Tag: family

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Runner’s Day

I was up way too late, and ended up sleeping in a little later than I really wanted. Summer and I went to the old house to pick up some things, and then Walmart to get groceries for our big steak dinner for everyone. We made a quick detour to Lowe’s for a couple free Mother’s Day plants, and then it was back home to start prepping.

I had a little trouble with the fire again because I’m always stubborn and don’t go straight to a nice, clean, oil-soaked paper towel. I even spilled a bit of oil on the deck, so that spot may just be water resistant forever. Summer helped prep everything for the twice-baked potatoes, which I decided to cook in the smoker this time. This ended up being a learning experience as well.

We picked up a rosemary plant at Walmart so I could try and make a garlic herb butter for the steak. It was a neat addition, but I don’t think anyone felt particularly strongly one way or the other. The smoker was a super dry heat on the potatoes. I had a water pan with them, but I ended up cooking them way too long for such a high temperature, and the outsides got overly charred. The one plus to this was the fact that the flesh was super easy to scoop out of the hard shells. Once I got the potatoes re-stuffed, I stuck them back on the grill and took a quick shower.

My parents, Julie, and Kevin all showed up pretty close to the same time, just as I was putting steaks on the grill. I got them seared and they cooked quickly, so we all went inside to eat. I really wanted to try the sous vide cooker again, but that would have been too many new variables for one meal. Ultimately dinner was pretty good, and everyone was reasonably chill apart from just forgetting how to sit down and eat.

Summer had to go in to work for a while, which I thought was for a meeting, but she actually did work stuff for a while and got home late. I cleaned up as much as I could, and got to bed late. Hopefully I’ll sleep well, but now I need to get someone out to troubleshoot our air conditioner.

Why is the air so thick in here?

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X-Day

Summer had to work this morning. I tried not to sleep too late, but Eaddie beat me to the shower. Then she disappeared to go to a friend’s party while I was in the shower. Summer came home excited about getting full self driving in her car, and wanted to go out to eat. The driving really had improved and seemed more assertive when taking off, and less afraid of cars crossing the street or turning in front of you.

We went to Mulan’s for lunch and then walked through the Lowe’s garden center, completely forgetting that I had reserved a free flower for Mother’s Day. We wanted to go grocery shopping to get steaks and potatoes for the family, but Summer started to feel a little sick and we ended up going straight home.

She had been talking about watching the X-Men movies after Mom watched the Wolverine origin movie the other day, so we watched the very first movie. Then I made her go out and mow as it started to get dark, and I cleaned up the kitchen in preparation for company.

Eaddie got home really late, so she’ll be spending all Sunday cleaning her room. That means I’ll have to sneak into the laundry room if I want to wash any of my own clothes. Today was a relative bust as far as I was concerned, and afternoon coffee had me up into the wee hours just doing nothing.

Stupid thermostat.

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Testing

I did my best to wake with the sun in the sunroom this morning. It seemed easier with the natural daylight, but the blinds will have to be closed to keep the heat out soon. I got to work and Kim was being pretty chatty, so it was hard to do anything, much less start a project. They brought some good barbecue for teacher appreciation lunch, but I think the rest of the week is just smaller treats. I also got a clipboard with a gator burned into the back.

After work, Summer said TCW was parked outside the house, so I quickly fed the fish and headed home. The guy was still there in the van when I got there, but as I walked out to get the mail, he drove off. I don’t know if he was just there to check that buried objects were marked, or what. He didn’t talk to Summer, and neither of us could tell whether he did anything around the house.

Once Eaddie got home, we went to my parents’ house for spring rolls. Julie and Kevin were there, so Julie tried to help us rearrange our dining reservations. I was frustrated because I scheduled things not understanding what time slots were best, or how the restaurants were ranked, and those were really the only two things I wanted help with. The girls weren’t really any help, but by the end of the night I just wanted to cancel the whole trip.

When we left, I had to go by Walmart to pick up an online order before we could get home. When we did finally get home, I noticed that in Summer’s terminal absentmindedness, she had brought an empty beer can from the house into the car when we left. I understand being busy, stressed, or overwhelmed at work, but don’t be an idiot and jeopardize my life.

Applications away.

