Tag: food

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Cold Day, Hot Pot

I slept in just a little bit today because we didn’t have to be at work until 10. Summer left in a bit of a hurry, so I fed the dogs before I got out the door. I thought I was running behind, but I was actually ahead by about 20 minutes, so I decided to stop at Whataburger in Conway to see what their breakfast was like, and then sat to eat it at the Supercharger. The honey butter chicken biscuit was pretty good, but the jalapeño cheddar biscuit was pretty dry. The coffee wasn’t even lukewarm, but the hash brown sticks were pretty good.

I charged up until the moment I had to leave to get to work on time, and I was surprised to walk into an office full of people. Even Jimmy was still there, playing solitaire on his computer. Nobody was really up to anything, and though Randy put me in charge while he was out sick, I wasn’t really up to much either. I worked on a couple things for Jim before he left, and before I knew it, Maggie was asking about lunch.

After some back and forth, she, Jay, and I went to KPOT. We got there before they opened, so we had to wait in the car. Then we all three just had the hot pot without the grill. Maggie had never been, but she seemed to enjoy it. Jay was upset he didn’t get much shrimp, and I wished I had gotten the same soup I had last time, but it was alright. Our waitress was super helpful, if not a little bit chatty, and the food was pretty good.

After lunch, I finally figured out how to get Jim into SCCM, by updating his Configuration Manager Console version. I never would have thought it would outright deny the connection for that, and assumed it would just update it in line. With that, I had fixed twice as many things as I thought I might.

Everyone slowly filtered out, and I was the last one to leave. I had to stop in Conway to charge again because it was so cold, and then I made it home to run the dogs. We had a good run, so they got the rest of their Ridgewood pulled pork before dinner. Summer was exhausted when she got home, so I built her a pretty awesome looking burger before unboxing a handful of Vine stuff. I got the sofa table I ordered, and was super impressed by the quality, for being such a small, cheap table.

Eaddie got home late and went to bed pretty early, and Summer practically crawled to bed after working in pain all day from her fall on the ice yesterday. I was up too late, but suddenly it’s the weekend again. We’ll have to get up and shop for groceries early tomorrow, because Noah and his buddy Michael passed whatever test they took so they could build scaffolding for power plant outages. Maybe this will be good for them, but for now, Summer wanted to celebrate them with a steak dinner.

Okay, now even I’m surprised by all these deliveries.

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Vogon Culture

I got up early so I could try round two of getting my car registered and my driver’s license renewed. Summer was back to work and Eaddie was in bed, so I had an easy start with a bit of an upset stomach. I don’t know if it’s the iron having the opposite effect than expected, or if it’s been due to all the recent dairy or greasy “barbecue” leftovers. I eventually got out of the house though, and made it to the local health unit to get a copy of my birth certificate.

The office was about as governmental as it could appear inside, but at least the process for getting my certificate was easy, and there was only one other person ahead of me. I actually finished my paperwork before her, so I was in and out in a jiffy. I guess my parents lost my original, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen it. All Dad could find was the hospital certificate, which wouldn’t work for the DMV.

I called Dad as I left because I forgot to get a signed check from Summer for my sales tax on the car. He had to let the restoration guys into the old house to clean the carpet anyway, so I stopped by Splash for a quick vacuum before meeting him to get a blank check. When I got back to the DMV, they were absolutely slammed with nowhere to park, so I went online and scheduled the earliest appointment, then went to Walmart to kill some time.

I wandered around but didn’t find too much of interest. I made it all the way across the store and decided to get the dogs some more treats, and then made my way back to the DMV. I had only just sat down and checked in when I was called up, so I’ll have to remember to schedule an appointment every time now. I got the car registered with my old vanity plate, then had my picture taken. Overall it was pretty painless.

Eaddie had gone out shopping by the time I got home, so I changed clothes and went out on a super long run with the dogs. We made it around to the basin trail when I decided to divert us to the Ridgewood Brothers to see how they were doing on such an icy day. I forgot to start my Onewheel app, so I missed out on the first couple miles, but afterward I counted right at five miles. The restaurant was slow, so I tied them up outside and went in to buy some pulled pork for them. The guy on the butcher block gave me a ton of extra fat and skin for free, so it was way more than I could give the boys in one sitting. They had some to eat, and then we rolled around to the back of the building to talk to Kyler. Grant and Robert came out a little later to take a break and saw us, and then we headed to Dad’s. I couldn’t feel my toes by then, so we didn’t stay long.

