Fixalotl

We got out slightly early this morning, but so did everyone else. I started the day downstairs with Elizabeth to try and fix her printing issue, and still couldn’t get her computer enrolled in Intune. Then Rhonda had some oddities. I finally made it upstairs and experimented with some Aptean print settings myself, and learned a new trick in Traverse.

Lunch time showed up and I went to pick up some fries from McDonald’s, and it took them eight minutes from the time it said my order was ready to the time they handed me a bag of food. I took those to Subway and picked up a sandwich, then ate in my office while I continued to work.

The afternoon was frustrating, but dull until quitting time. We made it home through some more rain, and then Summer showed up with groceries to cook dinner. She made some kind of creamy pasta with chicken and spinach, and it was super good.

After dinner, it was a pretty quick night of cleanup. It looked like my last catfish may have died, which was super upsetting after more than twelve years. I just never made rebuilding the tanks a priority with everything else that needed to be done. Then I did some bill paying, data entry, and went to bed.

Hah. Gas.

In Memoriam

I decided to stop the iron supplements today so I could level out before my eventual annual checkup. We had brunch planned at IHOP for Autumn’s birthday, and we barely got around for that. Eaddie slept late while Summer had to go to Atkins to pick up Noah. Things immediately started going wrong.

The restaurant was pretty busy, and they were not prepared. A table behind us had some kind of drama going on, so a manager demanded that they leave. When they refused, he walked away saying the cops would remove them. Things settled down pretty immediately after that, and we eventually got our order in. Of course, it was a full hour before we saw a morsel of food, so we sipped ice waters until then.

Afterward, I ended up taking Muad’Dib home while Summer dropped Noah off. Eaddie wanted to go ride bikes, so I was tasked with getting out the bike rack in the heat of midday. I immediately started pouring sweat in the humidity, but we eventually got everything loaded, aired up, and ready to go.

We had a false start when my watch incorrectly alerted me that I had left my phone. We turned back before I realized it actually was in my pocket. We got to the lake and unloaded the bikes, but I realized I didn’t have Muad’Dib’s collar remote, so I left Summer with him on a leash and ran back home.

I couldn’t find the remote at first, and in the process, I dumped a full tumbler of water all over the kitchen floor. I mopped that up, dried my socks, and eventually loaded up again. The kids had gotten their bikes and started riding around the marina, and Summer was walking around with Muad’Dib. I brought my Onewheel since I wasn’t sure what the mood would be like after I had been gone so long.

Summer got Muad’Dib into the water and splashed around with him a bit. I was still hot and burned out, so I mostly sat from that point on, but I did take Muad’Dib for a couple short runs. Eaddie, Eli, and Ceci eventually came back around and hung out with us before we loaded up to go back home.

We unloaded and the kids went for more biking while I took Muad’Dib to my parents’ house for a brief visit. Summer started a bath for him when we got back, but I made it in there to take over, which upset her for some reason. She always refuses any time I mention that maybe she could bathe him, so I just didn’t get it.

I got him bathed and she helped dry him. Then I vacuumed a ton of hair off of him before finally getting to wind down for bed. Eaddie got home and took a shower, but then started to leave again. Summer was in bed, so I had to play bad cop again and tell her she needed to give their family a break and stay home to finish cleaning her bathroom and bedrooms, which have been complete wrecks all week.

Finally, I made a mad dash to finish up for bed, exhausted from the break.

And not one “thank you” was heard.

Little Spaces

I tried not to sleep in too late, so we got up for some leftovers for breakfast. We lounged for just a little bit before Summer decided she really wanted to clean out her little office nook. Eaddie left pretty early, so we stayed pretty busy cleaning house all day long.

Mom planned to have bún bò Huế at some point, and that time ended up being dinner. I took a late shower, and then we ended up walking over to eat. Julie and Kevin got back from vacation and stopped in, so it was a good thing that I decided to bring the packages I retrieved for her. We visited for a while as the noise floor continued to rise, and then finally left to walk back home. My left sandal had broken on the bottom, so I was happy to have made it home without incident.

Summer and I sat on the couch and watched the first episode of Funny AF, and it could have been worse. I kind of wanted to find something a little less “reality” to watch, but that filled an acceptable amount of time before bed.

It’s a gas gas gas!

Just Following Policy

I slept in a little bit today since I could wake up and walk to my office for work. It ended up being one of my most productive days as I tinkered away with Intune policies to manage the browsers for the maintenance shop PC. Eaddie was in bed all day, so it was just Intune, my speakers, Tiny Towns, and me.

I took a break to finish my old nachos from Ridgewood, but otherwise I stayed pretty busy all day. Before I knew it, Summer made it home from work and got ready for Sip + Stretch. I showered after, then had to run to my parents’ house to get Muad’Dib’s collar remote, and then Julie’s house to fetch a package. As soon as we got back to the house, I jumped on the Onewheel and Muad’Dib and I rode toward Point Remove.

As we neared the end of our run on Phoenix, we ran into Mollie and Craig walking down the sidewalk. We stopped for a hug, then continued to an absolutely packed house. There was a wedding party with a ton of people, but we managed to find a small table out back. Muad’Dib behaved perfectly and stayed right by me as we went through, then back to get him a cup of water.

