Death by Chocolate

I tried sleeping in a bit today before going home to clean up. Eaddie wanted to have a few friends over as a birthday treat, so Summer picked up stuff for burgers. I started prepping once I got back, and made sixteen perfect burger patties. Half of them also had a fresh jalapeño diced into them, but I should have added more.

People eventually started showing up a bit after I started cooking, so we ate pretty quickly. Nick had ordered a serial killer themed cake that turned out pretty neat looking, but they missed some opportunities for more puns. When we finished eating, we all played a couple rounds of Drawful.

Summer and I left for a bit to drop in on some of her employees that were throwing Mario a going away party. She got to play her first game of beer pong, and pet some tiny dogs. We didn’t stay very long since we still had a house full of girls back home.

The girls looked to be in the middle of a Twilight marathon, so Summer and I went to bed pretty immediately.

I guess the wolf is out of the bag.

Where Do You Want to Be

I had my one-on-one meet and greet with Thomas this morning, and it gave me a little bit of insight into what we can expect in the coming years. Shortly after I made it to the high school to help Mike continue imaging, Ben texted to check up on me. I told him it’s already a running joke that I get fired multiple times a day, and he responded that I’m in the top 10% of the department now. It really feels like it’s just a “big three” now, and Thomas basically told me not to take offense when he eventually moves me out of the office next door. I haven’t even had the chance to play him the songs of my people yet.

I made it back to the shop for lunch, and four of us met up at Quiznos. We ran into Jessica, her mom, and Kai there, and I let her know that we had their new student laptops ready to go. The afternoon was more of the same until I got a random text near the end of the day from Brandie just to check in. Then she accidentally called me instead of replying to my text, so we just chatted on the phone while Mike and I finished up with our last round of laptops for the day.

Shortly after getting home, I took the tile samples back to Ridout and gave my contact information to a guy there, who didn’t really seem to want to talk pricing with me, but rather our contractor. I wasn’t sure I liked how that went, but at least I know what tile I’m looking for now. Then I went to the shop and waited for Summer to get off work so we could go to my parents’ house for dinner.

We had spaghetti with Dad, but didn’t stick around too long before heading back home. Summer texted late about some trouble with Autumn, but that seemed to fizzle out before I got out the door. I’m about to start giving her more attention than she can stand.

I guess when you think the ends justify the means, there’s not much you won’t do.

Gotta Get Away

It was another quiet day at work today. Zach was back and sent me to help Brody finish imaging the junior high student devices. Then most of us went to an abnormally slow lunch at Morelos, after which I went to the high school to help Mike image his student devices.

After work, I met Summer at Ridout to look at some more tile. We went back and forth for quite a while until we finally found some that we liked, and I’m excited to get things moving. We still need to shop for a vanity and some fixtures, but at least this much is done.

I took the tile to my parents’ house to show them, then waited for Summer to get there so we could have some leftover dinner. After visiting for a little while, we headed back to my house for the evening.

Summer chatted with Beth for a bit, and I ended up doing some flight shopping for Eaddie’s trip back up to Wisconsin. Some airlines charge fees for unaccompanied minors, but I discovered that Southwest would take her without any real restrictions. For only $138, I found myself wondering why we’re only sending one.

Airports are some of the safest places you can hang out in for multiple hours at a time. Everyone there has already made it through security, and at any moment you could scream and at least a dozen good samaritans would come running.

Quite an Impact

Summer went to work this morning and I went straight home to clean up before heading to my parents’ house. I made a big burger for lunch, and then stopped by Brody’s house to loan him my big impact wrench. He came out and just needed it to loosen the oil drain plug on his new mini truck. If I had realized that’s all it was, I probably would have brought the small impact just because of how heavy the large one was.

On the way home, I stopped by the shop to visit with Summer for a bit. Then I started on laundry once I got back home. While that was going, I piddled around the house just picking up random things. I got hungry late and made a big, grilled, bean burrito, then did my best to wind down for bed as quickly as possible.

$0.002564 per sheet

Smörgåsbord

I let Summer sleep in until about noon today before we got around to my parents’ house. Dad had already started two grills for the heaps of food we’d be grilling. There were steaks, burgers, chicken wings, shrimp, corn on the cob, zucchini and squash that all made it across the coals. Bác Vân and Doug pulled up just as we left to pick up a couple fill-in items from the Neighborhood Market.

I kept Julie up to date with a play-by-play as we were cooking, since she was just a couple neighborhoods away. Then she showed up as everyone was finally eating. We were all set up to eat outside, but by the time we finished grilling in the sun, we were all too hot to enjoy the reasonable weather.

We stayed and listened to Julie’s mad karaoke skills for a while. Then as we started to leave I had a small anxiety attack that threw me into a severe headache for several hours. When we got back to my house, Summer went home and I dozed for just a little bit in bed. I eventually made it up to her house for the evening, but never fully kicked the headache, so it was an early night to bed for us.

BOOM–TISSSSSS

Independence Day

I got up with Summer this morning and went to Walmart to pick up what she needed to grill hot dogs for her crew at work. Then we went straight to the shop and got things cooking just in time for lunch. Once everyone ate, we headed back home to get Eaddie and then met Autumn at my parents’ house to help clean the pool cover. I was still plenty sore from stacking wood, so I was worthless all day long.