Eaddie and Eli were at the house when I got there, and then Summer got home shortly after that. I cleaned up and eventually had a leftover hamburger. I got my license plate installed, then spent a couple hours organizing and cleaning up before heading to bed.

Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious, and callous.

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Temp Down for What

I stayed up super late, so I set an alarm to keep myself from sleeping too late, but I actually woke up just a few minutes before it went off. Summer was up on the couch, but Eaddie was still asleep. I caught up on my Vine queue, and actually got a couple packages delivered in the morning. The roads didn’t seem bad right outside, but I didn’t even think to get out and try to register my car.

After letting my meds settle, I had a barbecue sandwich for lunch and then cleaned the kitchen and washed dishes. I let the water heater rebuild a bit before taking a shower, but just before I needed to rinse myself off, the water went ice cold. Eaddie had started to take a shower, and evidently the cold weather was enough to sap the entire tank of hot water.

I got out and eventually made it over to the old house to clean off my old desk. Along the way, I had a really long anxiety attack where it felt like the road stretched out in front of me, the way the lens pulls back to give the vertigo effect in Jaws. Once I got to there and cleaned everything off of the desk, Dad came over to help me move it out of the room so the restoration guys could come clean the carpet. There’s still lots to move, but the house is looking pretty empty now. There’s still no vanities or cabinets in the bathrooms, so I don’t know who’s coming to do that.

Once we finished there, I ran home to run the dogs before it got dark. It was freezing cold out, and my glove batteries died, but I stayed warm enough just having gloves at all. The dogs did pretty well, and we took a bit of an odd route home. I fired up the propane grill when we got back, and warmed up their hot dogs before grilling burgers for the girls.

We just had frozen Great Value burger patties, and I completely forgot to season them with anything, but they turned out really good. Summer prepped all the veggies and helped me make some cheese dip, which I think only she and I ate. We’ll have some leftovers for tomorrow since schools are closed again.

I was pretty exhausted after that, so I wrapped things up early and went to bed.

Dolly zoom!

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The Captain is a N***

I felt sick to my stomach this morning, and my best guess was that it was from taking my iron pill later than usual, at a point where my stomach was emptier and more hungry than usual. Summer went to the gym and Eaddie had a robotics meeting that ended up lasting until the afternoon. When Summer got home, we got cleaned up and went to Taco John’s for a quick lunch before heading to Little Rock for our movie.

It rained heavily the whole way, and autopilot didn’t want to cooperate. We were about an hour early for the movie and didn’t have any other plans, so I decided to stop in Conway to charge early so I wouldn’t have to on the way home. That was a slow process, so I ended up going in to Five Guys to use the restroom and came out with a bag of fries and some peanuts.

We eventually made it to the IMAX and waited nearly another hour for the movie. They played previews for about half an hour, which I’m sure was way longer than usual. I was surprised at how far back they referenced in the Marvel timeline for this movie. Harrison Ford as Thaddeus Ross was already a bit strange, but he was also a much softer, weepy character. The whole start of the movie was pretty slow in spite of starting with an action scene. The story was slow and simple, and lacked the spy thriller moments that we enjoyed about the other Captain America movies. The last third of the movie was better, but still not great.

Summer didn’t want to do anything after the movie, so we headed straight home until I decided to pull over in Conway for some Whataburger. Summer wasn’t hungry, but I didn’t want to have only eaten a single burrito all day, and I was actually really pleased with my burger.

We eventually made it home to an empty house. Summer went to bed and Eaddie got back home shortly after. I spent a while wrapping things up, and tomorrow will be a busy day.

What’d he say???

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Destruction Derby

The dogs were barking in the back yard when I left for work this morning, but Dad texted shortly after I got to work and said they were at his house and killed his cat. Summer was already nearly to Conway, so nobody was around to take care of them. They kept getting out of his fence too, so he ended up getting their leash from our house and dying them up. Stilgar chewed through that and got out again, and even destroyed the oil drain pan they were using for water.

