ll Be Your Pilot Today

I slept in just a hair this morning since our appointment with the lawyer was an hour after I normally get to work. I thought I was going to be late, but I ended up arriving first, just before Mom and Dad. It took more time for him to write down their names than anything else, because he immediately told us he didn’t do, or even recommend what we were asking about. Julie showed up at the tail end of it, and then we left to go discuss things amongst ourselves at their house.

Things went predictably, with seemingly no real personal growth for anyone. The aggravating thing is that Julie and I actually agreed on the financials, which was the important part of the conversation. I had previously suggested speaking to an accountant, and I think we should have done that first, because we really need someone to just crunch the numbers first, because the problem we’re trying to solve is almost entirely math. The legal stuff is already in order.

After Julie left, they wanted to look at homes and land for sale the old fashioned way, so Mom had me drive them around while they looked through neighborhoods. That took us at least a couple hours, plus a stop at my house for a bathroom break. Bác Vân came out and talked with us for a little bit, and then we continued on up the other mountain.

Dad and I got pretty hungry after a while, and he suggested CiCi’s. We never could tell how hungry Mom was, but she went along with it. For such a late lunch, the food was hardly fresh, so I had them make a supreme on top of spinach for us. Then we went to Lowe’s so Dad could pick up an order and we could walk around a little bit.

When I got them back home, Mom wanted to review some cars, so we poked around YouTube for a bit. Then I finally made it home and tried to do a bit of picking up. The evening went by pretty quickly, but I got a few things filed and put away. I also got the guest bathroom measured and modeled, so now I can print them both out and write in some measurements to order some tile. Next up will be deciding on fixtures.

The vast majority of the world doesn’t care about your issues. Live accordingly.

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Gotta Get Away

I got up early and ran straight home to clean up before going back to pick up Summer and Eaddie. We had to run by Summer’s shop to print Eaddie’s itinerary before we could leave, but then we were off to Little Rock. We made it with plenty of time, but they only let one of us go through security to the gate, so Summer went in while I sat on a bench outside just out of the rain. Fortunately it felt pretty nice out, and I had my earbuds on me.

Once the plane took off, Summer came back down and I took her to a place called Lakewood Fish & Seafood House to cheer her up. Watching Eaddie take off hit her a lot harder than she expected, so that pretty well set the tone for the day. At least everything we ate today was delicious. The stuffed crabs and seafood chowder were probably our favorites. The crab claws were odd, tasty, and overall left me a bit hungry.

After we ate, we walked all around McCain Mall and basically just felt sad about the state of retail in America. The nostalgia is all but gone. Even GameStop was uncharacteristically empty. JCPenney felt like a ghost town in areas. None of it made me happy.

I took us to Best Buy next, which again only served to kill time. They had zero deals, so we left and went to Sam’s Club. By that time I felt like I was just dragging a corpse around, so I picked up a couple things and we headed toward home. We had spent enough time out that we were both hungry again, so we stopped in Conway and ate at Bulgogi, which was excellent.

It rained all day long, but we eventually made it home, and Summer went straight to bed just as Eaddie landed in Milwaukee. I knew she could handle it.

I still kind of just want a steak.

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You’re Living a Lie!

We had our first conference room meeting this morning, and got a glimpse of some of the structural changes we’ll be seeing soon. A part of that change is that Greg and I will basically report directly to Gary as a part of an Engineering team, and Zach will lead the others on an Operations team. For the time being, we’ll also have to pick up some elementaries until we can get an additional tech or two, so I’ll be the primary contact for Oakland again, which is fine by me.

I spent most of the rest of the day to myself, except for when Renee really wanted some help buying some in-game currency on her phone. I was successful with my task sequence for the virtual academy devices, which was the big task of the day. I ran by the junior high to pick up a few things, and made it back to the shop as it really started pouring down rain.

