Tag: family

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The Time Honored Tradition of Hating the New Guy

It rained a bit last night, but today was cool, clear, and beautiful out. My morning went by pretty quickly, though I didn’t accomplish a whole lot. I did decide to take a lunch though, and went home to make myself a couple burritos. I should have stopped at one, but I was afraid I’d still be hungry with the work I would be doing in the afternoon.

I took the Grom back to work after lunch. I spent just a little while at the high school, then had to meet some guys at the shop to help with a couple touch panel installs at Dwight. Zach, Greg, and Kyle were loading up Greg’s truck, and then I rode with Kyle to the school. We got there with plenty of time to spare before school let out, but the teachers let us in anyway.

The first install went relatively quickly, but Zach kept making eyes about how Kyle was doing a lot of standing and watching. In his defense, he’s shy anyway, so being new and timid seems completely normal to me. He’s fully capable of doing what you ask him to do, but it was like the other two just expected him to figure it all out. I’m sure he’ll get to where he can lead a project eventually.

We ended up having to re-run some cables in both rooms, so we didn’t finish up until right at quitting time. We unloaded at the shop, and then I went by Summer’s shop to see her for a bit. She was just about ready to leave though, so I headed home for a little while before going up to her house for dinner.

I thought we were just cleaning up leftovers, but she actually made some fresh chicken for the girls. I wasn’t really very hungry, but I just shoveled a bunch of really old food down my gullet to get rid of it. It was pretty dissatisfying.

After dinner, we came back to my house and moved the couch so we could watch a movie. Autumn really wanted to watch a Disney princess movie, which seemed to mostly annoy everyone else as usual. I had a trick up my sleeves though, because I knew we had the new Mulan on Disney Plus.

I thought the movie was alright, but lacked the punch you would expect from someone as large as the Walt Disney Company. In fact, I guess from that frame of reference it was pretty disappointing. There were a few groany parts, but overall it was entertaining and different enough from the original cartoon that it didn’t feel like a super lazy reproduction.

No, there is not at least some singing.

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Two Tired to Ride

Autumn came into the bedroom this morning and almost immediately pitched a fit about wanting to go to their father’s today. We had plans to go out for a bike ride, and she wasn’t about to settle for not getting her way. Summer ended up letting them go for a couple hours anyway, then got up to make breakfast. Eaddie had cooked all but one of the eggs though, so I just made some tiny bacon sandwiches out of some sliced “everything” bread.

Once the girls left, I went home to get the bikes mounted to the car, then showered. I suggested that Summer should talk to Nick about Autumn’s behavior lately, so they ended up getting to my house over an hour later than I was expecting them. The girls were behaving pretty well by then though, so it was a pleasant enough drive up to Washburn Park.

The girls took off without us, so Summer and I caught up to them at the other end. My front tire still had a pretty bad leak, but I made the round. On the way back to the car, I split off from Autumn while Eaddie and Summer picked up the rear. I beat them all back after taking a bit of a break at the pump station.

This little bitty kid came up the hill after us, having beat his family to the car as well. Just before they got there, he climbed up onto the trunk of their car and said he was going to pretend to sleep. He played completely dead while his dad picked him up. Summer said he cracked a smirk when I ratted him out, but I missed it.

After the ride, we went to my parents’ house for dinner. Autumn had a tiny bowl of bún bò Huế to go along with the rest of us, which made me happy. We looked at a couple houses online after seeing the one on Inglewood put up a realtor sign. We couldn’t find its listing though.

When we got back to the house, Summer helped me unload the bikes, then went home with the girls. I put my car on the battery charger, then came in for a quiet evening by myself.

The Natural State

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Conquer the Everything

We got up early this morning to get Summer to Little Rock for Conquer the Gauntlet. Some guys from Splash were running, so we caught up to them and got her started. Then the girls were hungry, so we ran to the Pilot and Burger King for something small to eat. The girl at the drive-through said their system was down and they couldn’t serve us, but then I talked to a group of employees standing outside, and the girl there said they would have our order out in just a few minutes. Food did come out, but the fries were unsalted, and we didn’t get any condiments at all.

We made it back to the course with just enough time to finish our food and make it to an obstacle near the end. Autumn caught the guys first, then Summer came along shortly thereafter. It was the same thing Hannah and I got to see last year, and Summer powered right on through.

