Tag: family

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Classless

I had a pretty rough start this morning in spite of sleeping reasonably well. Luckily, Gary let me stop by to pick up some tech tubs they were going to throw away, so I had an excuse to roll in late. Surprisingly, Greg was the first one I saw as he was headed to the support services building. I got a big hug from him, and then Gary showed up to let me into the graveyard. Zach didn’t respond to my text right away, so he showed up as we were carrying things to the car. Then Thomas and Tammy showed up to work, and Ryan made a brief appearance but didn’t say much.

After I got everything loaded up, I actually ran into Greg again on his way back to the office and we talked for a little while. He said pretty much everyone has been on pins and needles, but figured the regime should start to change as the school board rotates out later this year. I gave him a ride around the block back to the office, and then headed on to work.

Once I got everything unloaded, I treated myself to a leftover biscuit and some coffee, and then got to learning more about subnets. It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever not understood while also completely understanding it. That was my whole day, just getting sidetracked from RADIUS setup, to VLANs versus subnets, to understanding IP addressing.

I headed home a little early with a rumble in my belly, and fed the fish before getting home. Summer and Noah were home, but Eaddie was at a hair appointment. I cleaned up the kitchen a bit, and was aggravated further by Noah’s helping himself to Summer’s beer. I finally got them both to sit down in the kitchen to express my desire to be helpful but not abused. I asked him not to help himself to the beer, and within five minutes he helped himself to a soda. Message not received. I was further upset when Summer walked out and started playing with the dogs mid-sentence. They were causing a racket, but that wasn’t for her to resolve with play.

I took the dogs for a walk to my parents’ house, and was drenched with sweat. It was pretty miserable, and the dogs didn’t behave well for most of the walk, but I kept them on shorter leashes on the way home and they did a little better. It seems training needs to happen all around.

I spent some time feeding them when we got home, and Noah came out with what was presumably a peace-keeping request for help building a budget. In reality, his finances are so simple that he could have produced one in the time it took me to feed the dogs, but somehow it’s now my responsibility to write the numbers down for him. I settled in with a glass of Crown and got ready for bed.

Behave accordingly.

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Mr. Pool

I had a headache last night that was bad enough that I woke up feeling sick in the middle of the night. I took some Tylenol, and then had to take some more when I woke up this morning. Summer got up and made eggs and corned beef hash for breakfast, and the hash just smelled like dog food to me. I made a sandwich with the egg she scrambled for me, and then applied for a bunch more jobs online.

We spent a good amount of time out with the dogs on the porch since it rained in the morning and Summer couldn’t do any yard work. I took a shower, but it didn’t really help my head at all. Summer and I eventually went to the Neighborhood Market to find some dinner, and we picked up some stuff for salads with a couple rotisserie chickens. On the way out, we ran into Zach and his family, but we didn’t chat long.

Back at the house, I pulled the bones out of the chicken while Summer took a bath. Eventually everyone sat down to eat, and then Summer and I continued our X-Men movies with the first Deadpool. Noah came over late and ate before bed. My Männkitchen Pepper Cannon was delivered, along with my very first Amazon Vine product. It was a pretty slick looking storage bin that attached under the Model Y screen. It went together much better than I expected, so I’ll be excited to see if it rattles or anything on the drive to work tomorrow.

Time to volunteer some more time, I suppose.

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Quiet One

I was the first one out of bed, but there was a distinct lack of fanfare. Summer got up and had coffee, and then I made one for myself before going out to feed the dogs. I kept feeding them both by hand, one at a time, until Muad’Dib didn’t want any more. Then I laid the rest of the bowl down for Stilgar. Eaddie wanted help with her bicycle so she could go ride with a friend, and I pushed her to figure some of it out on her own, since I’ve shown her multiple times before, and I’m tired of babying her on things like that.

She left and I had a shower so Summer and I could go see A Quiet Place: Day One in town. Dad stopped by on his bike to air up his tires, and then we left. It was a quiet showing in a recliner room, which was fine if not overpriced for a matinée. I liked the movie okay, but didn’t find it to be as good as the first two.