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Good Day Bad Day Good Day

I got out in time for a comfortable McGriddle this morning, but the day quickly turned south as I encountered sudden and unexpected issues with one of my domain controllers, I guess. One of the newer computers I’d imaged had been deleted from Active Directory somehow, and I had no logs to show how or why. I did find my secondary DC was completely out of disk space though, so I had to figure out how to remove a recovery partition and expand the volume that was full to make room. Hopefully that fixed that issue, but it still took a couple trips across the entire campus.

Today started teacher appreciation week, so a bank grilled burgers for us. Overall there aren’t nearly as many offerings as I’m accustomed to in a larger area, but they were no less appreciated. I just wished I had gotten more than one cookie.

After work, I fed the fish and took a handful of stuff home. Eaddie was wasting away while Summer baked a cheesecake. After the cheesecake, she was craving a leftover brat, so she encouraged Eaddie and I to go out together. We ended up at La Huerta and had a good talk. When we got back to the house, she had questions about credit and interest, so I got my laptop and we learned some stuff on the TV in the living room.

You gotta keep ’em medicated!

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Cursed Carousel

I was up way later than I planned last night, and though I almost got out of bed early, I let myself fall asleep again and didn’t wake up until late in the morning. I got up and tried to make an omelet but forgot how, so I had scrambled eggs and Summer had an omelet. Eaddie had a concert at Tech in the afternoon, so we lounged for a little while and then had to get across town.

The Tech concerts are always way better, not only because the bands are better, but because they always keep them relatively short. They get through the music, and don’t waste time thank-circle-jerking the administration for their “support” by not axing their already successful program. Eaddie had a nice solo, but I was having trouble focusing with how loud the band was, plus I didn’t have a line of sight to her, so I was a little spaced out while she played.

Afterward, Summer and I went by the Neighborhood Market for a few things and then made it home where we ate some leftovers and mostly lounged. Eaddie went to Eli’s all evening and came home late to chat about her experience with the band. We all did a fair job of getting to bed at a reasonable hour, and next is another week of rain.

Scarry-go-round?

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Thanks for Nothing

Kim was out today, so I came in to an eerily quiet office this morning. Denice was there in the morning, but then left for the entire afternoon. I was relatively productive because of it, but I still felt the sting of burnout after never hearing anything back from Harry about a meeting. He at least opened my talking points document, but I have a feeling I’ll be more productive with the paper plant.

On the way home, Summer called and asked me to pick up Eaddie from the high school. Then we went straight home so she could clean up and go back for her appreciation concert. Summer and I ate some leftovers and then went to the arts center for the show.

The music was good, but I could see why Eaddie has burned out on Katahj Copley. It was too easy for us to spot just based on the descriptions of the music alone. Things didn’t get really bad until they invited the seniors from the concert band back on stage for The Stars and Stripes Forever. Things immediately fell apart for that song, but Summer wanted me to record it so she could just be in the moment.

Eaddie went out for dinner with her father, so Summer and I went home and started researching Disney restaurants, because why plan early? I finally figured that I could just look at the map and pick out a couple names of restaurants that I remembered hearing about ever in my life. For better or worse, I plotted a few to try and reserve in the morning.

Seat’s taken.

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I Need a Vacation

I had to go in early again today for testing, though nobody needed me. It was super slow and quiet, aside from Kim. I’ve been feeling the burnout as time runs out to sign next year’s contract, but it looks like Green Bay is hiring for a different position. I don’t know if one of the others left, or if this may be a new position. I’ll need to reach out to Gary to see if he’d like to talk about it.

I left after my requisite eight hours and made it to the old house to feed the fish. Then I got home and Eaddie was getting ready for some band concert that I guess wasn’t open to the public, or at least we weren’t attending. I changed clothes so I could go out on the Onewheel for the first time since my big wreck. It was much more difficult to accelerate since I was still feeling so much pain in my arm. I was constantly afraid of nosediving.

My only plan was to go to Arby’s for a free sandwich, but I stopped by my parents’ house to visit with them first. Julie and Kevin were there for dinner, and I had a little bowl of some sort of taco cornbread casserole that Dad made. I stayed a while just to visit since Julie was there, but then she started talking about a show on Netflix, and Dad mentioned having trouble watching it on the TV. For some reason, Julie was immediately triggered and started yelling at me progressively louder about sponging off of them and letting them pay for a service that they “couldn’t even use” until I finally snapped back at her. Every single person there just sat in silence while she continued to berate me for being a worthless parasite, so I just left.