Summer wanted to get lunch, so I picked her up after I got off and we went to La Huerta. I had forgotten how they made their taco salads like an enormous taco instead of a bowl, and actually prefer it. Maybe I can get them into the work rotation.

When I got back home, Dad’s vapor barrier materials had arrived, so I dragged them in out of the rain until he could come get them. Then I did some laundry until it was time to get Summer for our evening with John, Melissa, and Travis.

I ran a little late, but we still beat John and Melissa. Travis had set up a game of Candy Land with some extra Dungeons & Dragons monsters and a sheet of rules for our drinking game. We were the only ones that actually brought anything to drink, so it was “nasty beer” and Irish car bombs all night aside from the rum and Diet Mountain Dew that Travis had around.

We enjoyed the first game well enough, and things just got sloppier from there for most everyone. Travis broke out Cards Against Humanity for a bit, and then spent far too long fumbling around for Guitar Hero on an old Wii system that required disassembling most of an entertainment area in his room. In the end, I was really the only one sober enough to play the guitar anyway. My eyes were burning really badly from the smoke by that time, so I tried to get us out of there. Everyone protested, and then I was stood outside with Travis for several minutes as he lamented.

Eventually I got the urgency of leaving across, and we made it home where Summer went straight to bed and I stayed up with Eaddie getting her prepared for her flight the next morning.

No one can make you.

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Just Sit Down and Do Work

I was sleeping super hard when my alarm went off this morning. I made it in to work on time, but others didn’t and got yelled at by Gary. It was lax before, but now we haven’t had a leader there consistently for like a month. He sent everyone to the junior high to unbox laptops while I worked on the imaging process all day. I caught a break pretty late, but I think he’s still pretty stressed about getting it done since we still have new devices coming later in the summer.

We got our COVID checks today, which was nice. It would have been nicer if they paid us for the time we worked, and not based on the number of days that teachers worked, since we had to be there for way longer risking ourselves. I nearly died. Three times.

Greg took Josh and me to Taco John’s for lunch, and the tacos were actually great for the first time in a while. We saw Brice there with his 911 buddies, which is to say his work crew, and not a count of how many buddies he has.

After work, Summer came over and we went to Georgia Carpet Mills to trade some tile samples. I think we found a couple that I really like. She really liked a super worn pattern, but it didn’t come in long planks, and would require us to go all-in on a rustic look that I think would just be too stylized.

I went up to her place to help with the mower for a bit, and recorded a video of my Rolling Square InCharge 6 Max charge cable so I could submit a warranty claim. I don’t actually know if it’s under warranty for longer than a year, but the cable was always slow. Afterward I went to my parents’ house for eggplant soup. I couldn’t stick around any longer than that because the allergies murdered my sinuses.

When I got home, I dug the Grom out and took it for a ride around the block. It rode fine, but felt ever-so-slightly crooked. It’s a shame, but it’ll be a fine beater to teach Eaddie how to ride eventually.

W=A*V

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Why Did the Chicken Cross the Terminal?

I woke up at 3:30 this morning so I could have plenty of time to shower and pack up. We made it to the airport in plenty of time, but things got hectic super quickly. After checking our bag, I forgot to get my ID back, and made it all the way to TSA before panicking, completely forgetting that I had just had it out minutes earlier. Fortunately the girl that helped us brought my ID back, but then Summer had a couple oversized bottles of liquids. It would have been different if we hadn’t just flown to Florida earlier this year.

We made it to Houston without any trouble, but did have to huff it a bit to the next flight. If we had known better at the time, we would have chilled out for a while and maybe gotten some food. As we made our way out to the runway, a lightning storm blew in and kept us on the ground for about an hour and a half later than we planned. The pilot made up for it though, and we just barely made our connecting flight in Los Angeles.

That last transition really hurt us, because then we didn’t get any food, the snacks on the flights weren’t very substantial, and we also couldn’t precheck for the COVID requirements. When we finally made it down to Honolulu, we had to wait in an awful line for about half an hour just to get out of the gate.

