Tag: family

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Out Came the Sun

I got to work this morning, and the maintenance crew had stuff laid out to tear up the ground around the basement. I thought I’d leave and work from the high school again, but since they weren’t actually doing anything in our office and most everything was dry, I ended up sticking around. I kept reasonably busy, and the time just flew by.

I took Gary, Zach, and Thomas to Wendy’s and tried some new chicken sandwich with a fried mozzarella patty and marinara, and wasn’t super impressed. I kind of just wished I had gotten a burger. Then it was back to the shop where I spent most of the afternoon putting together three pages worth of meeting minutes from Monday.

I ended the day at Crawford to try and clean up a few work orders, but only actually closed one before quitting time. I went to see Summer at Superfast, but then she sent me to Walmart to pick up pork chops, broccoli, and cauliflower. I went home briefly, and then met her at her house where we remembered that the girls actually had a quiz bowl night at Zaxby’s.

Dinner was good, but Summer kept getting irritated at anything I said. Easily the most frustrating part about our relationship is that she often seems incapable of accepting any form of constructive feedback. Eaddie eventually showed up, but disappeared into the bathroom after saying that Autumn would be later. She had to take Adam home, after evidently being gross in the Zaxby’s parking lot. Between that and the mysteriously leaky bottle of Fireball, we just want her gone.

Eaddie and I ended the night with two more episodes of Breaking Bad. The drama has gotten so heavy, but there’s still so far to go. I remember there being a lull at some point, but I don’t think it ever got bad.

F is for Frustration!

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THE SYSTEM IS DOWN

Thomas messaged us about an hour before work this morning to let us know that there were district-wide reports of an internet outage. I walked in just a couple minutes after Ryan got there and said it was back up, but I could tell something wasn’t acting right. It became clear pretty quickly that things were very broken. I mostly just stayed out of the way, but I wanted to follow along with the troubleshooting process for my own learning. I ended up just doing my own thing in my office, but I was proud of myself for coming to the conclusion that it was likely a firewall issue. Evidently a patch from the manufacturer broke everything, and the guys spent nearly all day coming up with workarounds until we could get an answer from them.

I kept surprisingly busy for as broken as things were. Lunch time came around and Zach said that Thomas had ordered pizza, but he wasn’t sure if we were invited. I let the working crew eat first, and then came along and picked some up afterward since there was plenty to go around.

Near the end of the school day, I made it over to Crawford and saw Shavon for the first time in quite a while. Everyone I spoke to seemed overly positive, and it was too early for me to tell if it was just in the water, or if there really was something to it.

It had started to rain quite a bit, and that continued on after work. When I finally left, I stopped by Superfast to see Summer before getting Eaddie from robotics. Then the two of us went to my parents’ for some mango soup. After we ate, I took Eaddie back to my house while I ran next door to help Bác Vân with her phone. Bác Trân had texted me earlier in the day to say it was making noise at him, but we never did find anything wrong with it.

We made it up to Summer’s for the evening, and I tried to get to bed fairly early. Autumn came in late from a basketball game, but that was it for the night.

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YSOBLUE

Today was Ryan’s first day back, so Zach and Gary were buzzing with that for most of the day. I spent the first part of the morning stressing over what I might rile up in our CPPC meeting, but when we finally met, I didn’t even have to do any talking on account of everyone else being so outspoken. The only one point of contention that I will simply never understand was that nobody seemed to think you should get a day of leave refunded if the school closes while you were out. That just made no sense to me at all. School was closed. How do they possibly justify that your leave still has to be docked.

That nearly got us to lunch, and a big group of us went to La Chiquita. That was a no-frills table full of fajitas, and a surprising amount of leftover cheese dip. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon fighting a software update deployment. I think I finally sorted it out, but I felt bad because I had completely missed it from a work order from several days ago.

At the end of the day, Zach went out to the front of the building with me to help replace a panel on the road sign. I had to call support and finagle some firewall settings, but we got it done without too much fuss. Then I headed home to change before going by Superfast to check on Summer. She was just about to head out, so I continued on to my parents’ house for dinner.

