Tag: food

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Babysitting

Summer went to the gym this morning while I had a rough start myself. She decided to try Eaddie’s shower when she got back, and much preferred the shower head in there. I gave it a try myself, and while the volume of water was better, I didn’t care for the space or the lighting. We eventually got things going and ran Muad’Dib to my parents’ house so he could stay there while we went to Conway for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

We were both hungry, since it was after noon, so we started at Stoby’s for lunch. I thought I was going light by getting a Reuben, but the large cheese dip done us in. We arrived in Conway early, and went by Sam’s Club first to kill some time and hunt for snacks. We didn’t get much, and settled on a bag of Werther’s, then made it to the Cinemark.

The theater was filled with people, though our auditorium took a while to fill out. I fought Summer on getting popcorn, but she insisted. She also wanted an extra large for a refill, and a large drink. The movie was a huge shift in gears from any other recent Marvel films, but it was absolutely fantastic. It was definitely more emotional than any of the others, and brought you closer to the action with Spider-Man, especially in 3D.

Summer barely touched the popcorn at all, which caused some drama. I am not allowed to feel frustration. We headed straight toward home instead of having dinner. I dropped her off at her car that was parked at my office, and then beat her home so I could move the Buick out of the garage for her. She went out onto the porch with a big glass of wine, and I rode the Onewheel to my parents’ house to get Muad’Dib.

My parents were out watering plants when I got there, so he sprinted after me from a distance. I got his things, and we continued on a really great run in the fall-like air. It felt really amazing outside, so I was surprised that he shortened his run. Once we made it back to the house, he went to bed with Summer, and I did my own thing until bed.

Third time’s the charm.

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Stouffing

David hit me up first thing this morning with a bad docking station. He had a little, cheap, VAVA dock that looked more like it was for travel than for desktop usage, and the USB-C cable was a bit frayed on the end. I didn’t have a full size dock for him, but I did have a little portable one that would work in a pinch. I’ll have to make a decision and order some extras now.

It was otherwise a really quiet day. We went to Taco Bell a little early, and Muad’Dib was perfect. It was super gusty though, and I kept losing things off of our table. Afterward, we had our Aptean meeting, and I felt better about providing some feedback and participation. The rest of the afternoon was even quieter until everyone filtered out.

We stopped by the lube to see Summer on the way home, and she was about to leave. She wanted to go straight to Brown’s for dinner, but I wasn’t super hungry and still wanted to change clothes. She was frustrated that I wanted her to go home to clean up first, and I was frustrated that she never wants to leave the house again after she gets home. She showered quickly, we left Muad’Dib home alone, and then had a fine dinner anyway.

The restaurant had some empty tables, but also a huge line out the door, waiting to get seated. I think it was just a slow line of people at the buffet. The food was good, and there were a few new things, which was exciting. After we ate, we went by the old house to check on the air filter. It was pretty gross, and it must have been from the construction, because otherwise it shouldn’t have been used much. Hopefully changing the filter helps with the cooling, but I still think there’s another problem.

I dropped Summer at home, then took Muad’Dib for a late run. He did great, and we got lots of waves with his little headlamp on. We stopped to visit my parents, then made it home in the dark. Summer was on her way to sleep, but I was up for a little while before going to bed. Eaddie got a house sitting gig, so I guess we won’t be seeing her for a while.

Not cool.

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ANOTHER ONE

I had an anxiety attack in bed just after midnight when I got up to go to the restroom, but went right back to sleep. I got to sleep in a very little bit since we were headed to Little Rock for my car. She went to her bank to get some money for me, and I went to Arvest to close my account, since they wanted to start charging for basic checking accounts. I took Muad’Dib in and we saw Aaron first. Then I was maybe a little too surprised that there was zero effort to try and talk me into some other kind of bank account, or keep me as a customer. I told the young teller that I wanted to close my account, she took my ID, and then handed me a cashier’s check for my balance after just a few seconds. She then had to cash that for me, which felt silly, but then it was done. My first bank account, which I’d had since childhood, and which only held birthday money for years before my first job, was closed.