I had specifically told Summer that by watching the movie in town, we’d still have plenty of the afternoon left to be productive when we got home, so of course she sat down to work on her laptop for the rest of the evening. I left in frustration and took the dogs for a run on the Onewheel. We visited with Dad and then rode back home.

I was pretty sweaty by the time we made it back, so I settled in pretty early. Eaddie was out late, and Summer did whatever she does when she’s finished working.

Uncertainty stinging clear

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Take a Stand

I actually woke up pretty early today, but made myself go back to sleep to catch up on some hours. Eaddie eventually got up, so I made us French bread bacon and egg sandwiches, which turned out super delicious. Then we played with the dogs for a bit before I took a shower and went to the old house to pack up some more stuff.

Dad was over there working in the yards, and helped me load up the last TV stand I had over there. Then I loaded a couple other bigger things into the car before coming back in to pack a box while I called Optimum to cancel service. That phone call was a whole ordeal, as it usually is, and I ended up keeping it for now, with two months of free service, a lower bill for a year, and a subscription to HBO Max.

I finally headed back home just as Summer was coming home from work. Eaddie was gone when I got there, but I got everything unloaded, and Summer showed up just in time to help with the TV stand. She got started on the dinner she started to make yesterday, and Eaddie brought Eli over for dinner. I fed the dogs while I was outside, and Muad’Dib kept wanting to be fed kibble-by-kibble, which I was happy to do. Dinner was great, and then we watched X-Men: Days of Future Past before bed.

The hunt is back on.

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Dirty Volunteer Work

Burger King has been knocking it out of the park with their biscuits lately. The sausage has been pretty good, and even the hashbrowns haven’t been awful. I’ve always kind of liked their coffee. I got to work just as the boys club started walking in, and then I spent several hours trying to figure out an issue with our food service application that really should have been resolved with a proper rollup.

At some point I finally made some progress with setting up a RADIUS server, but then I discovered that the board meeting was tonight. In anticipation for a reasonable salary, I decided to stay for that, and it was an incredible waste of time. Nobody said a word to me until I asked Jill if I needed to work next week. She just shrugged and said I didn’t have a contract, so she couldn’t pay me. Next week, Harry will be at a retreat with the board, so there’s just me, being angry and unpaid until who-knows-when.

Being Julie’s birthday, the family decided to take her to Brick Oven. The girls went with them, and I showed up late and ate some of their leftovers before we left. Eaddie wanted to go to the store to get dog food, so Summer took the Model Y home while I went to Walmart with her. We stopped by the old house to feed the fish, and then shopped for a bit before heading home.

It was super dark when we got home, so I took the dogs out for a walk on foot. I let them roam at the end of the leash, and they were pulling pretty hard the whole time. I’m upset that I don’t have any one-on-one time to do any real training, but I just feel like I don’t have time for anything. Summer was asleep by the time we got back in, so I fumed for a bit and went to bed late.

What a pissant.

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Zoomin

I got a couple biscuits this morning to last the day full of online training webinars. Johnny called and interrupted the first one to say that he was called and offered the Hector job even though he never applied. He was all wound up over the drama and strange nature of the position, but I told him it sounded like it could be a really good opportunity depending on whether he could make the pay work and how self-motivated he was.

I really didn’t get into anything else at all. The Veeam call lasted forever, so there just wasn’t time apart from the couple interruptions I had throughout the day. Summer had dinner going at home, so I went home for that after stopping at the old house to feed the fish.

Noah and Eli were both there as well, but I didn’t see a whole lot of them. We all ate a pretty good, but overly lemon-peppery chicken, cold pasta salad that you’d take to a potluck, and some really good asparagus.

Noah went to his room pretty early, Eli left, and then I took the dogs out for a fast run around the cul-de-sac. It was still super humid and hot, so they wore out quickly. Overall, I did a fair job of wrapping the day quickly.

