Tag: family

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Track Your Time

I walked in to work this morning and immediately fielded two phone calls, which prompted me to create the Super Brody Tracker. Zach had joked that we should write tally marks every time he calls, so instead I built a spreadsheet for hilarity’s sake.

It was otherwise a pretty scattered morning, but I felt good about it. I closed some things, and helped with plenty of others. Summer wanted to join us for lunch, so five of us met her at Stoby’s. They were surprisingly busy and slow, and my burger was less good than usual, but the fries never disappoint.

After lunch, I got some slightly good news about my employment ordeal, but I’m still waiting for further instruction and to plead my case with anyone of consequence. Without any other drivers in my day, I continued on doing all of the things until quitting time.

I ran home to change, and almost immediately had to leave to get Eaddie’s karate gear out of Autumn’s car at the high school. Eaddie had gone to do homework with Maristella, so I had to then pick her up from their house before dropping her off at karate. From there, I met Summer at my parents’ house for spring rolls.

After we ate, I helped clean up and went outside for a little bit, then went on up to Summer’s for the evening. Eaddie spent the evening doing math homework while Summer went to bed. Autumn got home and pretty well went straight to bed herself. I wasn’t very tired after such long, good sleep last night, but I did my best not to stay up too late.

There’s no payback like no payback.

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Buckets N Boards N Guitars N Ukuleles N Turtles

We lazed around a bit this morning before Summer went to the gym and then home to make mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts. Eaddie and I watched some House until it was time for her to take off on her bicycle to meet us at my parents’ house. I ran by the shop because I thought Summer was going to be stuck there helping remove a drain plug, but she finished up just as I got there.

We dropped her car off at my house and then continued to my parents’ house for a late lunch. Eaddie showed up a few minutes later with her friend Aaron, but then went back out to ride bikes. Julie came to eat too, but just sat in the living room. It was like a mini Thanksgiving dinner, but with slightly less food and yelling. Eventually the kids showed back up and ate a little too, before taking off again.

Summer and I went for a little swim before we had to leave so she could change before the concert. She bought tickets for us all to see Buckets N Boards at the arts center. Autumn beat us there right after work, and my parents showed up just in time to find seats before the show. At first I was worried it was going to be more Buckets N Bored, but then they started roasting children. It was entertaining but long, with an intermission.

The girls wanted to go home after the show, so Summer let them go while we went back to my house for the night. She played games in bed while I messed around on the computer, and then it was a relatively early night to sleep.

There’s 1,440 hours in my day!

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Own the Rolls

It was a bit rainy today, but that just made things muggy instead of cool. I spent the morning at the shop being a total boss with people reaching out to me for help left and right. It’s been satisfying enough that I don’t even mind the stress, because I get the reward of helping people without being the one on the front line.

Brody convinced Gary to go to CiCi’s for lunch, and even Zach and Thomas joined us. I loaded up after a light morning, and then spent the afternoon running around Oakland so I felt pretty good. I had to make it back to the shop as school ended because Thomas wanted to meet with us about the proposed salary schedule. We’re meeting with Judy tomorrow, so we wanted to make sure everyone was well-informed beforehand.

I worked a bit late, then headed to the shop to see Summer before going home. Mom and Dad came by to drop off some soybean milk after their trip to the Oriental food store. Then they came back a bit later with some bánh bao. In the midst of all that shuffling around, I was trying to calculate how good of a deal I was getting on paper towels and toilet paper on Amazon. I’ve descended into madness with a spreadsheet that calculates the cost per sheet, but at least now I know exactly how much it costs me to poop at home.

Poopaper to your door for less!

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Mind Flay

It was a little bit cooler today, so I took the Shadow to work. I spent the morning in my office bouncing all over the place. I felt like I was on a rack, being stretched in every direction all morning long. I’m juggling so many things right now, and it actually feels pretty good. I struggle focusing on any one big project, but the constantly changing scenery keeps things from getting boring.

I picked up Summer and we went to Morelos for lunch, but she left me early and ran across the street after staring at an angry customer through the window. I managed to get the leftovers home on the bike, then went back to the shop to get some things to take to Oakland.

