Tag: family

Uncategorised

On a Magazine

Summer and I got up super early this morning so she could compete in a nine mile run up Mt. Magazine. We took Muad’Dib with us and ran a little late, but it was easy to make up the time. When we got to school in Havana, she actually had to walk about half a mile down a dirt road to the starting line. I took the Onewheel to watch her start, and then we drove up the mountain past all the runners to get to the finish line.

We sat at a picnic table and I pulled a couple ticks off of him, and one off of myself. Then we made it back to the overlook early so we could be sure to see Summer cross the line. We waited until everyone finished before she realized she didn’t place for an award, so we left just as they started to announce them. I felt a little bad, but I had already been there long enough without anything to do.

There wasn’t really anywhere to park at the finish line, which was just at the first overlook, so we continued down to the Benefield Loop trail head. Muad’Dib and I walked part of the western loop, and he did pretty great on his own. There were a couple other cars parked there, but we didn’t see anyone. We made it to where the trail crossed the road and then just turned back to the car.

We made it home and tied Muad’Dib up outside, then took Eaddie to Tacos 4 Ever Burritos & More. I was so happy that they had an actual restaurant instead of just a food truck. The food was great, so we may have a new default Mexican joint.

After we ate, we headed back home for the afternoon and Summer watched Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations with me. It wasn’t great. After that, she took a nap in bed and I started to doze in the floor of the living room, but I eventually got up and took Muad’Dib out for a proper run. When we got back to the house, he needed another bath. He behaved reasonably well, but then hid under the deck just as I finished drying him. I had to get Eaddie to coax him back out and bring him inside.

I laid down with Summer for a little while, and then Eaddie had Maristella over to spend the night.

Peachy.

Uncategorised

Put the Past Away

DNS didn’t actually scavenge anything because it only triggered the aging, so we won’t know for a couple weeks if it actually worked. I guess that’s fine, since graduation was tonight and we won’t have people on site for it to matter. I got back into SCCM to try and clean up the stuck update, and found the right combination and order of commands to fix it, so I was able to re-run the newest update.

Summer was in Little Rock for her own meeting, so we met at Red Lobster for unlimited soup and salad. Just as I parked, I got a call from Bitec to schedule a Teams interview. We ate, and then she came back to the office with me to do some work until her surgery consultation. I guess Randy was in a bad mood, because he kind of flipped out at me when I said I invited her in, but he mellowed out pretty quickly.

Just before the appointment, Summer headed out to find her appointment, but she didn’t actually know where she was going. She got to the address she had in the calendar entry and discovered for the first time that it was just a residential home, and called me crying that she didn’t know where to go. I had already left too, but pulled over at Franklin’s to talk to her. I just told her to call the doctor and see if she could find who they referred her to, since she didn’t even have the business name.

After some Googling and a bit of guesswork, she ended up getting a call from the CARTI Cancer Center, asking if she was going to make her appointment. They guided her in and I met her there after I went to the Baptist Health Breast Center by mistake. We went in for the consult and scheduled an appointment to remove the atypical cellular mass, so that was pretty good news. It didn’t feel like either of us were hugely relieved, but that was probably due to the continued confusion and frustration over the process up to this point.

We finally headed to Conway to Supercharge, and went in to Five Guys to share some fries. She wasn’t hungry, but I decided to try a hot dog that was pretty okay. I still think they’re hugely overpriced, but the location was right. Then we headed home.

As I got to the Pottsville offramp, there was an overturned semi blocking the entire right lane from the westbound onramp. The car in front of me made a full stop before finally pulling over, and it looked to have just happened because someone else had pulled over and was running up to the windshield to check on the driver. There were enough people pulled over that I knew I couldn’t provide any additional help, so I got out of the way.

When I got home, the kids were assembling the headboard I got for Eaddie. I took Muad’Dib out for his first run in a few days, which he enjoyed. We visited Dad, and then I left him outside when we got home, since he took a bath in the creek. I took care of a few Vine things, had an anxiety attack, and then laid down with Summer for a bit before I had to get up and complete my tasks before bed.

You don’t have to say it again. I heard it the first time.

