Gotta Get Away

It was another quiet day at work today. Zach was back and sent me to help Brody finish imaging the junior high student devices. Then most of us went to an abnormally slow lunch at Morelos, after which I went to the high school to help Mike image his student devices.

After work, I met Summer at Ridout to look at some more tile. We went back and forth for quite a while until we finally found some that we liked, and I’m excited to get things moving. We still need to shop for a vanity and some fixtures, but at least this much is done.

I took the tile to my parents’ house to show them, then waited for Summer to get there so we could have some leftover dinner. After visiting for a little while, we headed back to my house for the evening.

Summer chatted with Beth for a bit, and I ended up doing some flight shopping for Eaddie’s trip back up to Wisconsin. Some airlines charge fees for unaccompanied minors, but I discovered that Southwest would take her without any real restrictions. For only $138, I found myself wondering why we’re only sending one.

Airports are some of the safest places you can hang out in for multiple hours at a time. Everyone there has already made it through security, and at any moment you could scream and at least a dozen good samaritans would come running.

Quite an Impact

Summer went to work this morning and I went straight home to clean up before heading to my parents’ house. I made a big burger for lunch, and then stopped by Brody’s house to loan him my big impact wrench. He came out and just needed it to loosen the oil drain plug on his new mini truck. If I had realized that’s all it was, I probably would have brought the small impact just because of how heavy the large one was.

On the way home, I stopped by the shop to visit with Summer for a bit. Then I started on laundry once I got back home. While that was going, I piddled around the house just picking up random things. I got hungry late and made a big, grilled, bean burrito, then did my best to wind down for bed as quickly as possible.

$0.002564 per sheet

Woody Woodstacker

I made it in a little bit early this morning in time for coffee and donuts. It was another slow, quiet meeting that ended with everyone splitting up to continue imaging. I think we’re about a third of the way through the high school student devices by this point. I really thought Mike might be involved with it at some level, but I guess he’s got his own things going on.

We left at lunch time, and I went home for a bit before going to Zaxby’s and picking up some food to share with Summer. I felt pretty decent just sharing a Wings and Things meal plus a free side of cheddar bites, and afterward I went back home to stack some wood.

I got about two ricks stacked up from the massive mound of wood that has been in my back yard since the trees were cut. I was almost completely in the shade and it was a bit cooler out today due to the rain yesterday, otherwise I wouldn’t have made it. I was pretty proud of my accomplishment, but there’s so much more to stack before I even get to the larger logs that will have to be split.

I went in to shower from all the sweating, and Summer brought Eaddie over later in the evening. Autumn didn’t want to stay here again, so it would just be the three of us. Eaddie wanted to meet Dave at Old Post to play tennis, so Summer took her and they stayed out pretty late doing that.

When they got home, Summer and I watched the latest episode of Loki, and I still hate the forced weekly release schedule. I’m ready to see what little Alligator Loki has in store for us.

Now would be a great time to learn how to smoke things.

Rood Awakening

I took the day off from work but, woke up to a call from a tech from Rood to come check out my air conditioning. Melissa said it would probably be around 10:30, so I was pretty startled when he called. I rushed home and just barely beat him there. Ultimately he said he was getting a 20 degree differential between my return and the air vent, and he said the unit had plenty of refrigerant. While we were outside, Bác Vân came over and picked a bunch of jalapeños for me. I gave most of them to the tech, and then went inside to clean up.

Summer wanted some lunch and nothing really sounded good, so I went to Ridgewood and got some ribs, bacon burnt ends, and turkey along with some sides. It was just Robert and Conner, a new kid that had just graduated from high school but looked about three years shy of it. Robert said Blake would be in town tomorrow morning, so I’ll try to swing by in the morning to see him there.

By the time I got to the shop, they had picked up and Summer couldn’t join me for lunch right away. I killed some time before finally eating some. Just as I finished, she came up and ate. Then I went back home to poke around the house. I got a very little bit done but felt exhausted all afternoon.

