Tag: food

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Magic Screams 2019

Summer went to get the girls this morning after spending the night with friends, and I went home to clean up and get ready for our trip to Magic Springs. We left right around lunch time and headed down to Hot Springs to meet Ronda, Steven, and Maleea at Outback Steakhouse. We got behind some pretty slow traffic for the majority of the trip, so we ended up getting there quite a bit after them. The service was pretty great when we did get there though, and it was pretty funny how much bread we were going through.

After we ate, we headed to the park. Along the way, something flew up over the car ahead of us and gave me a pretty big chip in the windshield. I’ll have to get that fixed immediately so it doesn’t get worse. The park was fun, and Summer let us talk her into riding all the roller coasters. Eaddie really enjoyed them, and she and Maleea had a good time together. I couldn’t fit into the restraints for the X-Coaster, so Summer ended up riding that one without me. At the end of it all, our last wait was a ridiculously slow, short line for the bumper cars. They only had six cars, and hardly anyone doubled up.

Steven wanted to treat some of Ronda’s family to dinner, so gathered up the convoy and headed to Rod’s Pizza Cellar. We got there not long before closing, but the service was great there too, and the pizza was amazing. We got a 17″ spinach bacon alfredo that was by far our favorite at the table. It was the perfect end to a great day. On the way out of town, we stopped for some more spring water. The drive back home had me exhausted, but we made it in one piece past dozens of deer by the road. Now I’m excited to go again in the summer.

3 spoopy 5 me!

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Midweek Blitz

It was back to work today after a four day weekend, though it didn’t really feel like I had a day off at all. I jumped right into work and picked apart all the work orders I had gotten while I was away. A few of them had already been looked at by someone, which was a really nice surprise. I ended up spending all morning at the shop to catch up. Most of that time was spent with the iPad Pro after hearing back from Jamf support, but unfortunately we still couldn’t get it enrolled properly.

Zach, Ben, and I went to Arby’s for lunch and all got the Beer Cheese ‘n Double Beef Sandwich with free fries. It was a bit messy, but not any more than a big Beef ‘n Cheddar. I really enjoyed it. Then after lunch I finally made it to the high school to jump into my remaining work orders. I kept really busy right up to the end when Autumn came to the high school. On the way out, we walked across campus to the PAC so I could take a look at their sign again. What a surprise to see it not responding over wireless.

Autumn and I came back to my house for just a little while until it was time to get Eaddie from her after school activities. Then I dropped them off at their house before going to visit with Mom for dinner. She had made some salty sausage and stir fried some kind of squash to go along with it. Then we shared some French bread and sweetened, condensed milk for desert.

To wrap up the evening, I came home and did some more laundry while I took care of all the pets. The teeny baby shrimplets have doubled in size by my estimation, and it’s becoming easier to see how many of them there are. I really may have to just eat the culls, because they’re booming and it’s only going to get worse as more of them mature.

Missin’ out on ACOT has me all sad ‘n stuff.

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Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!

Summer took Eaddie to school this morning while I went home to clean up. Then I picked her and Autumn up to go back to Children’s so we could commit to a surgery date. Talking to the doctor and the train of other staff didn’t seem to take that long since we kept moving from one place to another. I don’t think I’ve ever waited as long there as I do at my own doctor’s office. Autumn got some new crutches and got to practice going up and down stairs.

With a surgery date planned, we made our way across town in the rain to get some food. I picked Chuy’s at first, but then changed my mind as we passed Genghis Grill. I’d always wanted to try that place, so we pulled around the block and found our way in. It was pretty quiet but cramped inside, without a lot of room between tables. Autumn had an absolute fit about not liking Chinese food, which was half the fun for me. We picked out our daddy, mommy, and baby-sized bowls and made our way through the selection of raw ingredients and seasoning. Even my large bowl seemed really small to me, especially since I know how much the vegetables cook down in size. I wanted way more vegetables, but just couldn’t fit any more into the bowl.

Even Autumn really liked her end result of rice, ham, and smoked sausage. We’ve got to get her on some vegetables somehow, and I want so badly to play mean. Teaching kids the food pyramid doesn’t do a damned thing if you don’t enforce it.

We made our way home pretty quickly, stopping briefly for some drinks. I got some Mango Wheat Blue Moon that I’m anxious to try, along with something else that came in what was designed to look like a bottle of lighter fluid. We had to stop by my house so Autumn could change, and then we went straight to the high school for her marching competition. After all these years, I finally got to see her spin her flag around, so I can say first hand that she doesn’t always just walk around with it by her side.

We ended up spending more time waiting for her back at the junior high than it took for us to see the junior high compete. Then we went to the Neighborhood Market for some additions to dinner at home. Autumn neglected to bring her uniform bag out of my house, so we had to run and get it on the way back to their house. I cooked up some chicken for sandwiches, and then Summer and I watched a couple more episodes of Battlestar Galactica before bed.

They needed a home, so they set out in the void of deep space with nothing but their ships and their guts.

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Blockin’ out the Scenery, Breakin’ My Mind

It was quite chilly out this morning. My fingers felt the sting of the autumn air on my ride in to work. I got out of the teens on my work order count, not counting any of the 1:1 laptop stuff, so I felt pretty good about it. I got a response back from 000webhost about my site and got the suspension lifted. The first thing I did was make a backup, but I have a feeling this is ultimately going to end in me paying for hosting. They’re cheap enough though, and the support response was fast and helpful. I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth so far.

