Aweem Away

Summer never got her work stuff out of my trunk, so she asked me to drop it off for her on my way to work. I did that as quickly as I could, then picked up some spicy chicken biscuits from Hardee’s on the way out of town. It was a bit wet out, but I couldn’t tell that we really got any more rain the rest of the day.

I finally got into Brandon’s old Vimeo account to cancel the subscription he forgot to cancel. Then Charles and Matt were saved by my superior/existent network documentation. I had a fairly heavy anxiety attack at some point.

Dad said they should be able to finish the house tomorrow, so I got the okay to leave work early and then work remotely the next day. Summer was supposed to be off early too, but got stuck again. The guys were packing up just as I got home.

Mom said they still had spring rolls, and Julie and Kevin were coming over, so I took Muad’Dib over too. Dad suggested I take a dip in the super cold pool to try and wash off some of the dog before coming inside to eat, but I couldn’t stay in for long. Mom got everyone going and then disappeared to the back of the house, but we had a good visit otherwise.

After dinner, I took Muad’Dib on a surprisingly short and slow walk. I thought he’d run harder with the cooler weather, but he just wanted to lollygag. Summer was in bed, so she wouldn’t get up to inspect the ceiling work with me. I had some wine and crashed a couple hours early.

Seek differing opinions. The fact that they’re haters doesn’t make them wrong.

2 roll or not 2 roll

The clock ticked slowly today, but for no benefit. Summer had to go to work to troubleshoot an equipment outage, which took way longer than she expected. She was going to make breakfast, so I took over and made eggs with RO-TEL. She got home just in time to eat it hot, and Eaddie actually came out to join us after not enjoying her overnight oats.

We were all in limbo for much of the day. We thought we might visit with Diana, but that fell through because she didn’t feel well. Mom mentioned spring rolls yesterday, but we never heard from her. Eaddie had, for the third day, said she had Ceci’s birthday to attend. Eli came over for a while and they eventually left. Summer went to the gym for a while, and I ended up taking a bath because I didn’t feel great myself.

I reached out to my parents to figure out the plan, and discovered that Mom had broken out really badly, so she wanted to avoid us and the dog to see if that was the problem. After some back and forth with poor communication, Summer and I went over and ate on the porch outside with Dad.

There was a threat of some heavier rain, but we just saw sprinkles for a bit. Muad’Dib and I finished our run after dinner, and then settled in early. I did a bit of cleaning, so the girls beat me to bed.

Object Impermanence

Paper Thin

I didn’t sleep very late for how late I got to bed. Summer hit the gym and I started some laundry before getting showered for lunch with the family. Eaddie went to church and came back with Eli, and Muad’Dib and I rode the Onewheel over to my parents’ house while the other three followed behind.

We wanted to try the meat slicer I got for Mom, but Dad took the meat out to thaw, which made it more difficult. We juggled between different cuts of meat as some refroze and others came out of the freezer, but it eventually all got sliced. It seemed like the slicer worked really well for completely frozen meat.

The phở was really good, but Mom thought it was too salty. We all finished eating and I finished slicing all of the extra meat for more phở or spring rolls later. Summer took the kids home and I took Muad’Dib for a pretty short run since it was so warm out. We passed a house with two really surprisingly young kids trying to sell lemonade, but I didn’t have any cash.

I considered going back, but the sun was out and it was hot. I had to finish laundry anyway. Summer did her nails and worked for quite a while, so I just stuck to myself. The girls got hungry again after a while, and I had $10 of Papa Dough to burn, so I ordered a pizza and some cheese sticks, then went to pick it up with Muad’Dib.

He enjoyed the car ride, and then was a good boy and stood outside to wait for me while I got our pizza. Another customer came up and gave him some pets, so it was a worthwhile outing. We got home with the food, ate, and then Eaddie left. I tried spending some time with Summer, but she just put on another cooking competition show.

Understimulated

Big Yikes

Summer made us bacon, eggs, and Cheddar Bay Biscuits for breakfast before she went to the gym. We weren’t really sure when my parents would be ready to leave for Hot Springs, but it was earlier than either of us expected. We got cleaned up and ready to go just about the time they were ready to pick us up, and we were off.