Uncategorised

Rollin’ in the Deep

Muad’Dib slept well with us last night, and I think Eaddie even let him into her room for a bit. More than once, I lied quietly awake while he and Summer snored. When morning came, she got up and made what amounted to a pot of bacon-fried rice and eggs. I wished she had just done what I told her and used Ro-tel, so it would have been a little lighter than what she made by toasting sesame seeds and onions in sesame oil in addition to the existing bacon grease.

Eaddie left pretty early to spend the day in Maumelle with Eli’s family. Summer went to work and then to the gym for a while. I cleaned up a bit at home before Summer got back and finished her cake. Then we gave Muad’Dib another bath, hoping I could take him to my parents’ house with less protest.

He took his bath reasonably well, but it’s proven nearly impossible to stop him from shaking water everywhere once he gets out of the tub. I took him outside to blow-brush dry, and then I brought him inside to vacuum out some more hair.

As the evening approached, Summer thought we could walk him between the raindrops. I wasn’t convinced it wouldn’t rain harder, so I let her walk him to my parents’ house, and I drove the cake over. Just after I got there, she said she needed a poop bag, so I dropped off the cake and went back to scoop the poop, It wasn’t until I got back to my parents’ house that I realized the cake leaked fruit goop all over her passenger seat. There was a pool of it all along the rear seam of the seat, and all I could do was hope that it didn’t seep further into the cushion.

Mom refused to let Muad’Dib in the house, so we let him sit out back while we ate rolls. Afterward, we had Summer’s incredibly dense cake, and her decision not to use powdered sugar in the buttercream icing made it crunchy in a bad way.

We drove home for the evening and I finally got Muad’Dib to eat some of his own food that he’d been turning his nose up all weekend. The kids got home late and hung out for a while, and I tried to go to bed early.

Stability in Misery

Uncategorised

Slippery When Whet

I was up several times last night, either on my own, or with Muad’Dib. He did pretty well to sleep with us all night, and I felt better confining him to the bedroom. I wish Eaddie had left her room open so he could go in there with her, because otherwise I could remove the baby gate and just keep him in our bedroom alone.

We got up late and Summer made some breakfast for us while Eaddie left for church. We had a pretty quiet morning until she got back, and then Summer left for the gym. It eventually started raining and did that for most of the afternoon, but I got some laundry done and then we took a trip out in it to get some groceries for dinner.

Eaddie brought Eli and Cecilia over for dinner, and I grilled some pork steaks and burgers while Summer made rice, sweet potato, and a cake that didn’t quite get finished before the end of the night.

Smooth

Uncategorised

Runny Eggs and Fuzzy Pizza

I got up early so I could go to the run with Summer and Eaddie, but it was a bit stormy with some rain, so I let them go by themselves and just stayed home instead. When they got back with Eli, we all went to Stoby’s for breakfast. They were packed in spite of the rain, so we had to wait a bit, and then also had to wait a while for our food once we had ordered. The service was fine, but the kitchen was so slow that she actually had one of our meals refunded without us saying anything.

After breakfast, we headed back home while Summer went to work for a bit. Eaddie asked if they could give Muad’Dib a bath, and that turned into me giving Muad’Dib a bath. He did fairly well, though they did miss their biggest opportunity to throw a towel on him before he shook water all over her bathroom. I brushed him out, then used the blow dryer brush on him, which he didn’t love. The kids ended up leaving, and then I got out the vacuum attached fur brush, and he surprisingly didn’t mind that at all. I pulled two canisters of hair off of him and then put up a baby gate in the hallway in case he stayed in overnight.

I ended up putting on some music and taking a bath after that, until Summer got home from work. We had a moment to talk and tried to work through some things before the kids made it back along with Cecilia. They wanted to have a game night, so we played some Uno for a bit. Summer ordered some Domino’s which Neal delivered. Then the kids watched TV while Summer and I started wrapping up our evening.

No surprises.

