Tag: family

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Stressors

This morning started out unconventionally, but eventually worked itself out. I got to work with plenty of time and continued my investigation into why imaging was broken. Shane from Howard was taking us out to lunch at Brick Oven, so at least we had something to look forward to. I had my fill of a variety of pizzas, and even did well in breaking even with all the large pizzas I ordered for the table to share. That’s basically been my goal for forever: to successfully order for our group a perfect amount of food that would make everybody fat and happy without any waste. It turns out the answer was five large pizzas.

It took me multiple days and a bunch of consulting, but ultimately I confirmed that it was a Windows update that broke our Windows image in SCCM. I rolled back to the root image and everything was back to normal, so now I get to play “Which Update Broke Everything.”

The girls were sorted for the evening, so after work I went by Summer’s shop to find that she had already left. While I was on that side of the tracks, I stopped in to pick up my blood pressure medication. Then I went home for a little bit. Having some time left in the evening, I had Dad come over to shop at Lowe’s with me. We picked up the materials we needed to run my clothes dryer vent out of the house instead of into the garage.

While Dad was here, he took some pictures of the house for a prospective buyer. His neighbor across the street has some family moving to town that are looking for a home to buy, and evidently mine is for sale if the price is right. Nevermind the 15 years I’ve been here, presumably building equity. I assumed that building the family estate was more important, but if the house is going to be sold out from under me leaving me with no equity as though I have been renting the entire time, then all was for naught. Housing prices are high right now, so I wouldn’t blame him for selling. I’m just not sure how I feel about what I’ve paid or set aside for rent. The lesson here, kids, is to keep family and your money separate.

After a trip to lowe’s for the dryer ducting and some shopping for tile that I may or may not buy myself, we came home to a rogue cat that was wandering around the neighborhood. I spent some time outside with him, but ultimately gave up after he tried to climb up the vertical side of my car, scratching the paint on the way back down. The lesson here was apparently that you shouldn’t be nice to anything. Lots of lessons today.

I came inside and video chatted with Summer for a bit. I’d refer to Duo, except that I’m not sure the app will be around long enough for that reference to make any sense for the next person to read this. Already aggravated by life, the universe, and everything, I ended up picking a fight with her about “how many sacrifices” either of us has made for any particular reason. We ultimately had to agree to disagree in a way where everybody felt like a loser.

There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke, but uh, but you and I, we’ve been through that, and this is not our fate.

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Caustic for $200

This morning started out pretty rough. I had trouble getting to sleep last night in spite of how exhausted I was. When I finally made it to the shower, I discovered my towel had been used to wipe off what I assume was someone’s face cream that bleached the blue right out of the towel. I screamed in rage at the situation because this made the fifth or sixth time that this exact situation has happened within a relatively short amount of time, and it feels like nobody’s getting the goddamn memo. Chemicals are bad. That feeling was amplified because I put a cheap hand towel in the bathroom for them, and for some reason they still went for my bath towel. I had finally broken down and bought a really nice, complete set of everything, and it felt like nobody values any of it.

Work was fine, except that I had to cover the middle school for Josh while no fewer than three of them fixed a total of one door. I struggled to find my way around, and had at least one medium-level moment of embarrassment because hardly anyone there knows me. When I made it to the shop, I slowly discovered that I would be on my own for lunch. I considered just finishing a Soylent, but thought I’d take Summer lunch instead.

Wendy’s was a shitshow of mouthbreathers that simply didn’t have the capacity to maintain both a drive-through and inside counter. It was the same kid that was working last time, and he looked equally flustered. It’s not entirely their fault, because evidently nobody wants to work at all right now. Summer’s basically been short staffed since she started, and everyone there is burned out on hours. I ended up just eating my half of the lunch alone in her office before going back to work.

The afternoon was a little more quiet. Gary brought his new Carvana purchase in: a 2019 Nissan Altima that was used as a rental car in its past life. It had relatively low miles and looked to be in pretty good condition. We were all really happy for him as he discovered automobile features from the early 21st century. The afternoon went by pretty quickly from there as I tinkered with some things in my office.