We parked near the Malco and walked down the strip and back, stopping for a few pictures and a walkthrough of the Fordyce Bathhouse museum, and a couple other shops. We only made it about halfway down before turning back and landing at The Porterhouse for dinner.

We all ordered their off-menu specials, but the three of them had the fillet and shrimp, and I had the ribeye with mushroom, onion, and pepper gravy. It was good as always.

There was still time to kill before the show, so we made another loop before coming back to the theater. We arrived a little early, but eventually found our seats and watched a slightly different show than what we had seen previously.

Something seemed off with the pace of his speaking and it was really difficult to understand him, but it was also his last weekend before retirement. I went up on stage with Dad afterward to see him, but we didn’t get the same response of recognition that we had last time. There were a bunch of people hanging around afterward, so we headed on home.

Mom and Dad didn’t want to drive in the dark, so they had me drive slowly back up Highway 7. It was late, so Eaddie was actually asleep, and Summer went straight to bed.

Headstrong to take on anyone.

Chasing the Same High All Night

Felt late.

Wasn’t.

Grabbed a biscuit from Burger King and hit the road.

Quiet and lonely day.

Dad waited for a work crew that never showed.

He called for an update, and Adam said the guys didn’t show up for work.

Suspect miscommunication and shifting blame as an excuse.

Late lunch Baconator with a surprise baked potato kicker.

Summer got home early and wanted to make dinner.

Strange rubber chickens, but ultimately decent meal.

Must be the marinade.

Muad’Dib needed a run and a bath.

Encountered a field of geese, but he was disinterested.

Had a creek bath.

Met a tiny black kid on a tiny kit bike that wanted to try the Onewheel.

Then he wanted to race.

All three of us took off.

Much fun.

Dirty good boy got a bath and came out a fluffy good boy.

Slushy mixer and chunes.

Bed.

Tequila Mocking Bird / I can’t stop drinking about you.

Two Three Four

It started raining last night and kept going all day long. It was a nasty drive to work, but I got out early enough to pick up two chicken biscuits on the way. Unfortunately, the misty air made my drive a little more hands-on than I like. We caught another huge rat, and I ended up taking it all the way to Morrilton with me again. I pulled over a few blocks from the office and let it go, but it ran under my car somewhere to get out of the rain. I just had to hope it didn’t jump up onto the car somewhere.

I got in and asked permission to leave early again, but Dad texted later and said his haircut was rescheduled, so I stayed. I had an anxiety attack pretty early in the day. Later, I wasn’t super hungry for lunch, but I took a break to grab three buns in the form of a Big Mac.

The afternoon dragged on forever, and the rain had mostly stopped by the time I headed home. Summer texted that Eaddie was going to pick up pizza just as I was pulling up to the house. She got back and I had four slices out of the three overkill pizzas she ordered.

Eaddie was up singing all night, practicing for one of her classes. Eli came over to help. I wound down super early.

five six seven eight

Bitumen and Bitumen Accessories

I slept in a little bit since I was working from home. The girls left, and the guys showed up to start working on the ceiling. For most of the day, it was just one guy mudding the whole thing. I bounced between my nested remote sessions and virtual machines, and spent a bunch of time trying to make sense of our catalog of products so I could rebuild the entire thing in HubSpot.

Just before lunch time, I hit up Gary and then picked him up for Taco Tuesday. Tacos had gone up to something like $1.39, so I spent over $10 when I used to eat for half of that. Dad had come to babysit the house while we ate, so I let him go as soon as I got back to the house. Summer had called while we were out eating and said she terminated someone and wouldn’t be able to be at the house the next day. This was upsetting for a number of reasons.

The afternoon went by kind of slowly after that. Eaddie came home for a little bit, but then left. I took Muad’Dib out for an extended run around a modified, reverse path. Then I scavenged for whatever crappy food I could find before bed.

6215+0

Gramblin Man

I left Muad’Dib at home today to babysit Dad while he babysat the guys working on the ceiling. It worked out well since we had a staff meeting first thing in the morning anyway. I didn’t really come prepared to say anything, but took up enough time with what updates I had anyway. After that, I spent all day messing with the newer Dell server they picked up last year, but hadn’t actually been doing anything since then.