Summer finished with a time of 1:35, then we went back to the Pilot so she could get a shower. I accidentally left the car running on battery power while we waited, so when I got back to the girls it was completely dead. I pulled out the jumper cables, and almost immediately had two different guys offer to jump me. It really could not have been a more convenient inconvenience. The car was super dead, so it took a couple minutes of charging to start, but we got going and didn’t have any more trouble the rest of the day.

First we went to Red Lobster for lunch. Our waitress even brought Summer a sundae for her accomplishment. Then we went to McCain Mall and spent an eternity walking around that place. I don’t remember ever spending any time in the furniture area in the past, but they actually had some interesting looking stuff. The department did seem very unfinished in a lot of places though.

After the mall, we went to The Original ScoopDog for some ice cream. They were only operating at the drive-through, so we ended up waiting there for probably half an hour at least, because they didn’t actually have a speaker set up. We just had to give them our order at the window, and they turned around to make it.

Everyone was pretty exhausted, so we came straight back home from there. We got settled in, and Summer and I watched a couple episodes of Cobra Kai before Eaddie came around. Then we watched a couple episodes of Glee with her. We ended on the memorial episode for Cory Monteith, which tore us to shreds. It really just felt like the day would never end.

It’s an even more powerful kick that you deliver while standing on your hands so it frees up both legs!

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Tropical Freeze

This morning was a pretty rough start for me, and I ended up taking a half sick day just to get a break. Summer took Autumn to work with her, so I had to get Eaddie home before ultimately making it in to work. We stopped and got Tropical Smoothie on the way up, and met the most chipper country girl I think I’ve ever met. Then we ate together at the house before I went on in to work.

I stopped by the shop first, just to see what was going on. It was pretty chilly outside from all the rain, but there was no new flooding yet. When I got to the high school, I spent the rest of the day working on imaging media some more. It ended up keeping me there a bit late, but hopefully I’ve narrowed down some repeatable steps to make working media.

After work, I went straight to Walmart to pick up dinner. I got everything to make burritos, then just barely beat the girls home to start cooking. Burritos are one of my favorite things to make, so dinner was great for me. I think everyone else liked it well enough, but I was too tired to care by the time it was all over.

Summer decided we could watch an episode of Glee with Eaddie before bed. Then I crashed. Half a day break just wasn’t enough.

Y’all have a spectacular day now, y’hear?

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Turn It, Leave It, Stop, Format It.

It rained most of the day, which didn’t help me get out of bed. I seriously contemplated calling in for a half sick day, but I knew I had work orders I wanted to close out. It still ended up not being a very productive day, and I left more confused than when I got there.

Greg came by in the morning to deliver an iPad and chat for a bit. Then I met him, Josh, and Zach at Brangus for lunch. The afternoon seemed to drag on forever while I fought my new flash drives and their intermittent read-only status.

After work, I ran by Leonard’s to look for an o-ring for my paintball tank. They had the typical black ones in my size, but I couldn’t find any urethane ones that were recommended. I made a quick stop by the shop to deliver some stuff from the high school, then went on to my parents’ house for some leftovers.

The girls got home shortly after I did, and were shocked at the state of the living room. Eaddie was loud all night, looking for attention, while Autumn was in a noticeable funk. We spent some time talking about our feelings, and I hope it helped, but they all need to learn to let it out more often.

Trash it, change it, mail, upgrade it.

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Closing Time

The Murano was nearly out of gas, so I decided to take the Grom to work today. I started it last night just to make sure it would, but of course this morning it was totally dead. Being so light, it was super easy to push-start though, and I made my way to work.

Today was a day for closing tickets. Twenty four, in total. I was unstoppable. Of course I didn’t get to do anything even a little bit challenging, but I did at least identify one teacher that seems to know his way around the technology. I really appreciated that conversation.

I worked through lunch again, and just sipped on a leftover Soylent instead. I felt pretty good, overall, and it was good to get some of those older tickets closed out. Now I’ll have the opposite problem though, and be left with nothing but a bunch of tickets I can’t give to Greg to finish for me.

After work, I came home just long enough to change before going to my parents’ house for dinner. They bought a bunch of peaches and gala apples on sale, so after dinner they went back to the store and bought some more to bring over for me. Summer had her hands full with the girls, so all I could really do was check in.

The night sure went by quickly for so little accomplished. I guess it made up for the morning of overachievement.

Does everyone parachute in the Army?

