Tag: food

Uncategorised

Juicy Fruit

We tried to sleep in a bit today, but the sun got me up early. I went outside to bang on my new cabinet to try and get the door straight enough to close properly. As I was finishing up, Summer left with Autumn so they could start their day.

I bounced around the house for a little while until I settled on the computer to troubleshoot my Plex subtitle problem. I never could get it to behave properly. Zach came by at some point and worked on the Fiero for a bit. I eventually took a shower and headed up to Summer’s house.

Autumn went to spend some time with her father, so Summer and I just picked at some leftovers for dinner and then sorted out what we needed for Eaddie’s little birthday gathering tomorrow. Then we went to Walmart and picked up everything for chicken tacos. When we got back to the house, Summer started prepping some sauces and sides, and I started some refried beans in the Instant Pot.

When we both got to a stopping point, we watched some Master of None. As soon as the beans finished cooking, I scooped them out of the water and blended them. That really made all the difference both in taste and volume, and Summer liked them so much she wanted a bowl to eat right away.

By the time everything was finished, there wasn’t much point in going back to my house just to sleep, so we ended the evening with another episode before bed.

Yabba dabba doo it!

Uncategorised

Bring Your Daughter to Work Day

Autumn wanted to go to work with me today, so I let her come help with the laptop processing. She ended up being a huge help, and even spent less time griping about the work than Heather. Having her there filled the little gaps where Heather and I were previously tripping over each other. The downside to that improved efficiency was that there was basically no downtime at all. We were basically moving the entire day, so we pretty much finished sorting all the laptops out.

Ben texted that they were heading to Bocadillos for lunch, so I took Autumn there instead of Chick-fil-A where she had been asking to go all morning. We’ll probably end up there tomorrow to make up for it. I wasn’t even hungry, but ate anyway and ended up regretting it. I really kind of preferred just working straight through lunch.

At the end of the day, Ben stopped by to see our progress and chat for a bit. The logistics of getting 875 laptops to the junior high are still a bit daunting, and there are a lot of options on how to handle which laptops will be returned for the lease. At least I can take comfort in knowing I still have some time left to file the warranty claims.

Autumn and I headed to my house to change, then went to Walmart to pick up some stuff for dinner. She made both teriyaki and Buffalo sauces for some chicken and rice. I helped a bit, and made some broccoli to green things up a bit.

When Summer got home from the gym, we ate and then packed up to head to my house for the evening. We had to stop by her parents’ house first to meet her sister and niece. Eaddie decided to bail on us and stayed the night there, so Autumn came back with us and we watched an episode of Game of Thrones before bed.

What do we say to one more episode?
“Not today.”

Uncategorised

Impromptu Father’s Day

Julie was on vacation, so Summer and I decided planned a quick and easy Father’s Day lunch with my parents. She baked a bunch of bacon while I baked potatoes to make a twice-baked potato casserole. Then we took that along with the smoked turkey over to my parents’ house.

It was a pretty quick, late lunch, but everything was really good. The cold turkey was awesome on the potato bread buns. After lunch, I dropped Summer back off at home so she could do some chores, then I went home to do a little of the same.

Eventually Summer came over for the evening with some Sonic Blasts, and we watched some Forged in Fire until bedtime.

That sounds too much like a Disney villain.

Uncategorised

Give ’em the Quintuple Bird

Summer had to go by the shop to take care of some stuff today, so I took some time to do some much needed aquarium maintenance. I’ve got a pretty good plant die-off in the shrimp tank, and I think I just need to avoid floaters in that tank since they grow too fast and keep light from getting to the plants below.

After a shower, I ran across town to see if the Ridgewood Brothers had anything left for the day. They were winding down and cleaning up, so I helped Grant take down the canopies and then spent a really good amount of time catching up with Robert. It blows me away how much those guys remember from back in the day, but I’m guessing still being in that circle helped keep a lot of those memories alive. I hate that I had to step out of it for so long, but I’m happy to have an opportunity to peek back in occasionally.

As they finished cleaning up, I picked up their last five pounds of smoked turkey and headed to Walmart for a few things. Then I headed up to Summer’s to make some salads for dinner. When we finished, I decided to take it upon myself to clean up the three bananas she had left on the counter all week that were as dark as the night. I don’t remember, in my lifetime, having ever made a banana bread by myself. It’s possible that either Robert or Grant could recall a time at Papa John’s when I somehow concocted a way to bake one in the oven using some kind mixture of pizza dough and banana peppers, but as far as I can tell, tonight was my first.

