Tag: family

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Same Furniture; Different Sales Tactics

I didn’t sleep great last night, but at least the length of sleep was nice after feeling highly irritated all night. Summer went to the gym and I went home after climbing my way out of a coffee grinding rabbit hole, so I could shower before a day of shopping. Mom wanted to go look at some furniture, so they met us at Summer’s house and we went to Hank’s, Good Deal Charlie, Sofa City, Peters, failed at Stroud’s because they were closed, and finally Cleo’s. Afterward, we ran through the junk shop briefly before I learned that Julie and Kevin were already waiting for us at Brown’s.

I had brought the car down to that side of the mall, so we took Mom while Dad went to get his car, and met him at the restaurant. Summer wanted to take him out for an early birthday dinner, so we stuffed ourselves silly in the hot back room. Every one of us was sweating back there, and the place was packed. The food was good, but I didn’t realize how badly I overdid it until we got home.

Eaddie disappeared to her room for the rest of the night, and Summer and I eventually ended up on the couch together, and I put on Thor: Love and Thunder. We got about halfway through before she needed a break, and then we finished it in the bedroom before she went to sleep. I got up and dug my way down the furniture rabbit hole. It’s all a racket, but I’d like to find the sweet spot between long-lasting and expensive, or cheap and disposable.

You bet I’m gonna haggle you.

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Transform and Roll Out

I forgot my watch this morning and had to run back home for it. That got me to work right on time after following a slowpoke. Kim was a little bit late, but that gave me time to make a coffee and get into moving some Chromebooks around in Google Admin. I basically spent the entire day building out carts, expecting to roll them out to the classrooms. When we did finally start to deliver three finished carts, we realized that none of those teachers were there. I should be able to get most of them done tomorrow though, now that everything is put together.

It was incredibly hot outside, which didn’t affect me indoors until our air unit started blowing warm air. By the time I left, it was getting pretty toasty inside. I got home and changed, but then had to head right up to Summer’s house for dinner. Noah came over, and Eaddie invited Eli for a spaghetti dinner. Then we played a couple games of Uno afterward.

It was still hot outside in the evening, but I tried to go out and fix Noah’s tailgate handle in the dark. As luck would have it, we didn’t have the socket we needed, so we’ll have to try again at my house later, hopefully when even the dark doesn’t make me sweat.

I was getting ready for bed when I happened to think of the heat and the hungry, thirsty hummingbirds, so I made some more nectar and then went to bed.

Lightning at the End of the Tunnel

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Like Cici’s, but Good

We got up a little bit early this morning and I took a shower so we could take a trip to Greenbrier and Conway. We stopped in Conway for Summer’s backpack first, and then she had to do inventory at the Greenbrier lube. Eaddie and I helped count things so we could finish faster. Then I entered most of it into the computer until I started having trouble deciphering Summer’s notations. Once we finished that, we headed back to Conway and went to Larry’s Pizza, which was incredible. I thought it was reasonably priced, and they had a great variety. The “pizza parade” where they walked fresh pies around the restaurant was really neat, but if you missed that, I think whatever was left would go to the bar.

After eating too much of some really great pizza, we went to Target. Eaddie tried on some swim suits, but we didn’t end up buying anything. I ran into Danielle and her parents, and she fussed about the school district and having her department gutted. I had to kind of giggle inside a little bit because I think most people thought they were overstaffed and overpaid anyway.

Next we hit up TJ Maxx and Kohl’s, but still didn’t buy anything. Summer’s car was struggling to run the air conditioner, so I had to send another service message to get an update. I hate that there’s no way to guarantee a mobile service appointment, and they’re slow to switch it from a local appointment. It’s also never clear if we have to drop the car off for multiple days, or if we can wait in the lobby, since it’s such a long drive.

By the time we finished shopping, it was time to run across town for our movie. We originally wanted to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, but the fact that it was no longer in XD upset me. We decided to watch Blue Beetle instead, which didn’t really impress us much until the final act. It was alright, but it just wasn’t great. At least the graphics weren’t as bad as The Flash.

We made it back home and Noah came over to visit for a while. The new house had been delisted on Zillow, and for some reason some old pictures from the previous owner started showing up, so we got to see it with some different furniture in it. The kids left to go eat, Summer went to bed, and I wrapped up reasonably quickly.

You should know by now.

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Why Fi, Man

Just as I left for work this morning, I noticed my newest chip in the windshield had turned into a crack spreading toward the middle of the glass. We just haven’t had any luck with these cars, and it doesn’t make any sense. I always try to give plenty of space on the highway, and I never pick up rocks the way I have in this car. Summer’s enormous rock had to be a freak of nature, but I wasn’t there to witness that one.

I barely made it on time, on account of the school traffic in Dardanelle. Cars were backed up way down the road, all at 7:30 in the morning. I don’t know if school just starts earlier there, or if people are just stupid. I’m not ruling out a combination of both.

Kim was already there, since she had to take her kids to school. I jumped right into things, and the whole day really flew by. Early on, I had to call Progressive to confirm our insurance information, and then passed that information along to our loan ladies. Everyone wanted to blame someone else, and it all seemed rather silly.