Julie did great and arranged a taxi for us, so I made the call and made our way out to meet the guy that came out. He took us to Lagoon Tower, where Julie met us at the taxi. We got room keys and made our way up to the penthouse to unload.

Summer and I were starving, and it was dinner time for the others as well, so we went downstairs and out into a tiny, cramped marketplace to find some food. I felt super sweaty due to the heat and humidity after such a grueling flight, which just made me even hangrier. We stopped into an ABC store for a couple things and eventually got our food that had been ready for a while. Evidently the buzzer didn’t work.

We took everything back to the room to eat, and then I took a real shower and crashed.

Because his connecting flight was delayed and he had to be re-routed by the airline!

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Lunch with the Paddler

I got up and took my shower at Summer’s this morning so I could get the kids to school and still have time to get to work myself. It actually worked reasonably well, but I still struggle with the water pressure. I jumped right in to the work orders that had been assigned to me over the past few days, but had trouble completing much of anything. I mostly bounced between Impero and CPPC stuff.

Janie called me to fuss about the policy we were voting for or against removing, and she seemed unwilling to vote for anything other than something that will directly impact those that have been screwed in the past. I hope she wins that fight, but I don’t want that to hold me back from removing redundant or uselessly complicated policies.

I called Allen and planned lunch at Sam’s, and I should have called Dale as well since we saw him at Taco Villa on the way. We had a good size group and had a good time. It was nice to see Allen in public and not looking too scruffy. Retirement looks good on him. While we were there, evidently Brice was sitting across the room and came over to chat, or leer. Or at the very least, awkwardly hover. I really hope they don’t consider him for the job, if only because I don’t want to have to be around to rebuild the entire department when they quit because of it.

We found the bus that would bring Eaddie to my office, so she came over after school and we picked up Autumn after her color guard practice. Autumn really wanted to go to karate but had to go to her band awards ceremony for a grade, and tried weaseling into being toted back and forth across the complete opposite ends of town. We shut her down, and left her at my house so I could get my own chores done.

I dropped Eaddie off at karate, got Summer’s last prescriptions, and then did some work with Mark for about an hour. I had about 10 minutes to chat with Nate across the street before I had to pick her back up, and then we went to get Autumn.

On the way up to Summer, we stopped for some Burger King and had a late dinner. I tried to start on my taxes, but didn’t really get anywhere before I had to get to bed.

The problem with going to the moon is that there is no “up” in space.

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Calm Down

I had to comp some time today so I could get the girls to school and then take Eaddie to a flute lesson afterward. I just took my shower and got ready for work after I dropped them off. When I got up to leave, Bác Vân was already outside with the guys cutting the trees, and they had almost completely cut down a tree that I absolutely did not want cut down. While I agreed that it was almost scary-tall with almost no lower branches, I was less concerned that it would break and crash into anything. What I was left with, was nothing short of a reverse mohawk.

Fully aware that I couldn’t change what had been done, I went on in to work and walked right into my next cluster. Daniel and Jason were there and had brought back the Mac I gave them. Evidently it didn’t work, and was having all sorts of fits. With absolutely zero time to dedicate to getting it working, we had to take off for a meeting at The Center about an upcoming event. Daniel didn’t even realize he was invited, but we still made it over there before anyone else.

After the meeting, I sent Mike off to get lunch and I worked straight through. I tried going room to room to check for technology needs, but ended up striking a nerve with Karen, who totally went Karen down the halls. She stormed into Mary Beth’s office, and I foolishly chased her down. Mary Beth ran her off pretty quickly because she had actual work to do, and I basically just had to wander the halls for a few hours getting nothing accomplished.

I ran by the shop for a little while before having to leave to get Eaddie. She brought along a friend that needed a ride to the same flute lesson. I just waited for them in the car since it was a short lesson. Then we came back home for a bit until it was time to get Autumn.