Wrapped

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Twisting the Night Away

After being ill for so long, and exhausted from overexerting myself all day, I still could not sleep last night. I tossed and turned in a damp sweat, with cold burning in my nose from sinus trouble. My mind reeled in restlessness, and even when I would occasionally doze off, I would wake up in some delirious state, half dreaming, half in some anxious panic.

I got up with my alarm, pushed back and got up a little later and still got to the door on time. Both of the Murano keys were gone. I screamed. Summer yelled back to take her car, so I threw the things she had in the seat into the floor of the garage and left. I picked up a burrito from Sonic and made it to work a little bit early.

The admins saw me. First day off-contract. Will I get a paycheck? They’re normally deposited around this time of the month. I haven’t gotten anything yet. Labor laws dictate that I must be paid for the time that I’m there, and nobody has run me off yet. It feels like I’m playing a rich or stupid man’s game of Chicken.

I made it through the day with a bowl of ramen and a cough drop. I finished up the last few minutes at the elementary and then headed home a little early. Who can stop me now?

I fed the fish and slowly made it home. Eaddie and her friend Autumn were at the house for the night. I changed clothes and settled in for a little bit. Mom was making Phở, which wasn’t the eggplant soup I anticipated, but welcome nonetheless. The girls would be making dinner, so I’d go by myself since Summer was working a little late. Then Noah called to “warn me” that a “strange hairy dude” was going to come by and drop several boxes of his things off at our front door, and that he would be along afterward on his bicycle.

I roped up the dogs and we hit the road on the Onewheel. We made good time to my parents’ house with the runs. Both kinds. I tied them up in the back yard so we could eat, but then I had to get them home in the hot humidity. They made it with plenty of energy after they had some time to rest, so I hoped they’d be too tired to mess with anything overnight.

All three kids were in the kitchen making “food” and “noise.” I dried up the sweat and sought refuge. Eventually sleep.

I’m with stupid.

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Bye Week

I could feel something in the back of my throat Wednesday evening, and by Thursday I had a 103º fever that Tylenol would only coax down to about 101º. I ran the full gamut of chills, heat flashes, body aches, and eventually sinus and chest crud. Dad brought me a COVID at-home test that was advertised as having a propensity for false-negatives, so it wasn’t COVID. Maybe.

I remember getting out on Friday with Summer to take Kevin his birthday present to the airport, but we didn’t stick around for pulled pork. I stopped by the old house to check on the fish, and in hindsight I should have left the automatic feeder on. We made it back home, and the next thing I remember doing is getting out late to pick up some burgers from Sonic. The pickle fries were awful.

The fever never let up, but between waves of medication I felt well enough to watch The Secret of NIMH on Saturday, and then out of nowhere, the fever was gone on Sunday morning. Recovery was nearly as rough, with more crud in my chest than anything else. I felt gross and sweaty all day, but I had a shower and brushed my teeth.

Summer had mowed in the morning, so she left it to Eaddie when it came time to walk the dogs. She didn’t mind, but said she couldn’t walk both alone, so I went with her. It was immediately obvious that they hadn’t been properly walked in my two week absence, as the line was taught nearly the entire time. We made it about halfway to my parents’ house, which was already a longer route than Eaddie wanted to take, when she had to stop to scoop some poop, so she insisted that it was my job to walk the dogs alone the rest of the way. She might have reconsidered if I had pressed, but I had more fight in me for the dogs than for her.

We gave them a drink at my parents’ house, and then headed back home. It was a hot struggle, and I was completely drenched in sweat, so I took a cold shower and finished up my laundry. The dogs were fussy outside, and tore into the bags of potting mix on the porch. I went back out to discipline and clean that up, and left the hole they had dug under the north fence for another day.

If you do nothing, bite your tongue when I do.

