21 and Lost

I went to bed super late last night and had trouble feeling some sort of anxiety or nervousness or dread that I didn’t understand. I eventually fell asleep, but didn’t stay in bed very late. I got up and warmed breakfast for Summer and myself, and Eaddie left for church. We didn’t see her again.

I got into cleaning and reviews some more, but never had any luck with much of anything. My S21 Ultra was lost, and I felt a bit lost myself. I should have known exactly where it was, and the fact that I haven’t been able to find it at all has been nerve-wracking.

Summer went to the gym and I went to KFC to get a pot pie for $4.20, because apparently those are the kinds of jokes they’re making now. That was a surreal experience, because I walked into a seemingly abandoned restaurant that had a few people in the corner that didn’t look like they were there to eat. It took a while to get noticed, but the staff was otherwise friendly. I thought my glasses were smudged, but the air was just hazy. It didn’t smell like anything though. The cash register flashed garbled text, and it felt a little bit like I was in the Matrix. I got my food and headed back to the house to eat, and luckily the pot pie was amazing.

Summer got home and mowed the lawn while I continued working inside. We had set out steaks to defrost for dinner, but they were still frozen solid. Dad texted that Mom made eggplant soup, so Summer said I could go eat over there and then come back to grill her some brats. I ran over with Muad’Dib, we ate, and then I went to the Neighborhood Market to get her food.

By the time I got things cooking, she reminded me that she had to go to work for a meeting, so she didn’t even get to eat first. Luckily she didn’t mind eating late when she got back, and then I cleaned up a bit before bed.

Oh, to be.

Doggy Daycare

I considered breakfast this morning, but couldn’t come up with a worthy deal in time and just showed up at work early instead. Amanda needed help downstairs, so I spent a while working down there. Teddy came out of Rhonda’s office and ran around with Muad’Dib for a while, but then she made him go back before we left. The morning went by pretty quickly, but luckily we left for lunch when we did, because I forgot about the call I had in the afternoon.

We ended up at Taco Bell, then made it back just in time to hop on with the Aptean guys again. There was really no point to the call other than for us to be prompted to fill out a survey. I didn’t leave great remarks. The afternoon really dragged on after that.

Chick-fil-A sent me a free fry, so we stopped by on the way to get those on the way home. I saw Kevin and Hope at AT&T, so we stopped there to see them while we ate. Kevin was on his way out, but I caught up with Hope a bit before we left. Just as we were pulling out, I met the new store manager and we chatted briefly, and he suggested I should come back and work a part-time position they had because he “liked my vibe.”

I was pretty hungry when we made it back to the house, so I ate some leftover mush with Summer and then we sat on the couch and watched some YouTube for a while. She suggested popcorn and a movie, but I guess she changed her mind after I took Muad’Dib on a late run in the cooler air.

We visited my parents, and then I basically had to drag him back home. I ate some other leftovers and Summer went to bed.

Woah, again.

Grating Warmth

Muad’Dib seemed to feel a little sick this morning, because he jumped right out of the car and ate some grass, then sat down and threw it right back up. He didn’t act particularly puny otherwise, but something made him sick. We made it upstairs and got to work for a pretty busy day after that.

I couldn’t decide on lunch, but I thought I wanted to sit outside with him for a bit. That was until we got outside and he kept wandering around instead of coming back to me to get in the car. That irritated me to the point that I decided to leave him in the car while I went in for some Wendy’s.

The afternoon was busy as well, and we ended up leaving a little late. Traffic was a bit annoying, but at least Summer promised chicken and dumplings for dinner. She was breaking down a rotisserie chicken when we got to the house, so I took Muad’Dib for a medium-speed run. We visited Dad, and then I basically had to drag him the rest of the way home.

Dinner was okay. The lemon pepper chicken and canned biscuits made it too sweet with another slightly odd flavor, but it wasn’t bad. I tried to emphasize my appreciation. She went to be shortly after that, and I cleaned up and ate some leftover cake, but the kids got into it and destroyed a large part of it for some reason. I don’t know what they were trying to do, but it frustrated me. Frustrations compounded for a while until I finally got everything done for bed.

🪛

Iron it Out

I had a really rough start this morning after a painful night of sleeping around a bum knee. I ended up popping an iron pill with my shower orange, and then grabbed some Burger King on the way out of town. I actually felt pretty okay all day, which was a little surprising after yesterday. I had a couple calls and got to practice some rare account creation tasks, so it was more fun than usual.

We ended up going to Sonic for lunch, but I was super disappointed in my serving of onion rings and chicken strips. They only half-filled my bag of onion rings, and one of the strips was smaller than my thumb. Everything tasted great too, which made it all the more disappointing. We ended up going to Harp’s afterward where I picked up some beer and a couple taquitos from the deli.