The girls walked home from school, so I basically just came home to pick them up. We dropped Autumn off at her Explorers meeting, and then Eaddie and I went to my parents’ house for rolls. Summer and Julie showed up when they each got off from work. Tensions were manageable but awkward. Everyone filtered out, and I finally headed home for the evening.

Relaxation is requiring quite a bit of force these days.

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The Easter Boomer

I’ve felt pretty exhausted lately, and last night was no different. I slept super late today, and only got up in time for a little leftover brunch before having to get ready for a late Easter lunch with my parents. Summer made some deviled eggs, and the girls caught the irony. We let Autumn drive us all, and Bác Vân and Doug beat us there.

It was a relatively limited menu compared to our usual, but it was a great meal with much reduced stress. The girls enjoyed overhearing the adults ponder racially-charged social nuances, and it was a good time for all. After we ate, Autumn dropped Summer and Eaddie off, and I went with her to Walmart for a couple things. What should have been a pretty quick trip turned into both of us wandering around alone. It was hot and aggravating, because even when we weren’t browsing and just on a mission to pick up something specific, she felt the need to take off and leave me.

When we finally got back to their house, I loaded up and came home for the night. My left foot had been hurting all day for some reason, and the rising temperatures got me pretty lethargic and cranky. I ended up sitting on the couch for a couple hours and watching some Home RenoVision DIY videos.

Just before an early bedtime, I got out my new MonoPrice tube amplifier and hooked it up in the garage just to test it out with some old speakers. The speakers work great, and I think the amp will look super cool on top of the two larger speakers stacked on top of one another.

Nice weather means they’re sold out of tennis rackets.

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Fool Me Once… Shame on….Shame on You

It’s been cooling off this week, and I could really tell this morning when it started to sleet on my way to work. It didn’t stick at all, and just melted away instantly, but I was definitely caught off guard by the sound of it hitting everything around me outside.

I’m still recovering from re-imaging my laptop, which meant I had to build a Microsoft Office installation for myself. That and a bit of tinkering with some other things got me through to lunch at Western Sizzlin with the boys. Afterward I packed up and went to the high school to help Mike sort depot boxes. We ended the day with the lift in the band room since we finally got our lamp in.

Autumn went to the gym again, so Summer left work and took Eaddie as well. That left me to go home and clean more in the garage. Nearly forgetting to plan my shenanigans, I pulled out my old TI-99 for deployment at work. Not just the base computer though. Oh, no. I brought out the Expansion System as well. That thing was heavy. I needed some help repairing the video cable though, so I packed up and took it to my parents’ house.

Dad got me sorted with some solder and hot glue. Then he pulled out my tiny old CRT television, and things booted up perfectly. Unfortunately I didn’t have the necessary Microsoft Multiplan 5.25″ floppy, so all I can really do is look at the loading screen, but it’ll serve its purpose. He went with me to the office to help stage everything, but just as we finished setting up, Melinda walked in. It was in the dead of night, so I really thought she was there to stage her own pranks, but she was just there to pick up some things. She’ll be out tomorrow, but I was hoping to land the prank on her the next day. Unfortunately she walked right in and saw it, so it’ll just have to be for fun with the rest of the gang tomorrow.

I dropped Dad back off at home and finally headed home to finish up the last of my plotting. Tomorrow should be fun.

Duuuuuude…..

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Path of Logical Hoarding

I woke up this morning and jumped right into organizing again. It was a cool, sunny day out, which was perfect for rummaging in the garage. While I was out there, I saw Uncle Giao, Erica, and Nova pull up at Bác Vân’s, and he brought out a couple old helmets for me. The girls showed up just after that, and we decided to go out for lunch to Linh’s with them.

The service was spacy, slow, and just generally bad. I keep thinking there must be something she can do to improve the experience, but it’s just always bad now. The food was fine, except for two very obvious black hairs entwined both in Summer’s shrimp fried rice and my phở. Things weren’t going well enough for us to really feel comfortable sending anything back though.

Steven and Ronda stopped by the restaurant to drop some wine off for Summer. Then Summer had to take off early to hold an interview at the shop. When we all finally left, I stopped by the house and picked up some old brake fluid, and took it to Summer.

