Tag: family

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F2025

Johnny called me while I was getting ready for work, so I called him back on the drive in. He said after his mother’s seizure, they finally discovered a tumor and gave her six months to live. We talked for the whole drive, and then I called Clint to check on him once I got to my office. The rest of the morning was more IP scanning and hunting for rogue statically-set devices. Summer was in Little Rock, so she stopped to see Kevin and Julie at the hospital while she was up there.

Muad’Dib and I went to Arby’s and sat on the curb again, and he ate a bunch of my fries and Beef ‘N Cheddar. I put him in the car when I wasn’t outside with him, so he never had the chance to run away. Later in the afternoon, we had a break for some cake for Tammy’s birthday. The drive home was entirely autonomous, and we actually got to see Eaddie for a moment between school events.

Summer and I eventually made it over to my parents’ house for spring rolls. Muad’Dib and I did our Onewheel run and met her there, and then we finished our shortened run after dinner. It was a quiet night because I’m pretty sure I’ve had a blood pressure related headache for the past couple days. Then I had an anxiety attack just as I went to put on my blood pressure cuff. It was off to bed after that.

Efitol Rx

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VLAN PLAN

I caught a rat last night in our small trap. It was a small rat, but I was glad to finally have it. I planned to drop it off on the way out of town, but just as I was driving through the fields at Tech, a huge mob of college girls ran by and were in my way to turn. I ended up driving the rat all the way to Morrilton, and let him go in the wooded area just up the road from work.

I jumped right in after that, onto a call with Bret from Ashton, to try and figure out what the heck is going on with my network configurations. That led to more camera nonsense, and eventually to restarting a switch downstream from a point-to-point to get maintenance online again. I was supposed to call Bret back after all of that, but I ended up just continuing to document everything I found, and tried to trace back all of the camera lines to their endpoints.

We took a break to pick up some McDonald’s fries, and then sat outside Taco Bell where I fed them to Muad’Dib while I ate my burritos. He kept refusing to stay put, but mostly stood outside the door waiting for me. On my last trip in, he got brave and completely disappeared. That sent me into a bit of a panic and I started screaming for him. I just knew I had lost him or somebody saw and grabbed him, just because we were away from home. He eventually came around the corner of the building and got into the car, so at least the panic was short-lived.

The afternoon was more documentation until quitting time. Dad said they would have pork chops and ribs, so once Summer got home, she followed me over while I ran with Muad’Dib. I had to run to Walgreens just before dinner, because my prescription was ready and my blood pressure has been really high again. We ate, and then Muad’Dib and I finished his run. A couple little girls in the new neighborhood asked to pet him, so we stopped on the corner for a bit before making our way through the basin.

It was a pretty slow walk after that, because a ton of people were out walking dogs, and Muad’Dib wanted to smell where every single one of them had peed. Once we got back to the house, I gave him a bath with some new conditioner, and then tried to quickly wind down for bed.

Just get on the level.

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Birthday Boo!

We all slept a little late today. I didn’t see Eaddie at all because she was starting band stuff and would be out all night. I had a stomach ache that lasted from the early morning hours on through about lunch time, and it may have been from the greasy hog meat.

I tried to clean up a little bit, but was kind of scattered all day. I jumped from task to task and couldn’t really focus on anything. I keep filling up with worry and then don’t accomplish much.

The big event for the day was Grant’s surprise 40th birthday party. Summer went to the gym and I was going to grab some food before the party, but then Dad said they had spring rolls. Muad’Dib and I drove over to eat quickly before going to the marina visitor’s center.

I took the Onewheel with us so I could give Muad’Dib a run around the park. Blake and Mitch beat us there, and we stood outside talking with Robert and some of the other folks. It was a pretty good turnout, and a nice, quiet place to have the party. When Grant’s mom got the text that they were on the way, I had to put Muad’Dib in the car because of a “no pets” sign. Several of us recorded the surprise, and then we got to eating the catered Subway sandwiches while Grant made his way around the room.

Summer came ot get Muad’Dib after she finished at the gym, and they went on a run before going back home while I visited with the group. We weren’t out super late, and I stopped by the Neighborhood Market for some shampoo before getting back to the house. Then it was a quick night to bed.

Gross.

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Board to Tears

I grabbed Hardee’s and ate my biscuit and gravy on the drive in to work this morning. Muad’Dib was super pumped when we got there, and kept bouncing all over the office to see everyone. We settled in pretty quickly though, because Charles asked me about some IP addresses for a project we’ve got, and it occurred to me that I still didn’t know how any of that was set up through our firewall.

I studied most of the day in a bit of a panic, again feeling underqualified. I eventually sent an email to the MSP that helped with the HA setup, to see if they could help walk me through some of the configurations. We took a late lunch to Arby’s for a ham and cheese. There wasn’t a table or bench outside, so we just sat on the curb and shared the sandwich in the sun. Muad’Dib was super well behaved, though he did drool on my pants out of excitement while waiting for a bite.