Most of the afternoon dragged on until the last little bit that went by quickly. We got home and the girls were chatting on the couch. I was going to sit down with Summer for some leftovers, but had developed a stomach ache that took me away from that. I ended up eating the rest of my pot pie, which I think made me feel a little bad in the evening. My blood pressure was high, but I think I was also a bit dehydrated.

My knee felt much better, but I still didn’t feel well enough to take Muad’Dib for a ride, so I just wound down an hour earlier in the hopes that better sleep would help the overall wellness.

balance

Side Quests

Summer had to work this morning, so I slept in a while, then got up for some leftover corned beef for brunch. Eaddie left for school and I got cleaned up for a trip to Conway with Summer to pick up some stuff for work. I had gotten tickets to see The Super Mario Galaxy Movie so it wouldn’t be a whole trip just for work. I really wanted to see Project Hail Mary, but the release of Mario knocked it out of every single larger theater.

I lost track of time and we got out the door way later than I planned, but we made it just in time to walk straight back and sit down at the end of the trailers. A family with at least one kid was sat right next to our seats in an otherwise mostly empty auditorium, but I sat down and shared an armrest on principle because I had reserved our seats ahead. It wasn’t completely unbearable.

I thought the movie was fun, but the 3D didn’t really do much for it, which was a surprise. After that, we went to Splash to pick up Summer’s stuff. I asked for the key to the manual wash and was able to give the Model 3 one of the best washes it has ever had. I had forgotten how vibrant the paint was.

By the time I finished, we were both super hungry, so we made our way downtown and ended up at the Rogue Roundabout. Summer didn’t have her ID for some reason, so our server said she would have to call over the manager. I didn’t recognize him, but he learned where we were from and said he was born and raised there, having graduated high school a year after me. I asked his name and learned he was the same Chris I had driven to the emergency room after stepping on broken glass at Cole’s bachelor party camp trip some fifteen years ago. I still had photos, and even had his number saved in my phone.

After that, we had several drinks before our food came out an hour and a half later. Everything tasted great – it was just incredibly, frustratingly slow. We caught Chris outside as we left, and I shared a couple pictures. Then we started toward home. Summer had previously said no to Long John Silver’s when we were thinking of where to eat, which put the bug in my brain that I should pick some up for later.

We went through the drive-through where I ordered a family mean, and was subsequently parked to wait for our food. I ended up going inside and had a great conversation with another customer that came in after me. We chatted intermittently with the guy who took my order, since he was busy running around behind the counter. He gave both of us free drinks for waiting so long, and then I remembered their delicious strawberry lemonade. The restaurant always looks super dated and worn down, but has never been what I would consider dirty. The staff has always been super friendly, and the food has always been fresh. I wish them success, because I miss the one in town.

I eventually got my food and we headed home, snacking on clam strips as it started to pour down rain. We made it home where Muad’Dib had apparently been left alone for several hours. He ran up to me like he thought I had gone forever. I had asked Eaddie about being home, but I guess I wasn’t specific enough because she had been gone to Tech for several hours before we made it back. Everything was intact though, so maybe he’ll be okay to be left alone a little more frequently.

First goes the body, then goes the bones. Then all that’s left is dust.

PEAS AND CHOPS

I had my last pork chop sandwich on the way in this morning, but also brought a whole bag of sugar snap peas to eat before they went bad. I actually managed to munch through about two thirds or maybe even three quarters of the bag by the end of the day. They were good, and they felt really guilt-free.

I managed to stay relatively focused on Intune stuff in the morning before we went to Wendy’s for a free Baconator with points. I had some chips when we got back to the office, and the afternoon brought some other projects.

Summer got home early and planned to cook the other bag of peas and a whole head of cabbage to eat with the remaining pork chops. That only took a few minutes while I cleaned up, and then we ate.

Flies are coming back around, and I was able to catch four of them to feed to the spider. He ate one right away, but the others were buzzing in his cage all night. I took Muad’Dib for a pretty slow run to see my parents, but then cut him short on the way back because he just wasn’t moving fast enough.

Summer was long in bed by the time we got back. I found that one of my baby catfish had died, but I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise since the tank has been so neglected. After that, I finished the evening working on a bunch of reviews until I couldn’t stay up any longer.

The warden threw a party in the county jail!

‘Cause if You Like It, but You’re Afraid of Early Release Bugs, Then You Shoulda Put an Update Ring on It

More pork chop sandwiches this morning. I had an okay day tinkering with some more Intune compliance stuff, then had an anxiety attack before a late lunch. It was a good, but windy day to sit outside Taco Bell, and then the afternoon was less painfully long.