The afternoon was more cleaning and organizing while Summer and Eaddie went for a bike ride and Autumn went to hang out with Harry. She’s been constantly asking to go to church with this kid, and I’d be alright with it if it was actually making her a better person instead of just trying to manipulate us into letting her do what she wants to do.

When Summer and Eaddie got back, they headed home and I went to Arby’s for a quick dinner. Then I wrapped up outside and came in to archive Summer’s skydive media. Time really accelerated after that, and before I knew it, it was well past bedtime.

Let’s build a new structure, dedicated to this hobby of collecting things!

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Skydove

Summer had an appointment to go skydiving early this afternoon, so I got up and headed home to clean up. The girls were all waiting outside for me when I got back to pick them up, and we made our way to the Clarksville airport. We hadn’t been there very long before a group came down for a landing, and one of the pros that had been doing the filming for that jump came down super hard and broke his leg. They called an ambulance, but the guy ended up taking the bed of a truck instead. After seeing my nonsensical COVID bills, I don’t blame him.

It took us a while to get started on account of the injury, but Summer wasn’t phased. Another group of kids came in for a jump as well, but Summer was up next since she had an actual appointment. The plane ride didn’t take too long, but we couldn’t actually see them leave the plane because of some large clouds. I did get a bit of video as they approached the field for their landing, but she paid the extra $150 for a premium body and external cam footage anyway.

Autumn wanted to go to their father’s restaurant afterward, but he had already closed. We settled on El Molcajete instead, but as we parked, we realized that not a single soul other than myself had brought a mask. That irritated me enough on account of my hunger, but then Autumn started in on an attitude when she should have known better than to leave the house without her mask after more than a year of this.

I drove us straight home instead, where we picked at some leftovers for an early dinner. Then I sunk a bunch of time into Photoshopping an explosion behind Summer and her tandem partner in a photo I took of them walking back from the airfield. Frustrated from the loss of daylight and everyone else taking naps, I left for home and spent the evening poking around the garage.

You never look back at the explosion!

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Bike Day

Eaddie and I got up this morning and rode the Shadow to the Ridgewood Brothers for lunch. I called Dad and had him meet us there too, and Grant was so excited to see all of us. I finally got to try the cheddar jalapeño sausage, and it was fantastic. I had the bronco sandwich, which had a link on it, and got an extra one to go as well. Felix was feeling some attitude today, but overall came through in taking care of us.

After we ate, we ran by the shop to share some banana pudding with Summer. Then Eaddie and I took a long motorcycle ride around town. We went around the marina, peeping at houses along the way. Then we took a slow cruise through the park before continuing up the mountain and back down to Old Post. She wanted to get off and play around in the park a bit, so we goofed around a bit and had some swing time. Sheri spotted me and came by to ask if I would be applying for Ben’s job. I appreciated that she at least said I would be good at it.

Once Eaddie got tired of the park, we went back up the mountain and finished the Skyline loop before making it back home. We watched a couple episodes of House, and then she took off on her bicycle while I poked around the garage some more. It was just the smallest amount of organizational progress, but at least it was something. Eventually I needed a break and took the R1 across town to deliver the CPL sticker I had forgotten to bring Grant earlier in the morning. We chatted for a little while more before I headed home.

Eaddie met me there, and we drove back up to Summer’s for the evening. Autumn was feeling moody, I suppose, and secluded herself as usual. Eaddie convinced Summer to watch a couple episodes of Glee, which finally got us started on the final season. At this point I’m just ready to be done with the show. It’s so far beyond everything that I used to love about it, so I’m ready to move on to the next thing.

Riding around town was more fun than the long highway ride to the rally, and the barbecue was leagues better too.

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Like the Snake?

When I got up and around, Autumn was already fussing about being hungry and not liking whatever I could possibly come up with. She tried convincing Eaddie to ride their bikes to Arby’s for lunch so they could take some to Summer at work. I told her it was raining, but she insisted she could just wear a hoodie until we opened the garage and she saw the deluge with her own eyes.

I had my shower, then took them on home for the day. It wasn’t long until Mark responded, and I went to his office to do some more printer finagling. When I finished up, I still had a little time to kill before the kids had to be at karate, so I ran across the street to see if either of the Bros. were there.

