Tag: family

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Hot Coffee Mod

I slept in pretty late today, and felt great for it. I remember waking up in an anxiety attack briefly, but it didn’t last long or keep me from falling right back to sleep. I ate a leftover smoked sausage for lunch, and eventually got cleaned up to go to Summer’s for the evening.

Amanda asked me to stop by and bring a package in for her, so I did that, then grabbed a free 2-liter from Casey’s, and finally made it up to Summer’s where she and all three kids were playing Mario Party. It was pretty loud while everyone was screaming at one another, and it made me a little woozy.

Presents didn’t take long to open, because it was a pretty lowkey Christmas. Summer went overboard and got me an Ember mug, which I looked at on a whim after seeing them on sale at Costco. I made some loose leaf tea in the Manatea infuser she also got me, and the cup really made all the differnce. After hours, even the very last little sip was as hot as the first.

We tried having the kids put together the gingerbread houses, but I don’t think they cared much about it. Eaddie had some fun with it, but Autumn didn’t participate at all, and Noah mostly just made a mess. After they got the walls up, they finished their game. Noah left, and the girls went to their rooms. Summer went to bed pretty early, which left me up late, sippin’ hot tea.

Tropical Christmas

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Alright, Bud

I woke up feeling pretty sick this morning after last night. I made it through my shower and to work, but it didn’t get better for quite a while, and I never quite made it back to 100%. Thomas was at work, but Zach and Gary were out. The others got together and split up into groups to close old work orders, and I went to Oakland to swap out old Chromebooks.

Brody called and said they were going to Fat Daddy’s downtown for lunch, so I went back to the shop and picked a group of them up. After we ordered, our server told us they were slammed with a short staff, and it showed when it took an hour to get our food. That would have made more sense if the food was actually hotter or fresher. They never cease to disappoint me, this time with a tough, dry tortilla, lukewarm filling, and dry, tough brisket. All of that was $17, and of course the server stands over you while you pay on their handheld device that everyone else has touched, making tipping accurately very awkward. I was out the door for just under 22 bucks, which absolutely disgusted me.

I spent the afternoon with more of the same, not quite finishing what I had started. I should be able to finish tomorrow for our half day though. As I finished, I started a support chat with Google because my Pixel Buds have been giving me trouble with battery life. My right bud constantly dies very early, after only two hours of playback. The battery percentage always reports with some disparity, but the right one has consistently been giving me less than half of the life it should have.

After work, I went home to change and then went to my eye appointment. I nearly fell asleep in the exam room waiting for the new doctor. She was kind, but I don’t think I got great news. It’s odd, because my vision doesn’t seem worse, but she seemed to indicate sub-optimal results. I guess we’ll see in 2023, because I dropped vision insurance for next year.

I went back home and waited for my UPS package, and then went up to Summer’s for the evening. Eaddie and I watched an episode of House while Summer and Autumn watched TV in the living room. Then everyone went to bed pretty early.

Just turn down your muchness.

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HAM on Ham

I went to bed pretty late last night, and then didn’t sleep in very long. I think I already knew I wasn’t going to get much done, and it didn’t feel great. When I got up, I picked at things in the fridge and eventually went home to clean up.

Summer had her store’s Christmas party, and made deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, and a ham. I was just a bystander, running late. I got my shower and came back to pick up Eaddie and the ham, then made it to the shop at a fair time considering when others were strolling in. It wasn’t a full turnout, which I considered disappointing.

We ate, cleaned up, and then went back up to their house.l I didn’t stick around too long, and came back home to do some chores. I started a load of laundry, and then had another annoying argument with Julie over nothing. I never know how these things start. It’s as though her existence breeds conflict. Dad mentioned that Julie didn’t appreciate the “Miss” prefix that Summer often casually attaches to people when she addresses them.

It’s really just not worth the effort to try any more, and I’m done with the excuses and the blame game. I finished my laundry, had a bunch to drink, watched some YouTube, and went to bed.

The backlash to the backlash to the thing that’s just begun.

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People That Clap at Movies

I kept waking up last night as though I was completely full of water. I couldn’t even really sleep in very late because of it. The girls were already awake, so I got up and picked at some old leftovers. Then when Summer and Autumn went to the gym, I left to clean up.

On the way home, I stopped by Ridgewood Brothers to see if they might be free to see The Matrix Resurrections with Mitch and me next week. It didn’t sound very likely, but I had to try. Gary never responded either, until I called him out on it late in the evening.

When I finished getting ready at home, I went to pick up the girls and we made our way to Conway. They really wanted to eat on our trip, so we went to Red Robin first and had some pretty good burgers. I still don’t really think they’re worth the prices they charge, but at least it’s something a little different.