Summer had a late meeting, so we got to the house and then immediately left for a run. Muad’Dib just casually trotted along the whole way, and it’s not even hot yet. We saw Dad before he left for church, and then got home and ate some leftovers. A bunch more had gone bad, so I threw that stuff out and took out the recycling just as Summer got there.

We spent some time outside cleaning up the driveway in preparation for some rain. I got Summer up on the roof to blow out the gutters as it got dark, and then she showered and went to bed. I cleaned up some more, then followed suit.

Whoa-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh.

Cavalcade of Home Movies

Summer worked this morning, so I slept in a little while before having a quick breakfast. Summer made it home and cleaned up, and then I gave Muad’Dib a bath. Eli came over, and eventually left with Eaddie for Eureka Springs ahead of us. Summer and I finally got things packed up and left, stopping in Ozark for some food and a Supercharge.

We got to the Inn of the Ozarks with enough time to check in and decompress a bit before dinner. I needed to charge, so we dropped my car off at the trolley stop and had Eli pick us up to meet my parents, Uncle Rick, and Ginny at La Familia for dinner. Muad’Dib had to sit on the porch and wait for us, but he did great.

After dinner, we got back just in time for the evening tribute show. There were more people in the audience than I had ever seen, which was a shame because the tribute show was less magic and more of a talk-show style tribute with a surprising amount of home movies on a projector. It seemed like half the audience left halfway through that.

I rode around the parking lot with Muad’Dib before finally making it back to the room for the evening. The first couple Harry Potter movies played before everyone started to pass out.

It’s knot juggling.

Wheely Bad Service

I took a toasted pork chop sandwich for breakfast, and a heated lunch box with some chicken, sweet potato, and broccoli for lunch today. In spite of all the frustration, I was excited to get my Onewheel back in the morning. Teisha called when it showed up, and I loaded it into the car. The entire day was spent at the office wrapping up some of my understanding of Autopilot, so now I’m ready to actually build out some stuff around that and properly manage our devices.

My heated lunch box worked perfectly, and my meal was piping hot. Afterward, we took a break for some cake for Janice’s birthday. The afternoon went by fairly quickly after that, and we made our way home through heavy traffic.

Summer was in the tub, and Eaddie was leaving to play pickleball at Old Post, so I decided to take Muad’Dib out there to ride around. We never did find the kids, but we had a good time making a big loop around the park before coming back to the house.

As for the Onewheel; Future Motion did their usual shit job. It started with insufficient packaging because they didn’t replace the top egg carton inside the retail package, which I absolutely shipped to them. The Onewheel itself was completely covered in some kind of dust or powder that just blew off, so it had clearly been sitting out somewhere for a while. They replaced my Maghandle for some reason, and gave me a super shitty torn-up one with a really bad rubber grip. The plastics on the bottom corners also had huge chunks hanging off like they had curbed it multiple times. They rode it hard for 27 miles, which I’m not surprised wasn’t enough for them to reproduce my motor disengage issue. They did give me someone else’s used TFL valve stem cap though.

When we got back to the house, Summer and I ate some more leftovers. I saw another possum on camera under the house, so I had to investigate that. I have no idea how they’re getting in, because I walked the entire perimeter of the house and couldn’t find any holes apart from the small one at the top of the house under the eave of the roof.

Summer went to bed and Eaddie got home early and disappeared into her room. That left me to my own chores for the night before an even earlier bedtime than when I actually have to work the next day.

#FFM

Mid-to-Late Forties

Summer decided to take the day off for her birthday, and spent the first day of spring break with Eaddie. In contrast, I went to work and spent a lot of time reading Microsoft documentation. Muad’Dib and I went to Sonic for lunch, but it was slightly cold and super windy, so it wasn’t quite as enjoyable as I had hoped.

The whole day kind of crept along, but we eventually got to go home. The car routed me off the Interstate early, so we drove by and saw that Zaxby’s was, in fact, permanently closed. I think we loved their chicken the most, so this was pretty upsetting, not to mention the fact that I still have some money left on a gift card.

The girls were gone when we got to the house, because all three kids wanted to take Summer out to dinner. I offered to go along, but Eaddie said they just wanted to go with the four of them. I rested for a bit, and then walked Muad’Dib to my parents’ house where we ate some bok choy that Mom stir fried.

We walked back home as it got dark, and Summer and the kids all met us out in the road as they were leaving. Then Summer went to bed, and I eventually trailed along.

Fewer and fewer breaks feels like living life in reverse.