I slowly rode across town and had to stop behind the forestry service to sob on a park bench for a little while. I only fell down in the street once along the way, at a super slow speed on a super small bump. My wheel just spun up and spat me out, so I laid in the middle of the intersection in defeat.

After pulling myself together downtown, I continued to Arby’s the long way, because I was pretty sure every law enforcement officer in the county was blocking off Detroit under the bridge. I never could see what was going on, but they were there the entire time I rode across town, ate a roast beef sandwich, and rode back home.

Summer made it home after a rough day of her own, and went to bed. Eaddie got home late from her concert and went to bed. I took some blood pressure medicine, and went to bed.

I change my mind. I’d rather plan a vacation.

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Donut Be Discouraged

I was a little early out the door, so I decided to stop at the new donut place on the way to work. I ate a bacon, egg, and cheese croissant on the drive, and made some coffee when I got to work. Shortly after I sat down with it, I took a sip that went down the wrong pipe, and coughed into my cup. Coffee went everywhere all over my clothes and keyboard, so I spent a while cleaning that up.

I wasn’t at all interested in cheesy pull-aparts, so I just had a couple donuts for punch. There was an office full of people behind me all day, and Kim spent most of the day on the phone trying to find someone to come out and fix her washing machine. I tinkered with a laptop and eventually pieced one together for the stage that ought to really scream compared to the old piece of crap they’ve had out there.

After work, I tried to wind down quickly. I fed the fish and then came home to Summer making a really good shrimp pesto pasta. Eaddie didn’t have anything going on, so it was just the three of us for dinner. Then I sat on the couch and watched the first episode of Heroes with Summer until she went to bed.

Find something fulfilling!

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Nomentum

I had a terrible time getting to bed last night, and contemplated pulling an all-nighter. I didn’t fall asleep until after 3:30, woke up a couple of times, and almost stayed up at 7:30. Somehow I managed not to sleep the entire day, and got up to some coffee with Summer before she went to the gym. She was back and forth on whether she would have to go to work, but did end up going in for a little while between rainclouds. Eaddie went to a band concert in the afternoon, so I just bummed around the house all afternoon.

Mom made bún bò Huế for dinner, so the girls and I headed over as soon as Eaddie got back. We visited for a little bit, but then the girls had to come back home to do some laundry for the week. I had to go drain the sump room, and Eaddie was up a little late making chocolate covered strawberries since she had a late-start Monday. I’ll have to go to work extra early for testing on Tuesday, and I really need to request a meeting with Harry before contracts are due. The end of the school year just has me lazy.

I need a break.

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Ungentlemanly

Aches and pains slowly dissipated today, but I think getting up and moving around had as much to do with it as anything. I’d been wanting to see The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, so I convinced the girls to take a trip to Conway to see it. Summer went to the gym and then took care of something at work, and Eaddie went to a bake sale while I showered and got ready. By the time we got out and into Conway, I was pretty hungry for some lunch. I took us to Bulgogi for some overpriced ramen, which was tasty. Then we killed some time shopping until the movie. We went to Big Lots, Hobby Lobby, and then a junk store by the theater.

As soon as we got into our auditorium for the movie, Eaddie accidentally spilled our Coke because they gave us a really flimsy, crumply cup. Luckily it didn’t seem to get absolutely everywhere, and I just had to go wash my hands. The girls survived with only a little splash damage. We all enjoyed the movie pretty well, but I was a bit surprised by the way the screentime was split between the actors. It was a good movie, but I guess it was just how they filmed things happening in different places.

I wasn’t done in Conway after the movie, and I took the girls hostage for a night of walking down the strip mall from Kohl’s all the way down to Target. I think they shopped a little more than they would admit, and even stopped to hula hoop at Shoe Carnival for a moment. The weather and the atmosphere outside just reminded me of the summer after high school, and it made me long for a simpler time.

We pretty well closed down the shopping center, and then headed home. The girls went to bed while I chased down ants in the kitchen. I put out a whole bunch of Terro around the stove, and they absolutely swarmed to it. Hopefully they’ll be gone by morning, but I already had to give them a refill once.

BLUE M3?