Meanwhile, I broke PXE booting at work and could never get it working again. It was a miserable day trying to undo whatever change I made that broke it, and I had zero success. The only win for the day was Waldo’s Chicken and Beer for lunch. I had their Fowl Mouth spicy chicken sandwich, and it was probably the best chicken sandwich I’ve ever had. It was awesome. The cheddar biscuits were too small, but tasted good, and the service was great too.

I had to charge at a nearly full Supercharger station on the way home, then quickly patched the hole in the fence while Summer worked on a cake to go with the chili she made for dinner. I rode to my parents’ house to get the dogs, and dragged them home pretty aggressively. I think they knew they were bad, because they pouted on the porch all night.

I had to run to the Neighborhood Market for some cheese, and then Summer and I ate. Then I took care of my Vine haul while Summer watched Mary Poppins and then went to bed. Eaddie got home really late and went to bed. I was underslept, exhausted, and frustrated all day, so I was anxious to get there myself.

Straight to doggy jail.

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Just Wandering

I got to witness someone going off the road into the grass this morning because they were outdriving their brakes. I think someone hit a deer at the 430 split, and it had traffic backed up for a couple miles. I still beat the important people to work, and it was another day in the doldrums after that. I brought some containers to take the leftover barbecue and coleslaw home, and I helped plug in a TV.

Dustin took us out for a vendor lunch at Brood & Barley. I refused to pay $4 for parking, so I reparked a block away for free. The components of our meals were good, but I thought the Philly sandwich special had about a third of the filling that it should have for the price. It honestly tasted mostly of corn and avocado. Maggie had a meatloaf sandwich that would probably have been better as a burger.

The afternoon was quiet and dull, and I was still hungry. Not much success anywhere. I was eager to get out, charge, and make it home to run the dogs. Summer was making dinner, and just as I was walking out the back door, Zany called to say they had gotten into her yard and that she was about to walk them back, but they had gotten out and run off. I rode toward the basin, then came back up and found them at the top of Ridgewood. We took an odd course to my parents’ house, then came home backwards.

Summer’s salmon, asparagus, and potato dinner was actually really good, but then she wanted to talk to Noah about his asking to borrow money. Eaddie had Eli over for a bit, but Summer and I were stuck talking to the misguided one. I stayed up way too late after that, and I was exhausted.

What union?!?

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Chicken Wings are Fried Chicken

It was nasty and rainy again today, and conditions were a bit worse for the drive in, so I took over driving for a bit when the car wouldn’t let me reactivate FSD. Somehow we still managed to get to work before everyone else. It was another pretty quiet day, and I picked at some PaperCut stuff for Jim. The water dispenser hasn’t been working, so I’ve been having to melt ice to drink, but that went okay today.

Lunch time came around and nobody was quick to jump at anything in particular. We ended up going to Wingstop, and Jay initially turned us down for “fried chicken” but spun right around when he heard the word “wings.” I just don’t get that kid. I thought the food was decent, and the ranch did seem nice and thick compared to most others.

The afternoon was even more quiet, and I spent a bit of it by myself. Then I had to charge on the way home again because of the wet and cold. The streets were still a bit wet when I got home, but I took the dogs out. Muad’Dib didn’t eat his breakfast again, but he had dinner and a hot dog after our run. They did pretty well until Stilgar took the wrong side of a telephone pole and clotheslined us again. I managed to stop in time, but the leash snapped tight and gave me a little bit of a rope burn in the cold.

The girls were both home and ate some leftovers on their own accord, so I finished up some others once I got settled in. Then I had several Vine packages to break down. One of them in particular was a portable charger and battery pack that turned out to be way better than I initially thought, so that was a win. Then it was off to bed super early.

Bureaucracy? More like bu-YUCK-racy!

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Back to Packed

I was a bit out of sorts this morning, but I managed to swing by the new Starbucks for a free coffee and still made it to work just a couple minutes late. Randy said last week was super rough without me, which I guess made me feel good about myself, but I feel like a placebo. Surely I’m not contributing that much most of the time. I kept fairly busy trying to image a couple of laptops all day. Jim was having trouble with it, and I’m still having trouble setting a naming standard for everyone across the district because of our weird mix of devices.