Kim had lunch duty and then got some food, while I snacked a little bit throughout the day. I should have had a Soylent instead of chips and such, but I just didn’t. Later in the afternoon, we went down to the elementary to suss out a potential wireless issue. Spending all day Friday in the Ubiquiti system made me a little more comfortable, so we reset one access point and removed two redundant ones.

Just as we got back to the office, Missy called to say that we should be on track for our closing date, and finalized some stuff for our loan. Apparently we’re still waiting for the appraiser for some reason or another. Then I left work a little late just because I was getting into things. I started some laundry once I got home, and then headed up to Summer’s as quickly as I could. She had a surprise dinner ready for us when when Eaddie got home from band practice and I finished my laundry. We had grilled pork chops, steamed some carrots, and mashed potatoes that all turned out really good. Then Eaddie went out to mow a bit before dark, so I did the dishes.

Summer was feeling emotional, possibly from her medication, so I tried talking to her for a bit, and encouraged her to talk more with her doctor. She eventually fell asleep, and I wrapped up my usual routine.

Needs coffee.

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Hell-o

I didn’t get to sleep until after three in the morning, so I had to fight to keep from sleeping in too late this morning. We lounged around for a bit, and then Mom said she had bún bò Huế for lunch. The girls drove separately so I could go home to charge and clean up afterward. The five of us ate and hung out for a little bit before going about our day.

I wanted to do a bit of laundry, but got sidetracked while cleaning up the laundry room. I ought to have time this week to get some laundry done though. The afternoon flew by, and then Mom had egg rolls for dinner, so I went to pick up Summer to go eat. Eaddie was out mowing the lawn and wrote “HELLO” in big letters on the front lawn. The slope of the yard made it a little difficult to make out some of the letters, but she did a good job.

Eaddie wanted to stay behind to finish up, so Summer and I went to eat. My parents were out watering the garden the whole time, so we ate and then left so we could get ready for the work week. I stopped for a car wash on the way back to Summer’s, and then I warmed up some egg rolls we brought back for Eaddie. It wasn’t long before everyone crashed after that.

No teacher, no cry.

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Purgatory

I didn’t go to work today, and instead woke up and did some remote work. Duvall’s Air Conditioning came out early to replace Summer’s air unit, both inside and out. Eaddie stayed in her room the whole time, which was a few hours. I took breaks to eat and make more hummingbird food, since there was nearly a cloud of birds buzzing around the feeder. I managed to get all of my network equipment updated, and now I feel a little more comfortable in the Ubiquiti software.

After the guys left and we had some cool air flowing, Eaddie came out and cleaned up some leftovers with me. Then she left for band practice and I started to head home. Mom called just as I was getting ready to leave, and said that Lelan was having them over to pray for Bác Vân’s 49th day in purgatory. I hurried home to clean up and then got there just as Julie and Kevin arrived.

On the drive over, Ben called to chat a little more about work stuff. I didn’t have anything too exciting to share with him, but we talked for a little while. Then I went in and socialized with our small group of family for a few hours.

I forgot Eaddie’s band family event was tonight, but Summer went to learn how to march with her. I eventually made it back to their house, but didn’t feel super Smurfy. I eventually got settled in though, and made it to bed around midnight.

Twice a day, five days a week.

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What Hindu

I woke up early this morning to get home for a shower before our day in Little Rock. On my way to the shower, I heard rainwater dripping into the bedroom where the roof still hadn’t been repaired, so I had to stick a bucket under it to prevent any further damage. It didn’t really seem to be storming, but while in the middle of my shower, I heard three or four loud pops outside as transformers blew one-by-one. My lights flickered for the first couple, then went out for a couple seconds for another, and finally went out for good after the last bang.

I finished my shower without power, and then struggled to find a way out of my home. I haven’t been able to find a door key in ages, so I ended up manually opening the garage to leave, hoping things would be back on quickly enough to lock things up again.

My parents picked us up at Summer’s, and we headed to meet Julie and Kevin at Costco. I worked on my Google Slides presentation for the whole drive, and felt like I had some pretty good topics to cover with the teachers for tomorrow.

I was pretty hungry, so Julie got us all hot dogs or pizza at the deli, which was super cheap and pretty tasty. I was surprised at how much of the store we covered, and we picked out a couple things to bring home. After that, we went straight to the IMAX for Oppenheimer.

I think most of us liked the movie alright, but Eaddie and I probably enjoyed it the most. Mom and Dad ended up going toward the back of the theater because Mom couldn’t see the screen well enough from the seats I picked. I think Kevin thought it would be more about the Manhattan Project than just Oppenheimer’s life, but I had a pretty good idea of what to expect and felt good about what we watched. It definitely felt more like a biopic than anything else, and didn’t drown the audience in the science.