Uncategorised

Double Dog Dare

Summer texted when I got to work that Muad’Dib walked over the fallen fence to play with Nova nextdoor. The neighbor called someone to come quote a repair, but he was cool with the dogs playing together, and Summer said they were having a great time, so I didn’t sweat it. Then Johnny called and said Bitec had an “urgent” listing for the job I had previously interviewed for, so I replied back to an old email and then did a quick refresh on my résumé before applying through Indeed.

The rest of the morning was spent going through DNS again in preparation for turning on scavenging in the afternoon. Otherwise it was pretty quiet. Howard bought us pizza for a vendor call, and we sat through a presentation by Decept10 before the U.S. Pizza Co. arrived. I had another anxiety attack at some point, and then the rest of the afternoon was relatively lazy and short.

Randy said we could leave just a hair early for our three-day weekend, so I headed out and grabbed a bottle of rum in Morrilton. I opened a bunch of packages from Vine when I got home before Summer. She didn’t feel well when she got there, so she took a bath while I ran Muad’Dib. We took an extended run to Ridgewood where we met a new girl named Cindy who talked to me for a bit about riding her Onewheel on trails. Then we continued to Casey’s to try for a slush, but the machine was out. On the way out, a kid that had asked to pet Muad’Dib asked if he could try the board, so I helped him out. Then we rode back across town.

Dad met us in the road, and then I went in to eat some roast beef while he played with Muad’Dib. Then we got home just after dark. The kids had left for something, and Summer was laying on the couch half dead. I put her to bed, and quickly wound down.

I hate this so much.

Uncategorised

Nothing’s Permanent

I had a pretty lucid morning. I dug into DNS records and made note of anything that looked important that wasn’t set statically. It sounded like some of the others were helping Jim at the high school, but nobody said anything to me about it, so I just sat in the office with Jimmy all day, except for a trip to Taco Bell for a quick and cheap lunch.

The afternoon twitches showed up right on time, I had an anxiety attack, and I just got more and more tense as I made it home through slow traffic. I felt like every muscle in my body was just slowly bound.

Noah and Eli were over and Summer was making dinner. Chicken bits pan fried in some random bottle of sauce she bought, Brussels sprouts that were overspiced enough that Eli nearly choked out, and mashed sweet potato. Exactly what I envisioned.

After dinner, I took Muad’Dib out for a run and we did our best to dodge other dog walkers. The couple of dogs we couldn’t avoid weren’t too much trouble, so it was a good run. We visited Dad for some brushing, then got home and wound down.

That goes doubly for DNS records.

Uncategorised

The Offspring

We had Eaddie and Eli’s graduation party this afternoon. Summer went out to gather some additional supplies while I got ready, and we eventually made it to the pavilion at Old Post Park around one. I brought my PA speakers and amp, but forgot the hotspot at home, and my phone on Google Fi didn’t have good enough service to work. My parents made noise about picking up some ice, so I went home to get the hotspot, then ran to the Neighborhood Market for a bag of ice, and made it back to the party just as everyone was eating.

I got the music going and made a plate, and then just sat at the table for the rest of the afternoon. Eli’s father came and sat across from me after things slowed down, and talked at length about being happy and trusting God to take care of everything.

We eventually got everything loaded back up and went home. I took Muad’Dib out for a run and the basin was flooded, so we piddled around for a while. We saw Dad, and made it home after avoiding another old lady and her dog that were in our way. Summer had to go to work for a team meeting, so I was on my own for the entire evening. Eaddie brought Eli over at some point, but they kept themselves occupied while I did some laundry. Then it was off to bed.

Celebrate good times. Come on.

Uncategorised

Congraduations

We had two graduation ceremonies to attend today, so not much else to do. Summer had to go to work for a bit, and I ate some of the terrible chicken tacos she made yesterday. Then Eaddie left to meet her at Walmart to find some pantyhose, and I started getting ready for the day.

Eli’s graduation was at one, and we got there a little later than we wanted, but still plenty early to get seats by his family. Eaddie freaked out and kept rudely calling Summer on the phone when she couldn’t find her shoes or her ticket to the graduation. It ended up being a non-issue, because she just walked in and nobody said anything to her, even though Ceci and I walked back around to give her an extra ticket they had.