After lunch, we went to Sam’s Club for a bit, then Target. That place was absolutely packed and it was pretty difficult to get around the place. The checkout line stretched back to the cosmetics, but fortunately we pushed a cart around for absolutely no reason and bought nothing. By then, we didn’t have time to dawdle on the way through traffic to the theater.

The Cinemark was packed as well, with several theaters showing the new Spider-Man: No Way Home. We got snacks, sat down, and then I got up for more popcorn just in time to make it back before the previews. The movie was pretty good, but didn’t really have many surprises after all the rumors and spoilers that have been going around. I enjoyed it, and so did the rest of the room as evidenced by the constant clapping any time a character returned. I was pretty disappointed in the 3D, mostly because of the darkness of the projector. I guess I’ll have to just prioritize the large format screens from now on.

When we got back home, Summer and Autumn went to bed pretty quickly. Eaddie and I stayed up and watched several episodes of House, so we’ve only got three more episodes to go.

Planning with adults is stupid. Families are much easier, because they can’t leave.

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Indistinguishable From Child Labor

I stopped by Casey’s this morning for a honey bun, and spent the morning listening to the Kmart holiday reel-to-reel from 1973. It was otherwise pretty quiet again, especially since we’ve had several people out sporadically.

We went to Sam’s for lunch, and the gumbo seemed much more liquidy than usual. It tasted alright, but I think it’s been better. When we finished, I spent the better part of the afternoon at Oakland taking care of a few things. I got to spend quite a while with kindergarten, which are some of my favorite teachers. It’s like everyone else loves their kids for the most part, but in kindergarten, they’re just over it and they’re not afraid who knows it.

When I got back to the shop, I took a break to do some tinkering and soldering on a ground loop isolator that I wanted to use somewhere. Kyle had to hold the board for me while I worked the soldering iron, which meant that it took two grown men to do what one small Chinese kid can do. That pretty well got us to the end of the day, so I headed home and waited for Summer to get there.

We ended up going to Brangus for our anniversary dinner, and I wish it had been better. The onion blossom was small and overcooked, and my steak was overcooked and kind of sandy. At least Summer enjoyed hers. She watched some TV while I did a load of laundry when we got back, and then it was a relatively early bedtime.

For your convenience, smoking is permitted in the snackbar area only.

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Doldrumly

The girls had me a little behind this morning, but I made it to work on time. It was pretty quiet all day long, and I think everyone was a bit bored around the shop. It’s odd that we have some techs with so many older work orders, and Zach has been struggling to inspire them.

I met Greg and the Trifecta at Old South for lunch, where I go the Reuben on a rushed whim. It was good, but didn’t seem to have any sauce on it, and the corned beef tasted a little bit old. Otherwise it was an awkwardly quiet lunch.

Afterward, I went by Oakland for a while and returned to the shop with an armful of Chromebooks. I fixed one, couldn’t find an issue with the second, and didn’t have a resolution for the third. Quitting time came slowly, but then snuck up on me at the last minute.

I ran home to change and get the crutches, then went to my parents’ house to see them for a bit. Mom cracked the bone right above her ankle and was in a boot, but was still spirited enough to argue about things that nobody cared about, and already agreed upon.

When I left there, I decided to go up to Summer’s for the evening. She was wrapping presents and the girls were doing late night chores after being away from home, and otherwise being lazy. Autumn expressed frustration and a feeling of unfairness about who went to New York on the band trip, and I wasn’t having any of it, knowing how little she practices. I remember how bad she is at squawking the clarinet. She earned nothing, and I was ready to fight about it.

Everyone went off to bed pretty quickly after that. I hadn’t slept very much all week, so it was as good a time as any to start.

I’ll show you attitude.

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You Worry Me to Death

I was a little early toward work this morning, so I stopped at Casey’s for a free coffee that put me behind by a couple minutes. I slid into my office with an awkward number of people in the shop area, but nobody was bothered to say anything. Otherwise it was pretty quiet. I never even heard from Brody except for when lunch time came around. Kyle spent the morning and afternoon trying to take his A+ test in Zach’s old office, but they could never get the webcam to work through our firewall.

Five of us went to Wendy’s for lunch, and I tried to take it a bit light with a chili and a little more than half of a salad. After lunch, I spent some time at Oakland, and then made it back to the shop to pick at a few things.

The end of the day came up pretty quickly, so I stopped by Oakland to drop off a laptop on the way home. Julie called me just as I got in, and I was on the phone with her for over an hour. I did my best to shut my thought processes down and just sit and listen. I couldn’t do anything else that required much thought and still effectively listen, so I ended up cleaning my old shrimp tank.

The girls showed up once they had finished at their house, and Eaddie got to studying. Autumn said she needed to study something very lightly, but then went straight to bed and watched TV. Eaddie at least watched her study videos and then confirmed that it was all stuff over which she felt comfortable testing.