Summer hadn’t been able to get around all day, so we stopped by 10 Box for some essentials, then grabbed dinner from Little Caesar’s. On the way home, Mom called to gripe about the tree trimming, as though I should have had the forethought to be home when all of this was happening. I certainly didn’t want it to look this way, but at least they cleaned up the rest of the yard as well.

Somehow both Eaddie and Autumn ate half of a pizza each. Summer had a less-than-good time, then went back to the bed. I watched some TV with her until everyone was off to sleep.

I have no wealth, and riches and fame have never come my way.

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Caustic for $200

This morning started out pretty rough. I had trouble getting to sleep last night in spite of how exhausted I was. When I finally made it to the shower, I discovered my towel had been used to wipe off what I assume was someone’s face cream that bleached the blue right out of the towel. I screamed in rage at the situation because this made the fifth or sixth time that this exact situation has happened within a relatively short amount of time, and it feels like nobody’s getting the goddamn memo. Chemicals are bad. That feeling was amplified because I put a cheap hand towel in the bathroom for them, and for some reason they still went for my bath towel. I had finally broken down and bought a really nice, complete set of everything, and it felt like nobody values any of it.

Work was fine, except that I had to cover the middle school for Josh while no fewer than three of them fixed a total of one door. I struggled to find my way around, and had at least one medium-level moment of embarrassment because hardly anyone there knows me. When I made it to the shop, I slowly discovered that I would be on my own for lunch. I considered just finishing a Soylent, but thought I’d take Summer lunch instead.

Wendy’s was a shitshow of mouthbreathers that simply didn’t have the capacity to maintain both a drive-through and inside counter. It was the same kid that was working last time, and he looked equally flustered. It’s not entirely their fault, because evidently nobody wants to work at all right now. Summer’s basically been short staffed since she started, and everyone there is burned out on hours. I ended up just eating my half of the lunch alone in her office before going back to work.

The afternoon was a little more quiet. Gary brought his new Carvana purchase in: a 2019 Nissan Altima that was used as a rental car in its past life. It had relatively low miles and looked to be in pretty good condition. We were all really happy for him as he discovered automobile features from the early 21st century. The afternoon went by pretty quickly from there as I tinkered with some things in my office.

The girls walked home from school, so I basically just came home to pick them up. We dropped Autumn off at her Explorers meeting, and then Eaddie and I went to my parents’ house for rolls. Summer and Julie showed up when they each got off from work. Tensions were manageable but awkward. Everyone filtered out, and I finally headed home for the evening.

Relaxation is requiring quite a bit of force these days.

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Skydove

Summer had an appointment to go skydiving early this afternoon, so I got up and headed home to clean up. The girls were all waiting outside for me when I got back to pick them up, and we made our way to the Clarksville airport. We hadn’t been there very long before a group came down for a landing, and one of the pros that had been doing the filming for that jump came down super hard and broke his leg. They called an ambulance, but the guy ended up taking the bed of a truck instead. After seeing my nonsensical COVID bills, I don’t blame him.

It took us a while to get started on account of the injury, but Summer wasn’t phased. Another group of kids came in for a jump as well, but Summer was up next since she had an actual appointment. The plane ride didn’t take too long, but we couldn’t actually see them leave the plane because of some large clouds. I did get a bit of video as they approached the field for their landing, but she paid the extra $150 for a premium body and external cam footage anyway.

Autumn wanted to go to their father’s restaurant afterward, but he had already closed. We settled on El Molcajete instead, but as we parked, we realized that not a single soul other than myself had brought a mask. That irritated me enough on account of my hunger, but then Autumn started in on an attitude when she should have known better than to leave the house without her mask after more than a year of this.

I drove us straight home instead, where we picked at some leftovers for an early dinner. Then I sunk a bunch of time into Photoshopping an explosion behind Summer and her tandem partner in a photo I took of them walking back from the airfield. Frustrated from the loss of daylight and everyone else taking naps, I left for home and spent the evening poking around the garage.

You never look back at the explosion!