Summer had gone to yoga with an old employee, and they both eventually made it down to join us. It wasn’t long after that when Eaddie showed up, and nervously walked around the outside of the building to avoid all the people. Summer ordered wings and a large charcuterie board, which was basically three giant blocks of cheese. I would be so happy if we never ordered that ever again. The wings were great, but there needed to be more of them for four people.

It eventually died down, and then we headed home. Muad’Dib wasn’t ready to come in though, so I took him for another short run to see Grandpaw. Then we saw the neighbors walking and talked to them for a moment before making it home for the night.

What a waste of skin and teeth!

No Buds

I didn’t sleep great again, but I managed to get up and out to check on my parents before going to work. Dad was out of his chair before Mom was, and sounded much better. We ended up getting to work just a little later than usual. I chatted up front for a little bit, then headed upstairs to find a project.

Summer told me last night that she was taken out of the regional meetings, so she wouldn’t be going to Little Rock any more. That meant she wasn’t meeting me for lunch, so I went to McDonald’s for a $2 order of McNuggets, and then Arby’s for a gyro. We took it back to work to eat, and I started on the nuggets in the parking lot while Muad’Dib wandered about. The wind had been going, but about halfway through it wanted to carry my food off, so we went inside to finish.

The afternoon carried on a bit as I caught up on the Google I/O summit. Quitting time eventually showed up and we headed home, driving with my meats because it was raining too much for autopilot to do it quickly. Summer was playing Torchlight, but I asked if she wanted to check on my parents with me. She got up and we made it over there to talk briefly. Mom got up to warm up some dinner for them, so we left. Terry walked up just as we were leaving, so I pointed him to go on in.

Just as we got to the house, I realized I forgot my eyeglasses at my parents’ house, so I dropped Summer and Muad’Dib off and went back. Terry was just leaving and commented on my car, so I talked him into a joyride. Then I had to find dinner because Summer didn’t want to eat like we had planned. I tried Gary and Grant, but neither answered. I circled around a bit, but still ended up at our planned Cici’s for a $5.99 salad. The salad was great, and I felt like I didn’t stuff myself.

I made it back to the house and took Muad’Dib on an acoustic walk before coming in for the night. I thought to look for my earbuds for our concert the next day, and couldn’t find them anywhere. I’m pretty disciplined about putting things like that in their home, so it was frustrating that they seemed to have disappeared. Even Summer eventually got out of bed to help look, but we couldn’t find them anywhere. I just went to bed, disappointed again.

How did I get here?

Let Off Some Steam

Autopilot was a frustration to and from work today, so I spent both drives disengaging repeatedly so I could record feedback. I figure it looks bad for them to have interrupted or shorter drives, even if I’m one person in the 10 billion self-driving miles driven.

I was surprisingly pretty busy today just helping others, so it felt good to be out of the office a bit. It was a nice day out too, so Muad’Dib and I went to Taco Bell. I ended up not eating all of my food, so I took my burrito for later and finished up the afternoon. Janice left a little early, so it was quiet upstairs.

Eaddie arrived at home just as I did, but then left. Johnny called and I talked to him for a little while. Then Summer showed up and we ate some leftovers. I took Muad’Dib for a late run, and then I got to play with my new Steam Controller for a bit as she went to bed.

A storm blew through pretty quickly with some loud thunder, but it didn’t last. Eaddie came home late and gave me the news that Whattaburger closed for good tonight with little notice. I felt like it went downhill when all the knick knacks disappeared and were replaced with generic pictures of food. It would have been nice to see that kind of stuff make a comeback.

Simpler times had lower standards.

The Dilemma

Feyd-Rautha laid on the porch by the back door all night long, and I could not have felt worse about the possibility of him going back to those people. He had finally started wagging his tail when he saw us come out, though he still hadn’t eaten anything but a couple treats. Summer left for Little Rock and I headed to work with the plan to deal with him later, though I texted Eaddie later and asked her to play with him some when she came back home from class.

I stayed pretty busy, but took time to email Animal Control again. They said they would send someone to do another welfare check, so I called to clarify that I still had the dog in custody. Tammie didn’t seem too concerned with what I had to say or what I wanted to do, so we just agreed to bring him in ourselves in the evening. I guess I wasn’t surprised, because it just comes with the job for them.

I met Summer for lunch at Ortega’s, and I was a little frustrated by the lack of service. They brought us a brand new bottle of salsa and then no chips, and didn’t get all of my order right. At least the food was good, but I could have gone for some more.

The afternoon was short just due to how late we ate, and then I asked to leave early so I could help Summer take Feyd to Animal Control. I raced home through slow traffic, and we wouldn’t have even made it on time if they hadn’t been waiting for Dreya to show up with another found dog. She talked to Summer briefly, and I took Feyd-Rautha into the loud, smelly, anxiety-inducing prison for the night. Tammie was of course unaffected, but did say the guy called looking for him. She did me the favor of not telling him that I had him, but said she would at least make him fill out the return paperwork tomorrow.

Summer and I headed back to the house and I started grilling steaks while she baked potatoes. I wanted to use charcoal this time, and it turned out pretty good. I even managed to use a small amount of charcoal without having a ton left over. At some point, we made it to the bedroom where I dug around and found my S21 Ultra, so I’ll be able to use it for the company picnic. We ate, and then I took Muad’Dib for a late run to see my parents. It was dark by the time we made it back, and we rushed to bed.

Oh, yes. I remember Gammu when it was Giedi Prime – the oil-soaked, blood-soaked hell hole of the Imperium!

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.

🪛