It. Was. Awesome.

I just found a recipe online that looked relatively simple, and got to it. The streusel on top really made it, and I got through the whole ordeal without having it spill out into the bottom of the oven.

We watched a bit of Forged in Fire until Summer couldn’t keep her eyes open, and we called it a night.

I can’t wait to start cold turkey tomorrow.

Uncategorised

Step Back

I still didn’t really get anywhere today in my imaging process. Time is running out, and I’m getting pressure from the custodians, of all people, to get my work done.

Summer came to see me, and then we went to Bocadillos for lunch. It was obvious the bosses weren’t around today, and the change to Latin music was pretty funny after the pop party we attended yesterday. I’m guessing the Christian music will come back around tomorrow.

I worked late, and then Summer brought me one of their boomboxes to loan to the high school for their drive-through retirement party for Bruce. I headed on home and waited for her to bring the girls over from her parents’ house after mowing the lawn.

Autumn wanted to go to Dollar Tree for something, but forgot what when we got there, so I bought a guilt-trip scrub brush. Then they wanted Subway, so we picked up one of the worst bags of food I’ve ever gotten from a Subway before. The sandwich I got for Summer and myself looked like it had been cut an additional time or something, and I would have probably had better luck eating my half with a fork.

Eaddie and I wrapped up the night with an episode of The Punisher, and then it was off to sleep.

We’ll get ’em tomorrow, buddy.

Uncategorised

Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Tech Dudes

Our department sign came down at some point over the weekend, and somehow found a way to make itself more relevant than ever. Most of the group was out chasing iPads while I spent the day troubleshooting my OS deployment package. I felt pretty good about the changes I made, but it was pretty time consuming to compile the packages and actually test the changes.

Gary helped guide me a bit between working on his own things, and when the time came, we ran to Slim Chickens to pick up some lunch. My Cayenne Ranch Chicken Sandwich was unsurprisingly spiceless, but tasty enough, though seemingly smallish. I asked for fries, but got fried pickles instead somehow. They were alright, but overpriced. The chips were great, but I knew that going in.

The afternoon was mostly more of the same, but I had to leave before my final USB drive was finished. I stopped by the shop to check in with Summer, then ran home to do a little cleaning and start some laundry. Zach stopped by to chat about the Fiero and his ride he picked up. He still wants to work on my car, so I guess we’re going to give that a try tomorrow.

I eventually made my way up to Summer’s for the evening, and I cleaned up some leftovers for dinner. Eaddie and I watched an episode of The Punisher, and then it was off to bed.

When they move your office location due to departmental cutbacks.

Uncategorised

Post up and Roll Out

We all slept pretty well last night after such a long day. As soon as Dad was free, I met him at my house to replace the wooden support posts by the front door. It was so hot and humid, but we made relatively short work of it, and I think it looked pretty good.

I cooled off a while inside while Summer and the girls went to get supplies together, then I met them at my parents’ house to swim for a bit before dinner.

Julie came over, and Mom spent all morning getting things together for beef spring rolls. Even Autumn did well with an alternative meal of beef and noodles with some vegetables since she didn’t care for the rice paper. Then Mom made strawberry shakes for dessert.

We poked around the house for a little bit after dinner, and I tried out my old Ninja Turtles suspenders that I never actually wore during my childhood because I hated suspenders. Then we all headed back up to Summer’s for the evening.

In hindsight, maybe we should have measured the distance between pillars.

Uncategorised

COVID Springs and Corona Falls

I got up as early as I could will myself out of bed this morning and got ready for a day out of town. The girls were ready and waiting for me, so I picked them up and we stopped at Arby’s for lunch before hitting the road. We ate at the park across the street, then I had to send off some pirate mail, and finally we were off to Magic Springs.

The drive always seems faster than Little Rock just because it’s more fun going through the mountains. Summer informed me an hour into the drive that she didn’t bring her swim suit, so we stopped by Walmart in the Village so she could buy another one. They didn’t have a great selection, but we pieced one together that worked well.

The parking lot seemed absolutely packed when we got to Magic Springs, but I got pretty lucky with a spot close to the gate. We made our way through the season pass processing for Autumn, got all of our souvenir bottles, and started down the hill toward the roller coasters. We got down to the bottom and realized that they had signs up on a lot of the rides that masks were required, and they didn’t hand any out at the front, so we had to walk all the way back up to the car.