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Lawn Furniture

Tomorrow is the start of bulk item pickup week, so we had to get my old furniture out to the curb today. We couldn’t start on an empty stomach though, so I made us some wraps out of leftover barbecue chicken. Then I milled around the house and got things shuffled around so we could get the chairs out the front door while Summer went to the gym.

The living room feels so empty without large furniture, but I can’t let that massive change make me feel like I’ve made any real progress. It’s all the little things that will kill me. I got the coat closet cleaned out and organized too, so that was a big help. We may eventually get this place presentable after all.

After we moved the furniture outside, we met Julie at my parents’ house to cover up the pool. I really thought we were going to finally get a mesh cover this year, but it just didn’t happen. I think I’ll have to make it happen myself if I really want it. It would make the entire process significantly easier both in the spring and fall.

Summer and I came back home and cleaned up the fire pit, even prepping it with some kindling for the next time. I need to come up with a way to store some wood for a proper burn, because last night was great. I just wish the fire wasn’t so smokey, and I’d bet some better wood would help.

Summer eventually headed back home to get some housework done and receive the kids. Then I went to my parents’ house for some eggplant soup for dinner. I ended the evening with some more rummaging through closets. This time it was the linen closet in the hallway. I’ve never used that closet for linens, but I’ll pretty much have to with such high occupancy. It’s going to be tight, but it’ll be better after I find all of these empty boxes I’ve stored everywhere over the years.

There’s no time to take out trash, living in a hoarder’s paradise.

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Go With the Flow

We met at the shop this morning for some quick training over Impero and how we process the student data that all originates from a stick figure lady in the front office. Then Allen, predictably, asked how to do something that I learned in my first year, and proceeded to be taught how to do things by two of the newer guys.

After the meeting, I took Gary to the high school to pick up some boxes for his move across town. Evidently he was renting from Mark, who sold the house to our old classmate Hank, and was moving to a house just a couple doors down from Grant. The whole thing made our town feel very small.

By then it was lunch time, so we met Allen and Greg at Linh. It appeared to be all new staff, and they weren’t very good at it. The restaurant looked nice with the renovation though. Our old family friends Karen and Kristen came in, but didn’t recognize me, so I just passed on by to go back to work.

I burned quite a bit of the afternoon trying to clear out the aerator in the girls’ bathroom downstairs. The thing was completely full of large grains of sand, and the smallest pieces had cemented in the tiniest holes, keeping the water at a horrible trickle. It took a while, but Melinda found a needle that we used to poke the holes out, and now they have actual running water again.

I eventually made it to the high school to work on a long overdue work order in the music office. I sort of thought it was working, but it happened to come across my radar just a day or two ago. An email from Dewayne got me on the ball though, and I discovered that Wight didn’t configure the printer the same way they always do. It sure would be nice if we were notified about stuff like that so we could make it work on the front end.

After work, I came home and got some eggrolls from Bác Vân. Mom and Dad were there, and shortly thereafter, Uncle Giao, Aunt Teresa, Erica, and her kids showed up. We stood outside catching up for what felt like hours until Summer showed up. Everyone eventually split, and we went inside for the evening.

We watched a couple episodes of Cobra Kai before settling in to bed. Monday happens to be bulk item pickup day, which really helps to bring this whole second era of my life to a close. I’ve been using the hand me down furniture I got from my parents, which they bought shortly after we moved into their house when I was a small child. To say that it was well past its useful life would be an understatement. I don’t even care if I replace it any time soon. It’s just got to go.

Out with the old. It’s time for something new.

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Split My Life into Pieces

I woke up pretty rested, having held Split Lip in my hands most of the night. He didn’t leave the way he normally would after I fell asleep, at least until hours into the night when he wanted to go outside. When I finally got up to go to work, I scooped him up and carried him off to the vet. I actually felt a little bit hopeful that he seemed to eat a bit of canned food before bed last night.

When we got to the vet, I parked next to Robyn, who was there dropping off a cat as well. They were super busy running in and out with animals, so we chatted while we waited. Just after she left, I heard the spew of diarrhea in the carrier, so I pulled it out of the car and threw some napkins in to try and cover it up the best I could. It didn’t keep Split’s tail from getting in it though. It was actually kind of normal colored and had some solid in it, which made me even more hopeful. I thought maybe he had just powered through some mouth pain so he could eat last night.