Michael and I got to talking about crypto for a bit after work. He gave me a frozen turkey that was sitting on his counter, which I had to swing by and get after going home to get my car. Eaddie had walked to the house after school, and Summer picked her up for karate. I went to my parents’ house after picking up the turkey, and Mom made some super dressed-up ramen.

Things were quiet when I made it back home. I got into the mood for some low-hitting bass after reading an incendiary thread on a speaker deal, so I put on some music. I don’t know what it is about speakers that brings out the forum trolls, but it’s so eye-rollingly stupid. I still want some big subs for behind/under my eventual theater seating though.

If they won’t cater to my whimsy, I’ll cater to it myself.

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The Bore Before the Storm

I got up and picked at leftovers for brunch, then mostly sat around all morning and afternoon. Autumn was at work all day while Eaddie stayed in her room with her head cold. Even Summer didn’t get out to do anything until she decided to cook dinner. I eventually went home to clean up a bit, but didn’t get up to much before heading back up for the night.

I got back just as Autumn was home and cleaning out her car. Summer had some ribs and corn on the grill, and was inside making mashed potatoes and some kind of pan-fried vegetable medley. We all ate, then let Eaddie go back to her room while the rest of us played a game of UNO.

The girls went to bed early for the first day back to school. Summer and I watched a couple episodes of Modern Family, and then we were off to the same.

Chickie-chickie, Slim Eggie

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Ain’t No Party Like an Expo Party

I’ve been spending most of my days helping others, which has felt good until I look back at my own work orders that have yet to be completed. Summer tried to hand out coupons at the certified back-to-school event, but they didn’t have a breakfast like we are tomorrow, presumably because there was a concern about them spreading COVID. No such worries about classified, though. She came by to see my new office when she finished, and then we met for lunch at The Gunslingin’ Burger.

After lunch, I spent the afternoon with Brody at the high school, primarily trying to get Jazz’s printer and desktop working. It took a painfully long time to find the network line for the printer because the tone generator was just too sensitive and would start playing music as soon as you’d walk up to the racks. Eventually I prevailed, both with the printer and imaging the desktop.

After work, I went home to change and then met Summer at the Boys & Girls club for the preview party. We thought I would need a ticket to get in, but nobody was checking for them. At one point my parents came in with tickets they were given at the door, so it really was just a sort of soft-open. We wandered around and got a bit of schwag and some food. My old coworker Stacey was there with Legends and gave us both a big gift bag full of junk.

When my parents showed up, I took the opportunity to leave since I wasn’t all that excited to be there anyway. I thought it would be less standing in a booth and more of an actual preview party for those involved. We went to La Huerta for dinner, and then I made it home just after Summer did.

I ran back out to Slim Chickens to get some dinner for the girls, and then we came back for an early night to bed. I’ve got a super-spreader breakfast to attend in the morning before work, so I’ll need my beauty rest.

‘Cause an expo party don’t start!

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Pololoko

Teachers were back on contract today, but they were all stuck in meetings and couldn’t harass us too much yet. This summer felt super short, and I wasn’t ready to go back to full days and polo shirts. I’ve taken more vacations this year than ever before, and I just can’t wait to leave again.

I spent most of the morning at Oakland taking care of a very few things, but mostly babysitting in case they needed help with their iPad project. Nobody ever came to get me, so I guess it went alright. I’m sure it helped that I made them test it first.

Greg and I met Brody at Old South for lunch, where I had a pretty dissatisfying “prime rib” sandwich. It tasted more like overcooked roast beef, and left me hungry all afternoon. The worst part is that I think I’ve tried it before and was equally unhappy with it, but I had forgotten.

I spent the rest of the day at the office just slowly chipping away at duties as they seemed to be rolling in. It was quiet with everyone else out in the buildings, but I can feel the tidal wave coming.

I went home after work until it was time to go to Summer’s for dinner. I took the giant zucchini and chopped it up into large chunks to grill, and Summer made mashed potatoes. Noah came over, and we grilled cheddar jalapeño sausages. Autumn had band practice pretty late, but Noah waited for her to get home before taking off. Then everyone was off to bed pretty quickly.

Bugs…EVERYWHERE!