The afternoon went by comparitively quickly after such a long morning. We made it back to town and I had an anxiety attack in the car just as I pulled into the garage. Once Summer got home for her break, we went to my parents’ house for spaghetti, and then she had to go back to work to close shop.

I took Muad’Dib out for a run, and he sprinted the better part of a mile. He did great, we stopped to see Dad, and then I had board trouble on the way back to the house. It happened once yesterday, but tonight it started flashing red, sounding its haptic buzz, and reported that the battery needed to be charged. The only problem was that the battery was reporting over 70% remaining.

I carried the board back for a little over half a mile, took a quick shower to cool down, then submitted another serivce ticket before bed.

Could use a little moon shine.

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Weird Recovery

I slept in for just a little while since I was working from home today. Summer left for work and I brought my laptop to bed. There still hasn’t been much asked of me, so I did a couple tasks and then tried to sit through some more Microsoft training. It felt a lot more like a sales pitch than training for how to do something specific, so that was a bore. Muad’Dib dozed on my arm, snoring all the while.

Eventually I got cleaned up and took Eaddie to meet Summer at Cicis for lunch. They’re running their early week deal for the remainder of the year, and it’s by far the best salad bar you can get at that price, even if you don’t eat the pizza.

After we ate, I took Eaddie home and went back to work for a while. Later in the afternoon, I took Muad’Dib to Clear View to see if they could fix the chip in my windshield. When I walked in, they were all in the office folding paper airplanes, and asked if I was any good at it. I asked if she just saw my Asian eyes when I walked in and assumed I was good at origami.

Mike pulled the car into the bay and got to work on the glass, and I let Muad’Dib out to wander around. We chatted, along with another kid that was there, until the job was done. When he finished, I offered to pull the car out and then give him my insurance information to he could get paid, and he ran me off and said not to worry about it. I left feeling really conflicted, because he’s always super nice when I talk to him, but there’s always something wrong with the work I have done. Last time it was tiny bubbles in the tint. This time, he didn’t level the surface of the chip, and it left a bright spot that catches the light, plain as day.

I stopped at Casey’s for a freebie Celsius and then pulled into the Tri-Mountain driveway next to Airgas to try and exchange my CO2 tank. The gate was closed, and I learned that they had actually closed at four, so I went back to the house without any gas. Summer got home from work just shortly after that, and tried to wind down pretty quickly.

Dad texted that they had eggrolls, so I eventually ran Muad’Dib over there while Summer drove. Julie and Kevin beat us. It was a quick dinner with some fried rice, and then we finished our run while Summer went home to crash. I gave Muad’Dib a good bath and tried to clean him up enough to last a couple days, then picked up around the kitchen before bed.

He needs his own CPUP.

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Everything You Know Is Wrong

We had to wait for Eaddie to get home from church before we could leave for Rogers this afternoon. Summer got a bit of yard work done, and I finished laundry. We finally hit the road about an hour later than I intended, stopped in Ozark to charge, and finally made it to KPOT for dinner. I was fairly hangry by then, and it didn’t help that our estimated 30-minute wait was closer to the hour mark.

Fortunately our server, Daniel, was very respectful of our time when I told him we were trying to get to a concert. The food experience was a bit better than last time, but then we were shocked to hear that Daniel had never heard of Weird Al before.

We made it to our usual parking spot, which was surprisingly still available. This was doubly convenient because the end of the line was right there, and we were able to walk leisurely to the amphitheater. We got in, the merch line was short, and Summer and I both got shirts. We found a seat with plenty of time before Puddles Pity Party took the stage. Autumn was on the other side of the lawn with Adam’s family, and came over to talk to the girls for a bit. Puddles had a fairly short set, which ultimately I appreciated, because I don’t know how long I could have sat through that energy.

When Weird Al finally came on, it was pretty much non-stop high energy from everyone. They put on an incredible show, and I was excited that Eaddie got to experience it with us. I think we surprised her with how excited we, and particularly Summer, got for some of his songs.

The drive home was fairly quick, and I had a good chat with Eaddie while Summer tried to sleep in the back seat.

And everything you thought was just so important doesn’t matter.

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Play Sassafras Chicken in D, and Make It Extra Lumpy!

I didn’t really sleep in, but had a slow start this morning. Summer went outside for a bit, and I cleaned up some leftovers to make breakfast. We had one small baked potato that I sliced and fried with some leftover onion, and then i scrambled some eggs in with some dried up flour tortilla crumbs. It actually turned out pretty good.

Jon said Alex would be here at noon, but he was over half an hour late to come look at our ceiling. He seemed to think they could just replace a couple panels of drywall and then scrape the rest of the ceiling. Hopefully we get a quote back soon, and it’d be even better if it came in under five grand.