By that time, we were all so hot that we just wanted to go to the water park, so we rented a locker and got changed, then made our way around to the lazy river. That thing was packed to capacity, and they were limiting people to one loop at a time since there was a line of people waiting for tubes. I never could really figure out why they offered tube rentals, since they have tubes available at all the slides. They weren’t allowed in the wave pool, so I don’t even know where else they were relevant.

Eaddie got a nose bleed on a trip to the restrooms, so I hung out with her for a while, then Autumn and I went to go get some drinks. They loaded two $5 coupons on each of our passes as a means of compensation since they refused to refund anyone due to the pandemic. I assumed it was $10 that spent like cash, but it was a use or lose it in one transaction. The girl at the counter was so nice that she ended up just giving us four drinks for free so I didn’t have to go back for money or burn my coupons.

We spent a little time in the wave pool, then did another water slide before changing and going back to the roller coasters. It was much cooler by that time in the afternoon, and we had a pretty good time. Pretty much nobody was social distancing though, so I’m pretty certain we all have COVID now. We could hear the concert in the background, but none of us had any interest in staying late for some fellow named Zach Williams.

By the end of the day we had all worked up some pretty good appetites, so I found a restaurant called Colorado Grill. We made our way across town and had some of the best chips and salsa I’ve ever had. The fajitas were amazing, and the girls had a couple huge burritos that looked really great too. Our fajitas came with some barbecue ribs on top that seemed kind of pointless. I would have preferred more fajita stuff, especially after I rolled a saucy rib down my shirt and onto my pants.

On the way out of town, we stopped by the fountain to fill up some water bottles. Shelby spotted me and stopped to say hi, and then we headed straight home and off to bed.

I knew we should have stopped for a funnel cake.

Uncategorised

Sitting in an Office and Doing Stuff

It was way cooler outside today after all the rain, so I decided to take the bike in to work. They didn’t really need me for group work, so I stayed at the shop and worked on things in my office. It was really quiet all day, and I only took a break to pick up lunch with the guys.

We had Tacos 4 Ever again, and this time I tried the nachos. At first I was worried that they looked small, but they really packed a lot into that foil dish. The chips got soggy too, so there wasn’t a lot of air taking up space where the precious food could go. It was packed densely with lots of meat and flavor.

I spent most of the afternoon tinkering with the wiki again, and I think I’ve been fighting incompatible versions with the VisualEditor extension. I stayed late again just because I felt like I was making a little bit of progress, and then Ben ran me off again.

The ride home was nice and I wished I could have just ridden off somewhere, but I had to get home and out of work clothes. Then I just didn’t feel like getting back out, so I played some Overwatch and sold some turnips on someone else’s island.

Eventually I made it up to Summer’s for the evening, and the girls were back home from their father’s. Summer was already in bed though, so I just laid around with her until my own bedtime.

Make sure your output correlates with the input.

Uncategorised

Cafeteria-Style

Autumn really wanted to go to Conway to do some shopping today, so I went home to clean up while Summer got her nails done. Then I picked everyone up and we headed out of town. Autumn wanted to look up hairstyles in the back, so Eaddie played DJ up front with me.

We started at Target and milled all around the place. I was a little worried that we’d need masks to get in places, but nobody brought any. It really wasn’t terribly crowded though, and most other people out and about weren’t wearing masks either. After maybe an hour or so, we left with basically just some toiletries.

The next stop was Kohl’s where we hit up the clearance racks. There wasn’t much for me, but the girls got a few things. Then we stopped by Dick’s for just a bit. I wanted to go to Best Buy, but they were straight-up closed with bars behind the door.

By the time we finished checking out, everyone was pretty hungry. I decided to try Pizza Ranch again since I had gotten an email recently that they were open again. They gave us masks to wear any time we were walking around, and then the buffet was served cafeteria-style. The food was surprisingly fresh considering there was only one other party there when we arrived, and I only saw two more come in before we left.

It was too late to go anywhere else since the virus has everything closing around eight, so we headed back home. Autumn really wanted to stay at my house, so we planned to let them clean and pack before heading over. It wasn’t but a few minutes later that she came back around and said she was sleepy and just wanted to go to bed, so we stayed in. Eaddie and I watched a couple episodes of The Punisher until things started to get pretty good, and then it was off to bed.

But why no fried chicken pizza???