I went out for a really late lunch, and decided to go to Blue Diamond Cafe for some table service since I didn’t have to worry about time with the dog. I made the mistake of asking my young server for a suggestion, and ended up getting a super basic hamburger because of it. It was good, but lacked dimension. Next time I’ll just have to go in and know what I want.

The afternoon was short after that, and I stopped by the wash to see Summer just as she was about to leave. My car has been filthy for quite a while, so I stopped for a quarter wash on the way to the house, and then washed the inside and outside of my windows once I got there.

Our ceiling had been completely removed, and they hung plastic up to cover the hole, and tarped the whole area, though air could still freely pass through. Luckily it’s been slightly cooler, so the air wasn’t struggling quite as much to keep up. It wasn’t long before I took Muad’Dib out for a run.

We picked up a small dog along the way, who has been roaming farther and farther every day, looking for things to hump. I ended up picking up my pellet pistol from my parents’ house to take along with us, in case he follows us again.

We got back to the house just as it got really dark, and I gave Muad’Dib a bath. Then it was a relatively early night to bed.

Drive

Downed

I was up late moving some more stuff, and I finally got a call early this morning from Adam, who asked for our address because he had put my parents’ address on our quote. He and two younger guys showed up, I handed over $3,500, and then Adam left the other two to it. They had to drop off a trailer and then go get supplies, so I took Muad’Dib for a quick run around the block. Then they came back to move some furniture and hang plastic around the room.

I tried to get some work done, but I still had so much other stuff to clean and move around that I actually couldn’t concentrate on anything. Coupled with a stomach ache for much of the morning, I just wasn’t productive. Eaddie came home from her first day of college, I scolded her for the state of her bathroom and had her clean it up so the guys could use it, and they eventually finished up pretty early in the afternoon.

The whole house was hot and dusty – moreso after more of the ceiling was missing. The plastic sheet slowly fell throughout the evening. I felt gross, and a shower didn’t help a great deal. Summer had to work late, so when I asked what she wanted for dinner, she immediately responded with Brangus. I mistook the message and drove to Check-H, then realized my mistake and drove the extra few blocks.

Summer enjoyed her meal, but just about ever aspect of our visit was middling-to-poor for me. It started with stale peanuts and a burned tumbleweed, then followed through with an old, dried up baked potato, and rounded out with a cold steak.

We got back to the house and I took Muad’Dib out for a run because the quick spurt of rain we had just before dinner had dried up on the ground. It felt quite a bit nicer, but got dark quick. I had more cleaning to do before bed.

out

Ninja-Kick the Damn Rabbit!

Summer had to work this morning, and I got up around the same time because our power blipped and I woke up gasping for air. Clint messaged me about meeting for lunch, but that slowly turned into a trip to Action Jack’s, and we decided to wait and go with Johnny, possibly next weekend. Eaddie got up because she had auditions at Tech.

I noticed the other day that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was playing at the Cinemark in Conway, and it would only be there through Thursday. We thought we’d try to make it during the week, but Summer said she’d be able to go as soon as she got off of work.

I had been messing with a laptop for Eaddie to take to school, but put that down when Summer got back, and we took Muad’Dib to stay with Dad while we went to Conway. He could have stayed outside our house, but it was just so hot outside, I thought he might prefer some company.

We got to Conway and had a late lunch or early dinner at China Town, which we’ve always really liked. Then we got into the theater just in time to find our seats as the intro started. There weren’t any previews, but they played a short clip advertising some new behind the scenes footage that would be available through some project they had going on.

It was fun to see the turtles on the big screen again, and Summer really enjoyed it. The group next to us were a bit obnoxious at times, but I was less angry about it since we were watching an old movie. Afterward we headed back home and I rode the Onewheel over to my parents’ house to get Muad’Dib.

Dad was out watering plants, and Muad’Dib had a friend over from down the street. He had gotten out and roamed the neighborhood a couple of times, and had tons of energy. I had trouble shaking the other ratty dog, who kept trying to hump Muad’Dib, but we eventually made it back to the house. I cleaned up a bit, and made it to bed a bit late.

I have always liked “cowabunga.”