We went to Skinny J’s for lunch because they had a $9 sandwich deal, and then $3 pickles on top of that. Dad called while we were there and said the dogs were at his house. Luckily Summer was home and could go pick them up, and she reattached the pallet they tore off of the fence. It started sprinkling a little bit after lunch, but it didn’t really rain hard until the evening. I supercharged for a while on the way home, and just as I was changing clothes to take the dogs out, it started to pour.

It let up a little bit and I took a bunch of Amazon returns to UPS. Summer was home from the gym when I got back, but she didn’t want dinner. Eaddie showed up and said she would be down for a $4.99 Cici’s buffet, so the two of us went out. They were packed and kept a good rotation of pies up, so it was pretty good.

When we got back, Summer had to get on a Zoom call for the band trip. I played with the dogs for a bit since they didn’t get to go out on a run with me, and Muad’Dib wouldn’t eat any dinner. I hoped that he had just found some other food somewhere else, and wasn’t just sick and not eating. Stilgar hadn’t lost his appetite.

As I was getting ready for bed, my head felt completely clogged, and I hoped I hadn’t caught whatever Eaddie brought home. I just finished two rounds of antibiotics that didn’t really seem to help my cough at all, so we may just be going into month three with this crud.

Don’t blink!

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Chilly Mac

I felt sick to the stomach for much of the day, but it could have been yesterday’s milkshake catching up to me. Eaddie left for church for a bit, and Summer went to the gym. I felt like I kept getting stuck in a loop. I felt like I kept getting stuck in a loop. I did manage to take a shower, and I got dressed to take the dogs out on a run in the early afternoon because it was getting super cold again. They didn’t come running when I opened the door, so I knew something was up.

Eaddie and I walked out to the fenceline, and they had torn down the top halves of three pickets, and climbed out. She and Summer worked on fixing that while I rode the neighborhood looking for them. It was a bit of a wild goose chase, because a lady that walked past our house said she saw them on Honeysuckle where they started following some other walkers. I went down that way and over toward the basin, then encountered two different walkers that had seen them around Ridgewood. As I rode up Ridgewood, a car passed me and stopped to flag me down. He said they were just up on Eastwood, and that one of them was WET. I made my way up and over the hills to find them on Ridgewood, so we collected ourselves and finished the walk to my parents’ house to visit Dad.

We got back home and Summer was working on a tres leches cake, and eventually some baked crab macaroni and cheese for dinner. I felt like I kept getting stuck in a loop. I didn’t really feel good about anything for a while, but dinner was pretty good. Eaddie got sick up in Jonesboro, but appeared to mostly be dealing with a head cold. I just hope I don’t get sick again myself.

Freezing temps, but free coffee!

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DogGos

Summer had a 5k this morning, and I awoke to a knock on the front door. Then I got a text a little while later from the neighbor a couple doors down saying our dogs were over in their yard. She was cool with them playing with her dog, so it wasn’t a big deal, but of course they got out of her yard by the time Summer got home and we made it over to retrieve them. We talked to a couple of the other neighbors while we were out there, and then I hopped on the Onewheel to try and find them.

I texted Dad to have him check his yard while I went toward the basin trail, and just as I was getting close to it, he said he had them both. It was cute that they went to his house, but Stilgar had gotten into the pool cover again, and I’m just worried he’ll end up drowning if he’s not careful. Dad tried to walk them to our house, but they took off again, so I told them to stay put.

Once I gathered them up, they were visibly tired and slow. We made it to the house, and I unboxed most of the Vine stuff that was delivered while I was gone. I had eaten most of a leftover bánh mì, gave the rest to Summer, and then had to take the other one to Julie at the airport. Summer wanted to go to Walmart after that to pick up stuff to make her baked kielbasa and vegetables with some leftover sweet potatoes.

After we got home, Summer realized she had forgotten Brussels sprouts, so I rode to the Neighborhood Market with the dogs. I saw Derick out in the yard of a house just behind Walmart and we waved at each other. It looked like he traded in his IT hat for real estate. The dogs did great tied to a bench in front of the store, I grabbed a bag of Brussels and dropped off some recycling, and then we headed on home.

I made some rice to go along with what Summer made, and we ate together. Eaddie wouldn’t be back from making first band/first chair in All-State until after midnight. Summer went to bed not long after that, and I wasn’t too far behind.

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