Mom made mango soup, so Dad got that warmed up for us. I didn’t stay for too long though, because the arts center was hosting a percussion ensemble concert that Summer wanted to see. I met all of them there, and a bunch of Eaddie’s friends came to sit with us while Autumn and Adam were off in the back somewhere. The concert was surprisingly long, with a surprising age range of students, but they did a good job.

I went home and discovered that my car charger had gotten loose enough that my car stopped charging last night. I fixed that and headed up to Summer’s for the evening, where everyone was pretty much heading straight to bed. Summer and I crunched some numbers and felt confident enough to cover a car payment, so she ordered a Model Y in the app, which I thought was a worse experience than doing it on the website. She didn’t even get a little hedgehog meme. Oh well.

Gotta act rich to be rich. First thing’s first: Make a bunch of money.

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Charge Test

I got up and made breakfast this morning by frying up a bunch of leftover bits and pieces of things with some eggs. It turned out pretty good, and even Autumn seemed not to hate it. She surprised us with improved grades so as not to lose her car or privileges to see her boyfriend, so we were pretty pleased with that. Summer had plans to meet some girls from work in Conway, and Eaddie wanted to go shopping with me while Summer did that.

I headed home to clean up, but then Summer said her plans had to be postponed. Eaddie still wanted to shop, so I picked them up and let Summer drive the Model 3 to Conway to get a feel on the interstate. I brought along my mobile charger to see if I could charge from her front porch, and then I looked for a NEMA 14-50 plug at the Splash in Conway once we got there. Unfortunately there wasn’t one available, but we could at least slow charge on a regular outlet available outside.

From there, we went down the road to The Mighty Crab and got some crab, shrimp, and crawfish boiled. The food was good, but I left pretty hungry. The crab was problematic and frustrating to eat, but the food all tasted good. It made me want to host a seafood boil myself.

After we ate, we went shopping across town. We started at Kohl’s, where they were having a pretty good sale on clearance items. Then we walked down to Shoe Carnival and TJ Maxx before going across the street to Old Navy. We closed them down, and then made our way back across town to Las Delicias. I had a “bubble wrap,” which was basically an inverted waffle with ice cream. I ultimately wished I had gotten a regular cone, just because it was so bready. The waffle flavor just overpowered the ice cream, so I couldn’t really enjoy the flavors I picked.

I drove us home, I changed, and then Summer drove us home in the Montego. Going back to such a rickety vehicle after driving the Murano and then the Tesla, I think Summer finally agreed that it was time to put the Montego behind us.

Burnin’ Bills

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Y Not?

Eaddie left with some friends for a robotics fund raiser super early this morning. It took me a bit to get back to sleep, but I vaguely remembered Autumn leaving a few hours later for a basketball trip. Summer got up and let me sleep in a bit because I was super exhausted. When I finally got up, we priced a Model Y out of curiosity, since the tax credit limits were changed to include the performance model.

She ended up having to go to work for a while, so I went home to clean up and tinker around for a while. When she finally finished, I let her drive the Model 3 to her parents’ house so we could try and get their old Pathfinder’s alarm system disarmed, and the SUV running. I managed to take care of it after a single honk, and then the engine cranked just fine. The tires were dry rotted, but the motor purred just fine, so Summer followed me to PDQ for some air. We couldn’t get the valve stem caps off of the left tires, so I drove it lopsided to Superfast where Alexis helped us change the valve stem.

With that out of the way, we went to Taco Villa for dinner. That place never slowed down, so we ate and then ran back to my house to get the gas burners. I met her at Shell and we filled up, and then continued up to her house for the evening.

Eaddie showed up shortly after we got home. Autumn made it back a little while after that. They ate, and then Eaddie wanted to watch an episode of Breaking Bad before bed. I guess I feel reasonably accomplished, even if we really only did one of the things I had planned.

Juggle Bucks

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Bull Sleet

I got up this morning and cautiously tried to de-ice the car, fully willing to take the day off. It actually wasn’t that bad though, so I made it home and into the office. Gary, Zach, and Greg were there, but that was it for a while. Eventually Thomas and Tammy showed up. I spent most of the morning taking a practice Net+ test with Greg.