I filed some more paperwork, and then Eaddie and I ended the night with two really good episodes of House, followed by one that was kind of back to normal with the procedural drama. I get enough of that on TV. I don’t need any more by surprise.

The universe really doesn’t care.

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P is for Parked

I woke up an hour earlier than a workday today so we could get Summer to Little Rock for her exercise event. I still felt pretty sour from last night, but I made it work. We stopped to get breakfast from McDonald’s in Conway, and I just ate mine once we got to Little Rock.

It was a really small crowd of people there. In fact, it was only five teams of five competing. I dropped Summer off and went to Kroger for some bottled water and a bathroom, and then went back and waited for five hours for them to finish. I took the time to test my Pixel Buds battery life some more, and I’m still getting wildly different battery life reported from each earbud. I wouldn’t expect them to be regularly 25% off from one another.

Summer had a blast, and when they finished, we went right around the block to a ghost town Red Lobster. The manager came out to seat us and complained about his lack of staff. He said they were down to three servers for the day, and it showed during our over-two hour visit. At least the food was pretty decent.

When we finished there, I drove us across town to hunt for a deal at Home Depot. The guy that helped us was very kind, but in the end it was up to Summer and me to roam aimlessly until we just happened upon a strip of them near the electrical boxes.

Our nest stop was Target for some gifts, and then Kohl’s to blow some rewards cash. We just picked up a few little things, but I was more or less satisfied enough to head home. Traffic was awful the entire way though, and it just cemented my absolute loathing for the holidays. I was tense the entire trip back.

The girls got home from their grandparents’ house shortly after we got home. Eaddie made first chair at all-region, and evidently she completely obliterated the competition. Autumn was bitter, and we had to have a sit-down talk with her, again. I just told her she needed to put enough work into getting good at something so we could be proud of her for any reason at all, instead of just making everyone hate her.

Eaddie and I ended the night with a couple episodes of House. I was exhausted, but still didn’t actually get to bed until after midnight.

Well that was… ill advised.

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Cleanup Checkup

The kids all made it to school and work this morning, which let Summer and me sleep in a bit. Summer left to shop for an ugly sweater while I cleaned up at home. Then we went to her follow-up appointment at the clinic. The doctor and nurse went on about how much tissue they serrated-ice-cream-scooped out of her, but it was all benign, so hopefully the procedure will have the desired result.

It was a quick appointment, and we were hungry, so our next stop was New China for lunch. I didn’t have a single grain of rice, and it made me feel weird about the visit, but I also didn’t feel super stuffed when we left. We headed back home and lounged around for a while before getting back up to clean up outside. I was surprised I still had hot coals in the fire pit, but I guess we did burn a lot of wood, so there was a lot of ash to insulate them.

When we finished outside, Summer went home to do some cleaning of her own while I filed paperwork inside. Then she and Eaddie came back over to get me for Autumn’s band concert in the evening. We got there early because Autumn did a poor job of informing us of the event, so we caught the last middle school band before the high school started.

Surprisingly, some of the middle school sounded better than the worst junior high band from the other day. The high school only had two bands, which were fine. The symphonic band seemed to be cheating with the pieces they had for their trip to Carnegie Hall. There were constantly so many notes that they masked any possible mistakes throughout the performance.

Eaddie went with Autumn to a group IHOP meet after the concert, so Summer dropped me off and I wound down for the day by testing my Pixel Buds and catching up on normal computery stuff that I do every day.

Three down, half to go.

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Fire Roasted Egg Rolls

We didn’t sleep too late today, because Summer had a video call for work and Mollie texted with some computer trouble as she was trying to work from home. I got dressed and went to her house to try and help, but I kept having trouble getting the laptop to connect to her home network. I finally just took the laptop to the shop to let it talk on our network for a bit, and then took a hotspot back to her so she wouldn’t have to worry about it connecting to her network.

When I got home, I started cleaning house and washing dishes. It looked a lot better by the time I was finished, and then I took a shower while I waited for Summer to show up. She baked a delicious chocolate cake for Suzanne’s birthday. When she got there, we went to Walmart for a few last minute things, and then went to her house to pick up the cake.

Once back home, I started the fire pit and we waited for Suzanne and Trent to show up. Noah came over pretty early, and the girls showed up once they finished packing at home. It was a fun night by the fire. Bác Vân and Doug were making fresh egg rolls, so she had me take a bunch to everyone at the house. They seemed a bit undercooked, so I crisped a couple of them up over the fire and they turned out great.

Autumn went to bed predictably early, and probably questionably clean. I think at this point I just always assume she hasn’t showered when we’ve told her to. Noah and Eaddie started watching House tonight, and stayed up a bit later, but went to sleep once Suzanne and Trent left, and Summer and I went to bed.

Easy to forget that it’s a school night.