That’s when I met Nate. Nate seemed pretty cool; a younger guy, a professor at Tech. We chatted for a little bit until Grant showed back up. We had a couple laughs before Summer got off work. Then she took the girls to karate and met me at Brown’s for dinner. I still had my birthday coupon, after all.

It must have been RSD past and present night, because I saw Denise, Tammy, Josh, and Kristin all scattered throughout the dining room. I couldn’t blame them, because the food was delicious. I ate too much, but the fact that I couldn’t burp from my root beer that really hurt me.

Summer headed on home while I got the girls. I had to drop Autumn off at her grandparents’ house for the night, then took Eaddie home to shower and get a change of clothes before coming home for the night. Summer was already in bed when we got there, so Eaddie and I watched some House until bedtime.

Go for the fish. Stay for the chicken.

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Homing In

I slept in pretty late today, forgetting that Summer still had to work. It’s been a busy spring break so far, and today was no exception. As soon as I got up, the girls started asking when we’d leave for my house. I told them to get things cleaned up, and then we could go any time. They dawdled around, mostly forgetting to actually do anything, until I forced them.

Autumn wanted me to drop her off with Summer so she could help out at the shop before and after therapy. I took Eaddie on home, but as soon as we got there, she took off on her bike. I spent the whole time outside, slowly poking through the garage. I felt pretty good about the little bit of organization I did, but there’s still so much to do.

A little while after Eaddie got back, I decided to take a break and take her out on a motorcycle ride. We stopped by the shop to see when Summer would be off, then took the scenic route to my parents’ house. I chatted with Dad for a little bit about the renovation, and then we headed back home once Summer was off work.

She wanted chicken, so we settled on Slim Chickens for a whopping forty five dollars. I recognized the little girl that took our order from school, and we noticed the crew in the back mouthing her for fussing at them while she was running all over the restaurant cleaning everything in sight. I told Summer she needed to hire her, so we did a little headhunting. Summer needed some practice being smooth, so I had to get her name to get the conversation started. Then Summer started probing about her job and invited her down for an interview.

Arms full of that delicious strawberry lemonade, we headed back home for the evening. Still unsatisfied, Summer sent Eaddie and me out on a Blizzard quest. Then Eaddie and I sat in the living room: her on her phone and me on mostly YouTube until she went to bed.

Take inventory, itemize, and make it happen.

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That’s a Surprise

I slept in super hard this morning, but got up and around for an early lunch. We cleaned up some leftovers, then tried to keep the kids motivated to clean the house in preparation for the evening. Eventually it came time for me to leave for my shower, so it was up to all the girls to get things rolling.

While I was gone, Melinda picked Summer up for their pedicures. I arrived back at the house shortly thereafter with a fresh bag of ice and the hamburgers, and we did our last little bit of prep work before the guests started to arrive. Ronda, Steven, and Maleea showed up first, but were quickly followed by Suzanne, John and Melissa, Noah, and my parents. We had a house full of relative strangers to each other, and I was busy slicing vegetables and running the grill. Had I known the nail salon was running behind, I would have slowed way down, but for all I knew, I had about half an hour to get things rolling.

Around 6:40, Melinda showed up with Summer and we did our level best to surprise her. Ronda had the great idea to have all the friends stand back, so the kids and my parents jumped out first with a couple big confetti poppers. Then as she came further into the house, everyone else jumped out and surrounded her for a second surprise. It was hugs all around, except for Eaddie, who got totally got skipped.

Summer had a blast and was so excited to see everyone. The food turned out pretty well after Steven helped me keep the grill from going up in flames. The decorations Melissa brought were just the right touch, and Suzanne’s cake was amazing. I almost couldn’t believe we pulled it off. I did forget to toast the buns with butter on the griddle, but I suppose there’s always next time for the gourmet experience.

John and Melissa had to take off pretty quickly to get their kids. Dalia was going to show up late after closing at work, but she actually arrived at a pretty decent time since the pedicures took an extra hour to complete. As everyone eventually filtered out, the kids did a quick sweep up to get the house livable again. I ran across town to deliver some cake to John, then went home to trade my contacts for glasses.

Everyone was ready for bed by the time I got back, so I tinkered around for a little while, and eventually went off to bed.

Fool me once, shame on… shame on you. You fool me, you can’t get fooled again.