By the time lunch rolled around, the precipitation was starting and the folks at the main office were all abuzz. They ended up sending everyone home without docking a day, which makes for an interesting level of unfairness when dealing with others who chose to take a day of leave. In the past we’ve recovered those days because time given by the district should be given to everyone, but not so with the new chief.

I made it home easily, but by then the sleet started to come down pretty hard. I headed straight up to Summer’s for the evening while she and Autumn braved going to Walmart for dinner supplies. I only barely made it up the hill in her car, and Eaddie, Summer, and I watched some Breaking Bad while Autumn cooked some Hamburger Helper for lunch.

Eventually we played a game of Catan, which went as slowly as it usually does. We had a little bit of drama after Summer skipped my turn, but she felt better after she ultimately won. I just kind of milled back and forth for most of the early evening. Eaddie helped Summer with dinner, and we all sat down for meatball subs. Then we played a game of Pictionary, which was actually really fun. Autumn kept complaining about it and saying she wanted to quit, but then she’d play a round and be laughing as much as any of us.

Eaddie and I wrapped up the night with some more Breaking Bad until we finally got word that I wouldn’t have to report to work due to the weather. The district seemed to be having a pretty rough time on Facebook, and whoever was in charge of the district’s account apparently “liked” a comment that was blasting the superintendent. Perhaps surprisingly, I’m sympathetic to this particular event, but I still feel how I feel.

Light her up!

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Psych!

I felt super sick to the stomach after I went to bed last night, but I slept pretty horribly. After just a few short hours of sleep, I got up and showered so we could get some breakfast before we had to get across town for Summer’s appointment. The hotel breakfast was about standard for what I’ve become accustomed to considering an upscale continental breakfast, but I’m not sure I’d consider it a “full breakfast” as advertised.

The trip across Little Rock wasn’t too bad, and the written directions were a great help. We made it underground and then back up to the parking garage, and upstairs into the psychiatric wing. We didn’t have to wait very long to get back, and the first part of the appointment was a bit more like therapy than I was expecting. Afterward, he had a bunch of tests for Summer to do that would take a couple more hours, so I had to get lost. I ran to the deli to get her some snacks, and then ended up in the car for a while. I thought Ben might be able to entertain me, but that didn’t pan out. Instead, I just sat in the car while it did a software update.

Eventually I started to feel a little ill being cramped up again, so I went back inside for the rest of the time. My phone was enough to keep me entertained, and eventually they came back out. The whole meet was way less formal than a normal doctor visit, so it was interesting. Hopefully it’ll help motivate Summer to take better care of her mental health.

We headed straight back to Conway, where Summer had to stop and work for a bit. We moved some stuff between cars, and then I headed toward home. Just past Plumerville, I ran into a dead stop in traffic on the interstate. Evidently there was a large semi wreck way ahead, and they just closed a large portion of the interstate between Morrilton and Blackwell. I ended up stopping at the first Morrilton exit once I got there, and had a Happy Meal before taking Highway 64 back to Blackwell.

As soon as I got home, I quickly unpacked and then met Summer at Shell for some gas. Then she went to Popeye’s for dinner while I headed up to the girls. She wasn’t terribly far behind me, and everyone had a little to eat before bed. Eaddie was up trying to get help with science homework, but I was exhausted from multiple nights of very poor sleep, so I made it to bed super early.

Shut It Down

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Năm Mới

Summer had to go to Morrilton this morning, so I had her take me home first. I spent some time picking up around the house a bit before getting a shower. Then I met her and the girls at CiCi’s for lunch. Autumn was going shopping afterward, so Summer took Eaddie home while I went to visit my parents for the lunar new year.

After hanging out for a bit, I went back home and stopped to see Bác Vân for a bit. She hasn’t been able to talk to Bác Trần on her iPad for some reason, but he was at the temple and unable to troubleshoot with us. She gave me some sweet rice, and then I headed back up to Summer’s for the evening.