I carried on to work feeling a little better about the ordeal, so I stopped and grabbed a slice of breakfast pizza on the way. From there, things slowly started going downhill.

Sandy emailed me to say Dover couldn’t meet my salary request, so they went with another candidate. I would have liked a raise, even if it was only an opportunity to say no to a couple thousand dollars for a lateral step to their pay scale. I wasn’t heartbroken about it though, and in fact had at least a little bit of relief in sticking with what I know.

I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out why imaging the student laptops was suddenly destroying my task sequence flash media. Ben called a couple times and we chatted about Impero some more. Overall, not much was really accomplished.

Dr. Pearson called about split sometime in the middle of the day, and let me know that she couldn’t find anything in his mouth that would cause the grinding sound we were hearing. Without any real answers as to why he wouldn’t eat, her best guess was that he was wasting away from some kind of cancer, and that it was best to let him go. He was already sedated for the examination, so it was a pretty easy decision with the expected fallout throughout the rest of the evening.

I stopped by to get my pet carrier, then picked up a shirt that Ben got me for toughing it out while everyone else was quarantined. The girls didn’t have karate, so I stopped to see Summer briefly before making it home. When I got there, I realized they had not cleaned the cat carrier at the vet, so I hosed it down a bit and left it out to dry.

Autumn made dinner, so I eventually made my way across town. Summer spent nearly the whole evening on a video call with the automotive guys at the ATCC. Autumn’s hamburger meat with rice reminded me of eating leftover taco meat over steamed rice as a child. Then we played a round of Mario Kart before Summer went to sleep and I headed back home.

It really feels like the end of an era. I’ve never truly been here, home, alone. I had my childhood at home. Then I moved out with Angie and we got Kitty, turned Big Kitty, turned Momma. Little Kitty quickly outgrew Big Kitty, but size didn’t matter when he became Daddy. They had five distinct little kittens while we were away in Hawaii just over 15 years ago – Split Lip, Grey, Chewie, Momma’s Clone, and a fifth that we managed to give away before having to come up with a way to describe it against the others.

Daddy and Clone disappeared after I put a bunch of them outside to keep the males from breeding and spraying everywhere. Chewie stuck around the neighborhood, but quickly came down with a dickborn disease, and I had to put him down suddenly when the vet said he had developed jaundice. For a long time, it was just Momma, Grey, and Split. Then Momma blew up like a balloon and I put her down suddenly after a completely worthless trip to the vet at Town and Country. Years later, Grey got the same thing, and Dr. Tanner easily identified and fixed the issue, giving us a little over two more years.

I had been over the whole idea of having cats, and largely pets in general, for a long time. That whole second era of my life had dragged on enough, and I felt like I was never really able to pick up the pieces and move on. Maybe I used the cats as an excuse for being an awful human, but I wanted the chance to find out for sure. I had been ready to move on for a long time, and I guess he was finally ready too.

I’m gonna miss you, buddy. We’ve sure been through some shit together.

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Self Service

I woke up feeling pretty well rested this morning, but it still didn’t give me a whole lot of motivation for the day. I tried working outside at a picnic table for a little while, but it got a little bit too warm and humid for that. I ended up spending most of the day trying to figure out why the student laptops were only imaging intermittently with the flash media. None of it made any sense, so of course I didn’t get anywhere with it.

I picked up Summer for a late lunch at Cici’s. They had single-use tongs available for the pizza so you could serve yourself. The salad wasn’t arranged the same, but to be honest, it seemed to work better to just have them serve you anyway. I felt like the tongs, though washable, ended up being more wasteful than anything else. The pizza on the bar was all super dry and gross looking, too. My custom spinach alfredo with all the extra toppings was pretty good though.

After work, Autumn wanted me to pick up a friend of hers from the Explorers program, then take him, her, and Eaddie to La Huerta for a fundraiser meeting. Summer was sent home with back pain, so I went back to spend a little time with her while I waited for the kids. Then I dropped them all back off at their homes.

Before going home myself, I stopped by Casey’s for a freebie, then gave the car a good wash. I hadn’t done that in quite a while, and after our weekend in Little Rock, it sorely needed it. When I got home, I got the cat to eat a little bit of a new can of cat food. I’ve got an appointment to get him back in to the vet tomorrow to see if it’s a dental issue. If it’s not an easy fix, then it’s time to say, “goodbye.”

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