Eventually Summer came over for the evening and we watched the newest episode of Loki. I didn’t expect it to end so abruptly. I’m not a fan of the weekly episode format. I’ll take mine in a binge session, please.

‘Cause she’s jalapeño business.

Captain’s Log

Summer got up this morning and had to take Eaddie to her parents’ house to meet up with Autumn so they could spend the day with their father. I stayed home and started some laundry, and cleaned up the bedroom. After some gym time and cleaning up herself, Summer came back and kept me company.

Later in the evening, we met my family at La Villa for a Father’s Day dinner. I spotted Carlos and Adrian across the room, so Julie went over to greet the family.

On the way home, I stopped by Walgreens to pick up a photo print I had ordered. Julie happened to order one as well, and they actually opened it up to show her the gorilla from Disney. If I had been anyone else, I might have been upset, so I’m surprised they did that. My next stop was for some gas, and then home for the evening.

I just play one on TV.

Early to Rise, Early to Bed

I got up at five in the morning to pull Eaddie out of bed. After sitting around the house all week and barely accomplishing anything we asked of her, I wanted her to get out and mow the lawn miserably early so it would be cooler outside. I went back to bed, and woke up later to a decently cut front lawn.

Summer got up and made a big pancake breakfast, and everyone was in a better mood. Autumn fussed about being achy, but we blamed that on her diet and sedentary lifestyle. We’ve all got to get back into cooking healthier food at home.

After we ate, I made Eaddie start mowing the back yard. Summer needed a ratcheting wrench to work on her gas mower, so we went to my house for that, stopping briefly at the shop so she could top off her coolant. Her car is still just as smooth as we could have hoped. Unfortunately she never could get the mower started, so we’ll probably dump the fuel next.

Eventually we gathered everyone up and headed to my parents’ house for a swim. The sun was just overhead, so everyone got plenty of sun. Eaddie was understandably tired, which made her super resistant to going out, but I forced her into a suit, and she begrudgingly waded into the water. She kept asking to leave, but as I suspected, at the end of it all she was the last one out of the pool.

Mom made curry, fried rice, and had Dad fry up some egg rolls, so we all stuffed ourselves for dinner. Then we headed back home where everyone was in bed by 7:30.

Makes a kid quiet, compliant, and kind.

Maximum Saturation

Autumn and I got up this morning and went to McAlister’s for free cup day. They gave out 20 free tumblers to the first people in the store, and if I had known how few people would show up, we would have arrived 15 minutes before open rather than an hour and a half. The sun was intense, but the humidity made it hard to breathe. From that moment on, I basically stayed wet the entire day.

After an early lunch, Autumn left and I went home to contemplate working. I ended up just taking the whole day off since I had to burn three days before the end of the school year. I went to visit Summer at work to see if she wanted some lunch. Then I headed towards my parents’ house to see if Dad wanted to look for some tile. There was a bunch of construction along the way, which got me off-route. I made a split-second decision to stop in and see Grant, and then continued on to Dad.

I didn’t stay there long, because I had to get Summer some lunch at 1:30, so I ran all the way across town for some Hardee’s chicken strips. Then Dad picked me up from the shop and we went to Georgia Carpet Mills. I left the Murano with Summer to get an alignment next door at Hindsman’s.

The warehouse was super humid and stagnant, so I was sweating profusely the entire time we were there. We looked at a bunch of tile, got directed to some laminate for a while, and then ended up with five tile samples to take home. I figured at the end of the day, I would be pretty happy with just about anything.

Dad dropped me back off at the shop, and I still had to wait a while to get the car back. The girls failed to complete an appropriate amount of chores at home, so I went home to wait for Summer to get her gym time in, and then we went to Chili’s for dinner.

Why do people insist on living in places that are terrible a large percentage of the time?