Eaddie and Summer were watching a crime show, so I gave them some sweet rice and sat with them for a while. Then the girls went to their rooms early. I laid with Summer for a while until Autumn finally got home from shopping. Then I dawdled on the computer a bit before doping up and heading to bed really early.

The rabbit, you say?

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Zillow Down, You Move Too Fast

The girls left early this morning for all-region band tryouts in Conway. I got a slow start after that, until Summer finally got around. We had some leftovers for brunch, and I tinkered around on Zillow for a bit.

Someone had told me to go ahead and try to get pre-approved, so I started filling out a form online. I took a break in the middle of the form to try and find my retirement balance for the school, and I got a call from someone at Zillow that immediately put me on hold for a loan officer. I was about ready to give up when someone else picked up and asked if I would prefer a callback. I suggested an email, and we ended the call. Then I got a text, email, and immediately another call from a loan officer that I talked to for a bit.

The call went well enough, but I wasn’t ready for another hard credit inquiry. Byron, the loan officer, basically said I wouldn’t have any problem getting a loan for the home we were looking at, and that when we factor in Summer’s income, we would basically be rich rich. I thanked him for the information, and that was the end of the impromptu surprise home buying adventure.

I went home so I could make it to my parents’ house for the warmest part of the day, to help Dad repair the privacy fence that blew over in the storm a couple nights ago. I hadn’t felt stellar since the day before, but I was surprisingly worthless when it came time to try and dig up a fencepost. Dad had a long iron bar that he used to chip and pry away the concrete, but we didn’t get to that until we had a bunch of vines cleared out of the way. I didn’t have the upper body strength to do much, and then started to get really dizzy really quickly after just a little bit of work. I haven’t felt that out of shape before, and I don’t know if it’s age, weight, COVID, or just a lack of stamina from being so sedentary.

We finally got the post out of the ground, and that was it for the day. Dad wanted to wait to set new posts, but I was a little worried the holes would get filled in some rain. We packed up and went inside, where I showed them the house Summer and I had been looking at on Zillow. It was a big house, for sure, but the price per square foot was low, and it came with enough land and a view that I could see settling down there.

On the way out, Dad took the Model 3 out for a spin with the yoke. I suggested they should get a Tesla, since the price dropped to accommodate the tax break. Then I headed home to shower before making it back to Summer’s for the evening.

Sumer made an awesome dinner, and both of the girls made it in all-region. Eaddie made first band, first chair for high school, and there was never a doubt in my mind. Autumn complained that she did poorly, but then got upset when we tried to encourage her to practice more to get better. I’ve never seen anyone get so immediately offended at the mere concept of working for something.

As the night progressed, I felt worse and worse until I checked my temperature at about 100.5ºF. I had an obvious head cold and a scratchy throat, so it was off to bed early for everyone.

Settle down.

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So Long, and Thanks for All the Carbs

Today was Josh’s last day, so we had a bit of a long meeting to socialize before everyone split off. Once that happened, Kyle asked me for help on a one-person job. I had my own things to tend to, so he okayed delaying that until Monday when the kids are out. I actually did a fair job of keeping busy for the rest of the morning, even finishing up some things at Dwight before making it back for lunch.

Just as I got back to the shop, Tammy was walking out to pick up Pasta Grill for lunch. I rode along with her, and then the whole crew got together to eat. Travis missed out on account of some unexplained intercom issues at Oakland, but made it back for some leftovers after everyone else had split off.

The remainder of the workday just creeped by. I went across the street for some ice and talked to Kayla for a little bit, but otherwise it seemed like several of us were just riding out the clock. I ended up taking the leftovers home, but there was hardly enough for a couple people left.

I went home and tended to the shrimp for a bit, and eventually made it up to Summer’s for the evening. Eaddie wanted to watch TV, so after she finished baking brownies and Summer ate some food, we watched one episode of Umbrella Academy. Then everyone was off to bed, because the girls had all-region in the morning. Summer hadn’t felt well all afternoon, so she went straight to bed. I still had heartburn and indigestion from lunch, so I struggled to settle down for the evening. I burned so much time tending to frosty survivors on my phone.

Of course I overpaid.