Summer and I had a couple of “arguments” throughout the morning that just left us both feeling defeated. She went to the gym and I tried to start some laundry, but had to clean up a mess that they had left first. Eaddie left to hang out with friends, and Summer and I decided to go to the movies for a late matinée to see The Naked Gun.

I didn’t really enjoy the movie at all. It just seemed really dumb with a couple cheap giggles, but absolutely no rolling, laugh-outloud moments for me. I was hungry when we got home, so we took Muad’Dib to Chipotle for a late dinner. They had a little outdoor seating area, and it felt great outside.

After dinner, we went for a quick run in the dark to see my parents before winding down for bed.

Weird Al is waiting for us!

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One Step Two Step Red Step Blue Step

Kevin checked in to see if I contacted Diamond Ridge, and ended up calling Jon to get things moving for me. I wanted to be respectful of his time and work/life balance, but Kevin gave me Jon’s personal cell to work things out.

Rhonda got a little fussy about the automation I created for shipment documentation, but without invoking more human involvement, there wasn’t much I could do to improve the automation. It seemed simple enough to sort files by date, but after our conversation about phone storage the other day, I don’t guess I was surprised to hear she felt it was impossible to find what she needed.

Muad’Dib and I went to Sonic for lunch again since it was still nice out. We shared a toaster, but he couldn’t have any onion rings. I did risk giving him some of the breading though. Later in the afternoon, I was invited downstairs for some leftover ice cream with the team.

Jon called on my way back home, and said he would have someone visit us tomorrow. I stopped at AT&T to see Kevin, and brought Muad’Dib inside. He was busy with a customer, but Hope came out and found me. We chatted for a while, and Kevin would come over periodically while his customer was, presumably, transferring stuff between devices.

I left there and stopped to see Summer at the wash, and tried to vacuum Muad’Dib’s seat protector. That went fairly poorly, so I’ll just need to remove it and shake it out. It wouldn’t hurt to hose it off either. As soon as I got to the house, Muad’Dib and I rode over to my parents’ house for fish soup.

After that, the girls were home and I sat down to talk with Summer for a while. Then we tried to find something to watch on the bedroom TV, but she fell asleep almost immediately.

A Leash Called “Obedience”

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All Fronts

Today did not go as planned. I had a couple of calls from some of the sales guys for help, which actually went fairly well. Then I had some virtual training planned for the morning through lunch, but immediately after our HubSpot call, Joel emailed me and asked me to update pricing on some products there. That of course had me switch gears entirely, and I had to learn how the old pricing spreadsheet calculations were done, and then figure out how to import them into HubSpot.

Muad’Dib and I went to McDonald’s for fries and Arby’s for a sandwich, just for the sake of pinching pennies, and then I dug into my first real task. I ended up talking to Joel at the end of the day just to confirm what I was doing, and saved the real work for the next day.

We tried to stop and see Summer at Superfast when we got back to town, but she had left early and went to the gym. Eaddie was leaving for Clarksville when I got to the house. Summer got home shortly after that, and I had to figure out dinner. I ended up going to Zaxby’s for a couple salads, and then we ended up venting at each other about each other over the way we prioritize (or don’t) tasks.

I left to run Muad’Dib, and then crashed about an hour later than I wanted.

focus

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Working Like a Dog

I took Muad’Dib to work again today, and he was much more comfortable to leave my side and wander around. I was worried at first that he would bother people, but Teisha greeted him with a treat, and then everyone upstairs stopped to pet him this time. Scott even commented that after meeting him last week, he looked into adopting another dog himself. Joel came upstairs and made a point to stop and give him some pets, and I’m starting to think he likes the dog more than me.

We went to McDonald’s for lunch again, but I just left him in the car so I could eat there. It was a quick meal though, and then I stopped at Sonic to get him some “premium” chicken bites (quotes mine, because I learned that it is still mechanically separated chicken and not actual breast meat). The afternoon was really quiet and I spent some time watching videos on Intune until quitting time.

Summer was already home and went with me to my parents’ house to load up some more wood that Dad had cut for me. Then we went for a swim to cool off before going back to the house to figure out dinner. She took a bath while I picked up Taco Villa. I stopped for a quick carwash before getting the food, because my car had gotten pretty disgusting. Then a bird got my windshield while I was parked at the restaurant.

Eaddie went out shopping and was gone all night. I took Muad’Dib for a night run and ran into Alisha on our last stretch home. She was looking for her injured cat, which we found two houses down from where she had given up and turned to go home. I called and waited for her to come get it, then took Muad’Dib home for a vacuum before bed.

I remembered that internet was down at the old house and texted Dad about the cameras seeing a couple strangers in the garage. We panicked and raced over, but on the way he remembered letting the little girl in to use the restroom after they had come to get some old wood. Fortunately all was fine, except for an overheated router. I rebooted everything and got us back in business so they could take me back to go to bed.

Don’t forget that the moon has a cold, dark side.