Properly Mounted

The girls went out with their father around lunch time while Summer and I spent too many hours swapping TV mounts. I got a new tilting mount for the living room because the height of the TV made 3D unbearably blurry. Once we got the new mount hung, I dropped the angle of the TV until 3D looked right while seated or standing. Then we took the old mount to the front bedroom where the girls have been sleeping, and hung the super cheap Onn TV we had. I also had a new Chromecast with Google TV, so they’ll be happy.

Once that was sorted, Summer went to the gym until it was time to head to my parents’ house for dinner. Mom made some phở, and of course Dad had dessert. Then we each went home for the night. I continued picking up around the house and did another load of laundry. I’ve been feeling slowly overwhelmed by both work and home, and there’s still so much that I have to complete before our vacation.

My heart longs to join them, sing songs of the sea.

Battle of the Bulk

Summer and I got up this morning and started shuffling things in the garage. After some debate, we decided to get rid of the chest of drawers that has been rotting away in the garage due to some water damage. Then we got rid of some larger pallets from the shed out back, and moved some of the smaller ones from the garage out into the shed. There was a nest of some kind of flying ant-looking bugs out there, and they didn’t seem to be eating up anything, but they just went everywhere when we disturbed them. I just left the shed open all day, and they moved on out.

By the time we got the majority of everything out, we had worked up an appetite for lunch, so we loaded up the girls and went to Smackin’ Wings and Things. I guess I had slightly forgotten how high that place is, and I outright refused to get Autumn the 5-piece chicken strip meal she wanted for $16.49(!), especially since she was the only one of us that had already eaten something in the form of two leftover soft tacos just minutes earlier. Instead, we had them split an order of 20 boneless wings, and Summer and I shared some Curious George fries. We still didn’t get out the door for under $50 after a tip, so I hope at those prices even the servers get paid a living wage.

After we ate, we took the girls home to clean up and mow the lawn while Summer and I loaded their old mattress onto her car for a trip back to my house for bulk item pickup day. I was pleasantly surprised with how well it rode up there, and we made it home without incident. I continued to clean up and started some laundry while she went back home.

Eaddie wanted to go to an Among Us real-life game with her boyfriend, what’s-his-face, so Summer dropped her off and then came to visit me for a while later in the evening. I felt pretty tired, and was surprised to see how early it was by the time I was winding down for bed. I’ll take the sleep when I can get it.

Seriously, for $2.75 more we could have gotten a dinner buffet at Brown’s.

Crouching Cow, Hidden Cable

Autumn had a carwash fundraiser with the explorers group this morning, so Summer dropped her off while I got up and around. When she got back, she and Eaddie wanted to go to New China, so we went out for lunch before continuing on to shop for some jeans for Eaddie.

I dropped them off at Maurices while I ran home to get some unused parts to return to Harbor Freight and Lowe’s. Then I met them back at the store as they finished up. From there, we went to Lowe’s while Eaddie stayed in the car. I returned my stuff, and then Summer and I went back to look at the tile and stuff.

Autumn was finishing up around that time, so we went to pick her up at Dairy Queen. Then Eaddie went on a bike ride while Summer took Autumn home so she could go out with Harry, then went on to the gym. While everyone else was away, I took the time to clean up a bit more in the garage, and then climbed around in the attic a bunch to run a new sensor wire and controller for the garage door. It took me a while, but so far it seems way more responsive than the Momentum camera system I’ve had up.

Eaddie eventually came back home and I needed a break, so I came in and started watching The Winter Soldier. I didn’t intend to watch the whole movie, but Summer got back right as I started it, and became interested enough to finish it. When Autumn finally came home, Eaddie and I ran to Taco Bell for a super late dinner. Then we watched another episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Eaddie stayed up a little later watching Invincible, which took a bit to catch my attention. I don’t know how serious I’ll be about watching the whole series, but I let it take up a few minutes of my time before going off to bed.

He’s just going to extort you and do that stupid head-tilt thing.