The ceremony was actually fairly short at about an hour, since they split the class in half. It was neat that two of Eaddie’s friends were speakers, and then the kids walked and we dismissed to find them outside. Summer kept saying she didn’t want to stick around, so I started walking back to the car, which seemed to upset her. She never came up with a plan or vocalized a desire to do anything, so it was frustrating to just hover around that many other people in the sun.

We finally made it back home and I snacked a little before we left again for Eaddie’s graduation. We had to pick up Maristella on the way, and I took them to the band room to help Eaddie get dressed. Then Summer and I went back over to the arena and saved seats for my parents, Eli, his mom, and eventually Nick just as the ceremony started. The speeches went a little better than the first time after some live practice, and the kids made it through.

We found Eaddie outside and took a bunch of pictures, and then Summer and I headed home for the night. She went to the Neighborhood Market for some soda water, and I took Muad’Dib out for a run as the sun went down. At one point he disappeared into a wooded area after something, and the shock collar seemed ineffective. He did eventually return without much fuss, and we continued through the basin for a dip, then went through the roundabout before making it to my parents’ house. He ran reasonably well the whole way. My parents weren’t home, but I stopped to brush him out before we made it home.

I put on the second episode of Resident Alien after failing to come up with anything else to do, and then Eaddie got home from her senior night just as we were wrapping up for bed.

It really just isn’t.

Uncategorised

The C-Words

Randy texted on my way in that he would be a couple hours late after last night’s board meeting. Jimmy and I were basically the only two around all day, except for a brief appearance by Jay. Several others were out, but things were still bound to get exciting.

Anita knocked on the door a couple times after Maggie’s and Randy’s phones rang. Sonya in HR was trying to reach us, and was upset that we weren’t at her whim. Anita asked me to call her, and I wished I had recorded the conversation, because she immediately became snotty with me. I killed her with kindness, but just like last time, she hung up on me and basically said somebody was on their way to resolve the issue in person.

Not long after that, Randy did show up with Jacob, and I relayed the story in an emailed record of conversation. I got the feeling that Jacob was over her shenanigans as well. After that, things got super quiet again for the rest of the day. Summer called in the early afternoon to say that her biopsy results came back positive for ductal carcinoma, which sounded like the best case scenario for the threat of cancer. I reassured her the best I could, but she was obviously bothered.

I took a late lunch and ran through Rally’s for a pretty good Super Loaded Buford. The fries were hot and fresh enough to melt away my worries for the amount of time it took me to scarf them down. Randy was somewhere else for most of the afternoon, but came back in time to see that we didn’t leave at three.

When we did leave, I headed across town to check if the Target in West Little Rock had a Samsung The Frame TV on clearance. They did actually have one in stock, but it was still priced more than twice what I was willing to pay, so I had to walk away. While I was there, I guess I got hot on top of being a bit amped up, because my heart rate skyrocketed and I started to get a bit dizzy again. I chewed a fragment of a clonidine I had in my pocket, and it either helped or I just managed to calm myself down enough that it didn’t become an issue.

I headed back across town to Franklin’s Charging to get some juice before Mitch finished with work. As I pulled in, a guy asked me to slide over into another spot to try a different charger. He ended up being the owner, by the name of Jeff. He talked to me for the entirety of my visit, and seemed a proper EV nerd. As we were chatting, another guy pulled up next to me to charge his F150 Lightning. He was John, from AEV Solar, and the two of them continued the conversation as I mostly leaned back and listened. It was neat to hear a bit of Jeff’s journey in growing his business.

I eventually made it to Mitch’s hotel and waited for him to finish uploading some photos from the workday. Then by chance we were able to meet Blake and his friend Alyssa at Southern Tail, where we initially took drinks out to a picnic table at the edge of the property, but later found a table at the patio. We had a good time catching up, but it was definitely more rowdy than last time. We left as it just started to get dark, and I made my way home to the girls.

It rained a bit on the drive, but it was otherwise uneventful. The girls were chatting in the bedroom, so I laid with them for a bit before Eaddie went back to her room, and then it was a quick wind down to bed.

I’d like to say that it’s been real, but it’s been fake as hell.