After the movie, the girls had to thaw out a bit. We walked partway down the Promenade before turning around to find something to eat. Nobody seemed really excited for food except for me, because I knew that was the plan and was going to eat regardless of how I felt. It almost devolved into a full-blown argument choosing where to go, because nobody wanted to just call the shot. I finally picked Star of India after we discovered that Julie’s pick of Three Fold Noodles + Dumpling Co. was closed.

We tried to order full-sized orders of everything in the Chef’s Special, thinking that it would be way more food than what we actually got. In the end, I think it was pretty close in portion size, so I was left wondering if we had inadvertently ripped ourselves off. I just couldn’t quite remember how much we got the last couple of times I got the special. In any case, the food was good and everyone got to try something new that the girls and I have really enjoyed.

I poked around my slideshow a bit more on the drive home, and then had my parents drop us off at my house so I could take my car to Summer’s for the evening. My water bucket hadn’t overflowed, and it was a quick and quiet evening until bedtime.

Impromptu Best Presentation Ever

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Three Early Five Me

Julie finally fell asleep last night after screaming at me for an hour about how early she had to get up. I showered at night so I could just jump out of bed at 3:15, giving me 45 minutes to do any last-minute packing, and then we were off to the airport. There wasn’t really any traffic because of how early it was, and we ended up waiting at the gate for a couple hours before boarding. The trip back to Fayetteville was even faster than the trip up, at about an hour and 15 minutes.

We got to the car and headed toward home, stopping at a Sam’s Club and then a Vietnamese place called TyPHOon for lunch. The phở was pretty good, but the bánh mì was really lean on filling. From there, we made it to Ozark so Dad could take over driving from Julie. I just played my Steam Deck the entire way.

Once home, I unpacked and decompressed for just a little while before heading up to Summer’s. Eaddie has been driving herself around in the Murano, so I guess I’ll be taking the Model 3 up there overnight now. I should be able to charge up fast enough in the morning while I shower, to keep up with my usage throughout the day.

Summer made a turkey breast in the slow cooker, along with mashed potatoes and broccoli salad. I ended up taking over the gravy, which turned out super salty from saving all of the drippings. I kept trying to fall asleep after that, so I popped an iron pill and went to bed early.

Oh, man.

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Fish and Family

We slept in a little bit today, but the fire alarm went off shortly after I got out of bed. Mom and Dad evacuated, but Julie and I never got to that point. I got dressed and picked up some breakfast to bring back to the room, and then went down for some oatmeal once my parents were ready to eat. We killed a bit of time in our hotel room afterward, and it was all I could do to mask the loud TV with my headphones until we were ready to leave.

Somebody found a different boat tour with a paddleboat instead, and we met everyone there for a 45 minute ride down the river. It wasn’t terribly hot out, and we saw a bald eagle in a tree on the edge of the water. When we finished the tour, we headed straight to Two Brothers Roundhouse for a distillery tour and tasting.

By the time we got there, I needed the drinks. It was like competing for oxygen in the car. It was a neat building that used to be a turning station for trains. A couple of the spirits were really good, and after a slightly extended tour with the bar manager, we found a table at the restaurant for an early dinner.

The food was really good, and we had some great conversations. We parted ways with Aunt Diane, Brandan, and Nicolle, and the rest of us went to a downtown area in Geneva for some ice cream at a Kilwins and a brief walk to another chocolate store before we headed back to our cars. We said our goodbyes, and made our way back to the hotel so Julie could get her beauty rest.

I’m still waiting to be impressed by how quickly you can fall asleep and quit bitching at me.

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Melodical

I got up earlier than I really needed to this morning for my shower, and then went down for breakfast by myself. since Julie had already brought food back to the room, and my parents weren’t awake yet. I went down again with my parents once they were ready, and by the time they finished up, it was time to head to the church.

We made it to the St. Michael Romanian Byzantine Catholic Church, which had the longest name of any church I’ve ever seen, to meet up with the other pallbearers before the service. There weren’t a ton of people there, but it was nice to see so much of Thea’s family show up. We didn’t really speak to any of them, but later we talked with the cousins about how family is such an important part of Asian culture.

The service itself felt long, partially because we spent much of it standing while the priest melodically spoke or sang the prayers repeatedly. It was an interesting experience, and then John gave a great eulogy at the end. The burial was short, and then we returned to the church for the reception luncheon. Thomas came to sit with us briefly, and I think that was the most I had ever talked to him in my entire life. I was really happy that we could start closing the gap between all of the cousins.

After the reception, we headed back to the hotel for a while. Julie really wanted a Chicago-style pizza, but just as she and Dad were deciding where to find one, Tom called and invited us all back to his place for the evening. We ended up taking pizza with us, and we ate and socialized for a few hours. It really was a good time, and seemed much less stressful than yesterday as everyone was still kind of waiting to get everything done. I learned that Angela was into pottery, and I showed her Suzanne’s Instagram. I brought my Steam Deck to show Brandan and John, discovered that Nicolle knew Shang Tsung, and then had a laugh at my laundry routine.

We tried coming up with plans for the next day, but nobody committed to anything. We ended up leaving late and getting back to the hotel, where everyone promptly went to bed after a long day.

One’a thems.