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Less Taxing

Summer took Autumn to work this morning while Eaddie and I slept in pretty hard. I felt really refreshed when I woke up, and then got to ease into the day. She came back to get Eaddie and went to pick up groceries for dinner with Noah, which ended up getting cancelled.

After Autumn got off, they came to pick me up and we went back-to-school shopping for tax-free weekend. We went to Staples first, where we ran into Jazz, who had a couple quick questions for me. Then we went across the street to the Valley Park Center. TJ Maxx was fun. Ross was about as disappointing as usual. Shoe Carnival was selling things at full price. Rue 21 was where we saw the most excitement. I had gone to move the car while the girls walked across the shopping center. When I got there, I ran into Candace and Ana. Then a few minutes later we spotted Zane Dave from across the room, but Eaddie was being weird and just hid from him.

On the way home we stopped at Walmart for a couple things to go with dinner. Summer prepped some tilapia for fish tacos, so dinner was ready super fast. We ate, and then Summer watched TV while I proofread Autumn’s apology letters to the officers she called last weekend. She ended up going to her grandparents’ house so she could take a stab at proofreading it, and stayed the night.

Trying to prep for school, Eaddie showered early and went to bed too. With both girls off to bed, I wrapped up my evening therapy and went to sleep.

I love pens, but I hate writing.

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Who Knows Why Madmen Do What They Do?

Summer took Autumn to work and Eaddie home late this morning while I got cleaned up. Eaddie said last night that she wanted New China, and I had been craving it earlier in the week, so I took Bác Vân and Doug to meet the girls and my parents for lunch.

After we ate, I came back home and started to doze off, so I broke down and took an hour nap. I woke up a bit groggy, but only because I was still short on sleep. I had to get up to the girls though, so we could meet Noah and his friend Wade at UEC for The Suicide Squad.

I didn’t realize how gory it would be, but maybe I should have. I hadn’t really looked into it much, so everything about it was a fresh surprise with plenty of good twists. The kids enjoyed it. I hated that it was in one of the four smallest theaters, but at least it was for the matinee price. A couple came in with two adolescent boys that sat down in the front area and wouldn’t shut the hell up. It was like a really lame Mystery Science Theater without any jokes.

After the movie, we picked up Autumn and headed to my house for the evening. I had to take Autumn to the high school to pick up her flag while Eaddie went out for a bike ride. Then I started some laundry while we watched a few episodes of House before bed.

A little Xtra

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It’s Also a Noun

I walked out this morning expecting more fair weather, and it felt like I immediately stepped into a bowl of soup. I was instantly wet, and it wasn’t until I looked up that I realized how much it looked like rain. After pushing the bike back into the garage, I rushed in to work through just a few sprinkles down the road.

We didn’t have anything big going on at work, and everyone was still out preparing for the start of the new year. I had to do some remote desktop work for Judy, which was my highest profile job yet. Hopefully I didn’t look too inept, but I did also draw her a picture of a guy standing in a pasture waving a “I ♡ RSD” sign while I waited for the Adobe installer to finish.

Lunch came around pretty quickly, and Gary called for Slim Chickens. I ordered a bigger meal than usual because the past few times I’ve been there, the chicken strips have been kind of puny. They were normal sized today, and boy were they fresh. I burned myself eating, but the chicken and fries were all just perfectly hot out of the fryer.

After lunch, I spent a good portion of the day at the junior high trying to close out a few tickets. I didn’t get nearly as much done as I wanted, but I also just sort of took it upon myself to go do it anyway. I appeared to be the last one out, and went home until Summer invited me out to dinner with Noah after their workout.

I rode the Shadow to La Villa, and we had a good time catching up. He gave me mad respect when he heard the story about our event last weekend, and then we made plans to go watch The Suicide Squad tomorrow. I went back home while Summer went to get the girls from their COVID shot so they could go home and clean up before coming back over to my house for the evening.

Summer wanted to pick up some Dairy Queen on the way over, but said there was a sign saying they were closed until further notice. I had already placed the order in the app though, so then I had to dig for a place to request a refund. Eaddie has wanted to watch House with me since she got back from Wisconsin, so as the other two went to bed, we stayed up for several hours finishing up the last third of season four.

I guess I’ll just have to earn it.