We hit the road after that. Summer had to get back to work, so we dropped her car off at the Love’s in Morrilton, then continued to Gwatney in the loaner to get my car. I also queued up Randy and Ben for lunch before we headed home. My car was right out front, and I guess I should have looked it over first. They didn’t really even walk me around it. I just took a moment while Anneka was gathering paperwork, and walked around it quickly. I immediately spotted a blemish just under the left taillight. Then Summer looked closer and found flaws on the edge of the hood. Anneka took it back to see if they could buff any of it out, but then came back and said we would have to schedule another visit.

They had a Buick Envista that they had just gotten in for a loaner, so rather than come back next week, we took the loaner and also kept the loaner Model 3 from Tesla. That created a predicament later. We left there and dropped the Buick off at the high school before meeting Randy, Jim, Jae, and Ben at Cotham’s. I sent Summer in to find a table, and luckily Ben was already there. I waited outside with Muad’Dib until everyone else got there, and then we had lunch. I wasn’t impressed with any of the food this time, which was rare. The hubcap burgers have always been excellent. We had a good time visiting, but Summer needed to be back at work in a hurry, so we left.

I dropped Summer off at her loaner, then went to Conway to Supercharge in order to make it home. It wouldn’t have been a problem, except I didn’t expect to have to drive it back home. She went straight to work, so I ended up going to Love’s to swap out her car just to get it out of the public parking lot. I went to work for a couple hours, and then Teisha gave me a ride to Love’s so I could leave Summer’s car at work overnight inside the gate.

I got home and had a ton of stuff from Vine, but it all processed super quickly. It was actually mostly clothes for the girls, but I did get a bike service stand that needed some assembly. Eaddie and Eli chatted in the kitchen over some food he brought while I assembled it, and then they both left. She went to spend the night with Autumn because she had created some new health drama and needed to draw more attention to herself.

Summer eventually made it home from her work meeting, and we went to swim at my parents’ house. I thought they’d check out the Buick, but they were busy watering plants. Muad’Dib ran both ways, but had to stop and poop on the way back. It looked like it was all loose, so something he ate didn’t sit well with him. I ended up walking about a third of the way back home with him while Summer drove home.

They went to bed and I prepared for work, but it was a pretty quick night to bed.

You didn’t have anyone quality check it???

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Hound Town

I had a little bit of a rough start this morning, but we squeezed into work for a quiet day. Teisha had Janice’s two little dogs closed up in her office, so we just headed straight upstairs. Scott hit me up immediately with a dead laptop, but he just had something stuck in his charge port. Then Heaven had an issue with Rhonda’s computer monitor, but I just had to unplug it for a moment. After that, I was left to my own devices.

I had an anxiety attack pretty early in the morning that left me feeling super exhausted for a while. Otherwise I didn’t really start the day with a goal, but I got into my Netbox documentation again briefly, and did some more “practice” networking. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I think all this fighting security devices has made me more comfortable with practical networking and subnetting. Next is to get into some routing and firewall configuration, but I keep wanting to just rebuild the entire network. I need to give myself some more time to “accidentally discover” more physical stuff in our environment.

We took a late lunch and went to Taco Bell. It was hot, but we had shade and a small breeze, so it felt okay out. Summer was upset that she had to work in the heat all day, but still hadn’t made any real moves to change her situation. She got home shortly after we did, and was pretty immediately just miserable to be around. She was hungry, but didn’t want to do anything about it. I eventually just stepped away until she came to find me, and I pointed her at her leftover pasta she made a week ago. I eventually came out to have some too.

I found the new Masters of the Universe on Prime Video, so I put that on for her and then took Muad’Dib out for a run. We visited my parents, and then I let him guide us back home, skipping all of the zigs and zags. Summer was finishing up her movie and went to bed. I got things ready for work, and then made it to bed early myself.

You’re on your own!

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Return to Disarray

I slept a little bit later today, then got up to a big turkey sandwich to finish off that bit of lunch meat. It hasn’t killed me yet, so I guess I need to go get some more bread to finish off the salami and pepperoni. From there, I continued my quest to break down packed boxes of stuff. I got into the laundry room and cleared out the opposite corner, and finished up a couple more boxes in my office. The girls got home a few minutes earlier than I expected, and B-lined for the dog, who suddenly had all of the energy and no desire to sit in bed all day.

I continued sparingly, but was already feeling pretty worn out from being up and around for the entirety of two days. The girls were predictably worn out as well. I did want to make it over to my parents’ house to see if they wanted to go out for dinner for their anniversary. Dad was processing elderberries, and Mom was asleep on the couch. She had spaghetti on the stove, though, so Summer ended up coming over there to eat instead.