We went to Morelos for dinner on the way home, then ended the evening with a classic Will Smith action flick. At first I questioned watching the modern sequel in 3D, but I think I made the right choice with the original. I can’t even remember the plot to the new one.

Once again, the LAPD is asking Los Angelinos NOT to fire their guns at the visitor spacecraft. You may inadvertently trigger an interstellar war.

New Boss, Who Dis?

It was cooler and rainy today, which fit perfectly with my mood about Ben being gone. Thomas is back, and we’ll get to spend the next few days bringing him up to speed with what he has already identified as “same shit, different people.” At least he’s welcomed input so far, and I don’t guess I could ask for much more.

Gary didn’t have anything new for us to work on, so we split up to image computers again. Josh returned to the high school with me until lunch time. Then we met everyone back at the shop for lunch with the new boss. He picked Fat Daddy’s, who appeared to be busier than usual. I had an uncharacteristically good burrito, which may be my go-to from now on. Everyone else’s meat plates looked overcooked and dry as usual. We still can’t figure out why the service takes so long though, since all the meat is smoked for longer periods of time. It’s not like we’re waiting for it to be freshly prepared. I had joked during our brief morning meeting that Gary said Thomas was paying, and then he actually did. I must be a prophet.

After lunch was just more of the same. Gary joined us for the last few minutes, and then we were off. I went home until time to get the girls for the band camp concert at Tucker Coliseum. I don’t remember it being carpeted the last time I was there. It probably helped the acoustics, but it still wasn’t at all ideal for a wind band. The girls were placed in the top two bands, which were both markedly better than the third.

They were hungry when we left, so I grabbed a family pack from Wendy’s on the way home. Then Eaddie and I watched an episode of House before bed.

Sometimes you just have to move the numbers around a little bit. It all makes sense. Trust me.

Child’s Play

I got up this morning to meet the guys at Taco John’s for lunch. Blake and Robert were already there, both waiting in their cars like a couple of shy guys. When I started to go in, Robert yelled out his window for me to sit in his truck with him, but as soon as I got the door shut, Blake got out of his car because he saw me.

Gary and Grant both showed up eventually, and we went in to get our food. Surprisingly I think most of us were about as unimpressed with that place as I always am. I don’t get the nostalgia, but I was happy to be a part of it anyway. We chatted for hours, or rather mostly listened to Robert as he recounted stories from his steel trap of a mind. It was absolutely awesome getting to catch up, and I wished timing had worked out for Mitch to be there as well.

We wrapped up just in time for me to go home and clean up before the play. Summer got tickets for the two of us plus my parents to see Disney’s Descendants: The Musical. My parents arrived just late enough for it to be awkward to get back to our seats, and the rest of the show went about how I expected. I was glad Summer enjoyed it, but I have absolutely no feelings about school plays at all. I loved Wicked, but this basically took everything I disliked and amplified it. It was difficult to understand some 90% of the dialog, so I relied on context clues to follow the entire plot, which I had already gleaned from the summary of the show. It would have made more sense if we were taking small children.

As soon as we got home, Summer had to take off to get the girls to band camp. I tinkered with some photo backups at home for a while until Summer was ready to eat. Then I took her a new Fitbit I picked up on Prime Day, and warmed up some leftovers for us.

At some point in the evening, I lost connectivity to everything in my house. It wasn’t a power outage, so I assumed my internet had gone out. I checked in again late in the evening, and everything was still broken, so I went home to check on it. Evidently the battery backup for the home entertainment setup had gone worse, and some of my equipment was cycling on and off. I was glad to catch it before it continued on overnight, but frustrated trying to fix it while unable to turn on any of my lights. The convenience of an everyday smart home turned a simple task into an infuriating circus.

Exhausted from all the crawling about behind equipment, and knowing I had to get up for a stupid Catapult health screening in the morning, I just crashed there for the night to save myself the drive in the morning.

LINE!

Captain’s Log

Summer got up this morning and had to take Eaddie to her parents’ house to meet up with Autumn so they could spend the day with their father. I stayed home and started some laundry, and cleaned up the bedroom. After some gym time and cleaning up herself, Summer came back and kept me company.

Later in the evening, we met my family at La Villa for a Father’s Day dinner. I spotted Carlos and Adrian across the room, so Julie went over to greet the family.

On the way home, I stopped by Walgreens to pick up a photo print I had ordered. Julie happened to order one as well, and they actually opened it up to show her the gorilla from Disney. If I had been anyone else, I might have been upset, so I’m surprised they did that. My next stop was for some gas, and then home for the evening.

I just play one on TV.

On Guard!

Summer made chorizo and eggs this morning before taking off with Eaddie to do some shopping. I went home and started some laundry and took a shower before they came over for the evening. I thought we would get dinner and a movie, but I was the only one hungry enough, so we went straight to UEC.

I figured for a less serious comedy, I could compromise with a local showing in theaters 5, 6, or 7. The popcorn was surprisingly great, and we got a couple refills out of the deal. We ended up being the only three in the whole theater, which was good because Summer kept jumping out of her seat in sympathetic agony. Overall, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard was pretty good.

After the movie, we came home and sat around. Eaddie went to her room while Summer and I watched some TV. I got a little frustrated without dinner and finally picked up some Pizza Hut for a really late meal. Nobody else was hungry, but they sure ate the pizza.

Summer went to bed and Eaddie and I watched some House until she went back to her room.

Wax in, wax out.