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Half Asleep

I slept for nearly 12 hours last night, though I woke up a couple times with a pretty bad headache. Once I got around, I felt much better for the rest. Someone tagged me in a lost dog post on the Nextdoor app, but upon checking, both of our dogs were still home. They had gotten into more stuff again, so I’m having to deal with random chewed up garbage all the time.

Summer was working from home, and I was pretty hungry for some lunch, so I ended up going to Burger King to get a big bag of food. Eaddie was already awake but wasn’t hungry, so Summer and I were the only two that ate any of it. I had the best shower I’d had in a week and then took the dogs for a walk to my parents’ house to help Dad move the refrigerator out of its little nook so he could investigate a hiss and some possible steam. The dogs did pretty well, and weren’t completely chaotic when tied up to the deck. Stilgar took a dip in his pool when we got back, and then I tried to do a little bit of training with them while they were hungry.

Noah came back over after work, since he’s been driving our Pathfinder. Eaddie spent most of the day in her room while Summer worked. I eventually had to go back to help Dad move the refrigerator back into place, but I just took the Onewheel instead of walking the dogs again. Mom was hungry, so they decided to get some Taco Villa. I went with Dad to pick that up, and then headed back home in the dark after we ate.

Everyone went to bed pretty early after that. The kids took the dogs out for another walk while I was gone, so even they were pretty tired and just slept on the porch.

It’s all just noise.

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We’re in for Some Chop

I was on the verge of crashing all day long, but still stayed up late trying to get things back into order. We rolled out of the hotel and hailed a Lyft as we walked down the hallway. The ride was quiet, and traffic wasn’t bad at all until we got right into the airport. Evidently there was a convention for the National Federation of the Blind this week, because I’ve never seen so many white canes in my entire life. It was interesting to witness them traveling through such a hectic environment that even we struggled to navigate, and I’m sure they appreciated the time to see each other face-to-face.

We timed things just about right, so we had plenty of time to get through security and grab some pretzel breakfast sandwiches from Auntie Anne’s. I watched part of Dune: Part Two on the first flight, which was pretty smooth. We had just enough time in St. Louis to switch planes, and then I watched a bit more during our much more turbulent flight to Little Rock.

Eaddie wanted Mexican food for lunch, so I found a well-reviewed place called Tortas Mexico in North Little Rock that had some of the best food we’d had all week, at a third the price. I felt rich. Then we continued home, unloaded, and played with Muad’Dib for a bit before Eaddie and I went to get Stilgar from the vet.

Muad’Dib seemed a little happier to see us specifically, while Stilgar seemed happy to see anybody. He did pee a little in the excitement. The lady that helped us was really concerned that we might have lost Muad’Dib, but I told her they simply didn’t have room to board both of them while we were gone, and we decided to make sure the younger spirit was kept safe.

Stilgar wolfed down a whole bunch of food, as though he hadn’t eaten anything all week. We played with them for a bit, and then I went inside to unpack and get things in order. Noah came back after work and Summer had a talk with him about some responsibilities, but you could tell he was just sitting in silence to receive the lecture.

Once I had things put away enough, I took the dogs out for a roll through the neighborhood on the Onewheel. They did really great, but I did finally see worms in Muad’Dib’s poop. He had to stop a couple more times on our journey to and from my parents’ house. We didn’t stay to visit for too long, and made it nearly all the way home before Stilgar got too hot and tired, and flopped onto some cool dirt. He refused to move, so I tried to get Summer to bring us some water. She and Noah walked up the wrong street, but it didn’t matter because a girl came out of the house across the street from us, and her dog ran at us full-force off-leash, which got Stilgar up and full of energy immediately. They wagged and sniffed, and then we were on our way home.

One or the other of the dogs kept chewing on potted plants I had on the deck, so I repotted what was left of one of them. Hopefully having both of them here again will settle them down overnight, but more importantly, hopefully they can’t get out of the fence again.

The ants we had in the master bathroom looked to have moved on, but after just a short while they came back. They went straight for the bait, but I wish I knew what triggered them to come back in the first place.

Finally down for the long snooze.