I had run Muad’Dib over, so I took the Onewheel back with him when we realized they didn’t have any cheese. We ate, then ran back home to try and bring the house back to a livable state for the rest of the week. I took a shower, Summer went to sleep, and Eaddie left with Eli, so I guess it’s back to normal.

THE Oakenfold???

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Put Away

I thought I’d have a little more room in the bed last night, but Muad’Dib still mostly slept right in the middle. I got up reasonably early and started picking around the house. My main goal was to clean up my office so I could actually use my own area for my projects instead of having to spill out all over the rest of the place. That also meant I finally got to unpack my boxes of stuff from when I left the Russellville School District. I’d been so focused on my new jobs every year since then, that I never got settled. Of course there’s still stuff to move from the old house as well, and even more stuff that’s already here and still hasn’t been unpacked, but this was what was immediately in my way.

I picked at some leftovers for breakfast and lunch. Summer called at one point, so I caught up a little bit with her between their adventures. I got a ton of stuff put away in the right place, but that also meant it was a slow process, so there’s not much to show for it anywhere else. Hopefully I can at least get my office done before the girls get home tomorrow, but I kind of doubt it.

Dad texted to say Mom had some phở that would be ready soon, so I took the chance to get Muad’Dib out of the house. He had been in bed for nearly the entire day, possibly feeling some depression without the girls. I let him lead nearly the entire way, but then Dad said food was ready and I had to hurry him along. We got there, ate, and then headed back to continue my project.

I finally took a shower after moving around in my own funk all day, and felt much better by bedtime. Muad’Dib was still in the middle of the bed, but at least there was enough room for him to stay with me all night.

One more for the road!

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Back Doorman

Internet at home was still out until late in the morning, without much news from TCW. I was excited to get to experiment with some scheduling instead of just beating my head against the wall over intercom programming today. Nobody else seemed to show any feelings about it, but I assumed they were just glad I finally fixed something. Of course now I also have a backup, and can replicate my success in a few minutes rather than weeks. Programming was relatively straightforward, but the holiday scheduling had me stumped for a while. The guides I found all had them added to schedules, but that wasn’t the case. Just adding the holiday dates defaulted the lock schedules to a locked state.

We took a really late lunch and picked up some free McNuggets, then had chili cheese fries and onion rings at Sonic. It was cheap and light, and the weather was great for it. When we got back, I stopped by the back gate to test the closing, and it worked perfectly. I had its schedule fixed, but now that the plant is running around the clock, the gate isn’t really even necessary.

The last piece of the puzzle for now was to get cameras integrated with the security system, but everything I tried seemed incompatible between systems. I had an anxiety attack late in the afternoon, but it cleared up well. We left a little late after verifying the gate shut properly. Then we made it home to find Eaddie back from her band conference, and Summer in the bath.

Once Summer got out, I took them to Brangus for dinner. I had a pretty awful steak, which was both overcooked and somehow cold to the touch. The girls enjoyed it, so I didn’t press. I just don’t think they’re any good for a dinner on a slow day.

I tried to take them out for dessert when we left, but they didn’t want to go. Instead, Summer and I had a beer on the back porch before I took Muad’Dib out for a run. We took a big plastic bag from Eaddie’s vacuum-sealed couch, and then came back home. As we got back, I heard the familiar frustrated cries of a man trying to recall a stubborn dog. I was proud to be able to call Muad’Dib back out of the house to run and fetch him, and then deliver him back across the street.

Not bad for a Thursday.

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Gatekeeping

My shower wasn’t great this morning, and I almost wished I had just left the old, broken head in place. When I finished, I bent over to dry off and then pinched a nerve in the middle of my back as I tried to stand back up. I was hunched for the rest of the day from that, and I could barely move without tweaking it.

I realized after we left the house that I forgot my breakfast, so I survived the morning on coffee alone. At least I remembered to bring my leftovers for lunch. The first thing I fought was actually the broken maintenance network again. This time I tried changing some STP priorities to see if it would prevent the far point-to-point from tripping the port.

The rest of the day was spent digging through and documenting the security cameras and gate system. Heaven mentioned Charles doing something on her phone that caused the front and rear gate cameras to become inverted, and I could never figure out how or where that might be set. I spent all day tinkering with settings, but never heard anything back from Fleming about what the old password might have been. I had finally given up on trying to recover anything from the non-wiped equipment, but then I couldn’t seem to write new configurations over them, so tomorrow I’ll still be stuck working on that.

I left work late again after messing around with the relay portion of the gate controls, then made it home through heavy traffic. I quickly fixed the leaky shower head and bruised the bottom of my foot in the process. Summer got home moments later and took a shower. I made her a sandwich and had some more Long John Silvers myself. A bunch of the lunch meat went bad, and I don’t know why I thought it would be a good idea to buy so much in the first place. We ate, and then cleaned up a bit. Eaddie was already gone to work the conference, so Summer had to finish her laundry for her.

Summer was dead tired from working in the heat, and I could still barely move. Leonard’s was closed, so I couldn’t go get the air filter we’d been needing for a few weeks. Muad’Dib hadn’t been run in a couple days either, so I decided to take him to the Neighborhood Market to get rid of some recycling. One of our neighbors had a car in the driveway with a trunk that was open the entire time we were gone, so we stopped by on the way home to knock on the door. Someone turned on some lights, but we never got a response, so I considered that the extent of my neighborly responsibility.

We hobbled home and went to bed.

Meet prep!

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Lefthandyman

I woke up surprisingly early this morning, but put myself back to bed since Summer was still out cold. We eventually got up for some brunch. She made herself an egg, and I had some Long John Silvers. I had some coffee and sat with her on the couch for a bit, tinkering with the Steam Machine. I got some laundry going, and she went to the gym. Eaddie got around and eventually started cleaning up her areas.

I kept going all day long, barely stopping, but didn’t have a whole lot of good to show for it. My biggest project went off the rails because I thought it would just be a simple power outlet replacement. I figured Eaddie’s bathroom socket was the culprit, but after I pulled it, I still had no power to the lines coming in there. I checked our closet receptacle and found that it was the end of the circuit, so I went back to the bathroom.

I ended up pulling out the outlet and both wall switches. One was just a switch for the heater and had no power coming in behind the switch. The other switches in the two-gang box had three lines coming in. I eventually worked out which was the power in, and then the other two were just lines to the light and the vent fan. There didn’t appear to be another line going out to the outlet, so that whole project was a wash. I did learn that the fluorescent light in our closet actually worked though, and just needed bulbs. I’ll have to see if I can find LED alternatives for it, otherwise I’ll end up pulling the whole fixture for some better lighting.

Summer got home and mowed, then threw together a quick pasta dinner for the three of us. I got the new shower fixture installed, but not at all to my liking, so that will have to be swapped again too. By the end of the night, I ended up using the new diverter with the old shower head and wand, but the diverter itself seemed to be inhibiting some of the awesome water pressure we had gotten used to.

I finally took a shower, Eaddie finally finished all of her cleaning, and Summer made it to bed. At least there was some success.

Back to work!

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Epic

Summer left early this morning for a race in Clarksville. I got up just before she would get home so I could be ready for our day in Little Rock. Eaddie stayed home with Muad’Dib, and the two of us went to eat Bulgogi in Conway, then walked The Promenade for a bit before the movie. The only shop we visited was LoveSac, just to check out their modular furniture. It was neat, but I didn’t think it was worth the unlisted price.

We got back to the theater early for our movie, and it was a hot mess. The movie was just about sold out, and there appeared to only be two people working. There was a mob of people, and the kids running the place weren’t particularly customer-friendly. In any event, we made it into the auditorium and found our seats. It filled up quickly, and we all took in The Odyssey for the first time since grade school.

It was a long movie, to be sure. I did really enjoy the story, though it did feel a bit more like homework than entertainment. The cast was completely loaded, and I thought the changes in the story helped add thoughtful perspective. The biggest surprise of all was the fact that both of us sat through the entire thing without having to get up.

To get immediately back to the poor experience, as soon as the credits started to roll, the staff turned on the lights and came in to start cleaning up. One of the kids even yelled at us that were were no post-credits scenes, while we were sat watching the scroll. We waited to the end, then left to head toward home.

I didn’t want to skip dinner, so I stopped by Long John Silvers in Conway for a family meal to take home. It was a fairly relaxed drive back, and then I had just a little bit of it to eat before we wound down for the evening.

You are the people from the sea.