Gary said he was going to Tropical Smoothie for lunch, so I met him, Zach, and Heather there. I had a coupon, but it was “Pick 2 Tuesday” that got me the same thing for a buck less. The flatbread was really good, and the pumpkin smoothie was delicious and larger than I expected to get in a twofer. It still wasn’t cheap, but I felt pretty good about it. I couldn’t believe how busy they were though. The drive-through line just didn’t quit, and there was hardly any room for other traffic to pass through. It didn’t bother the bike any though.

After lunch, I met with Ben and we worked on the LED road sign. We were out there for nearly four hours working on the damned thing, and we really didn’t do anything to fix it other than reboot it several times. Once we got it working, I screwed it up again by updating the publishing software to a version that evidently isn’t compatible with our sign’s firmware, so that’s another call in to the company that no longer supports our sign. I have a feeling they’re going to just have to replace the stupid thing anyway, probably with an even stupider thing. The whole time we were working on it, I just felt like maybe if there was only someone that worked specifically at the Center on their very technical things, that we wouldn’t have to be out there. At least the weather was nice, and I even got some closeup time with a black widow mamma and her sack of eggs.

Once home, I spent a little time cleaning up before going to get the girls from karate. Then we met Summer at my parents’ house for bún bò Huế before heading home for an early night.

ESPORTS REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
J/K

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Downtime!

It’s been three days since my site at 000webhost was shut down for some unknown violation of their terms of service. I finally sent an email off to them to appeal the shutdown. I guess I’ll give them a couple days to respond before I try and migrate to a paid plan. Their free service has always been more than enough for me, and I figured it would be fine for the foreseeable future.

Not much else of note happened today. I went to Popeye’s for lunch with Allen and was reminded of the maddening inconsistency in the size of their tenders. After work I went to my parents’ house for grilled pork chops before coming home to clean house. I can’t let all these responsibilities keep slipping by. Maybe this is the year.

I can’t get no relief.

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Retire S’more

Today didn’t start with an overabundance of direction, but somehow I found my way pretty quickly. I got a bunch of stuff closed out, and moving around a bunch made the day go by a lot faster. It also helped that I left for an early break for Becky’s retirement shindig. I had to get some gas first, but then I ran to Walmart and grabbed a huge bag of knockoff Golden Grahams, two bags of mini marshmallows, and four bags of chocolate chips. I thought I was being clever making s’mores trail mix, but a quick search on the internet showed I was far from the first person to come up with that idea. I did think about adding a twist with pretzel sticks sprinkled with liquid smoke, but I didn’t have the time to experiment with that properly.

I brought a couple laptops with me so I could get some work done, and just sat in the lounge with Becky for quite a while. It was nice to visit with everyone again while wishing her well, and we just had a rotation of people coming in to eat lunch with us. Brice came by a couple times, but I’m not sure where he had holed himself up to work. I didn’t get to spend as much time just socializing as I would’ve liked, but it was a great change of scenery working outside of my office for a while.

After lunch I went and got the interns from the library and let them dig into some of the computers I’ve had sitting in my office. Nathan seemed openly knowledgeable and excited to show that he could do things, while Spencer just quietly got to work and started fixing laptops. I was really happy with how well they jumped right into it with such limited direction, and throughout the afternoon I got a better idea of how to utilize them better.

When I finally left work, I ran by Oakland to get my bowl before going home to change. Then I went by the shop to get the girls so Summer could go to the gym, and we went to my parents’ house to clean up some leftovers. We got back to Summer’s just a little before she did, I tinkered a bit, and then we went to bed with some Battlestar. Eaddie came in and watched just a few minutes with us too, which was nice because she’s usually reluctant to hang around for very long.

Space sure does have the best glassware.

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Gromroll, Please!

I slept pretty well last night after a couple Aleve to dull the aches of the day. Summer left to get the girls home and start some cleaning before lunch. Mom had leftover beef spring rolls ready for lunch when they got up. Summer and Eaddie wanted to ride their bikes, so I drove Autumn and met them there. Autumn was more or less a lame duck, but Eaddie at least pretended to watch Dad work on their telescope a bit.

After a little while, we all headed home so Summer could get some time on the Grom after several weeks without. I wouldn’t let Autumn stay at the house, so I gave her the choice of riding with me or riding her own bike. She reluctantly climbed onto the Grom with me, and we made our way to the park. Summer and Eaddie beat us there on their bikes from my parents’ house, but the parking lot was cluttered with cars for a ballgame, so we rode up to the highschool instead. Summer jumped on and did really well today, weaving through the concrete parking bumpers and other obstacles. She even left the parking lot and drove around the little streets around the campus.

They all had to get home to finish their chores before school and work tomorrow, so we all rode back to my house and they headed home. I milled around and did some cleaning myself after having a Full Throttle to wake myself up. I took care of the pets, started some laundry, and got things ready for work in the morning.

Try to remember the kind of September when life was slow and oh, so mellow.

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♬ I Told the Butt Doctor I Had a Bloody Poo ♬

♪ It’s been leaking blood from me just like it was a geyser! ♪

I forgot my badge and keys at home this morning. I also forgot to take my meds after deciding to take them a little later in the morning rather than before I left for work. None of that seemed to matter much though. I went with Amanda, Heather, and Gary to hang a TV above James’s piano. I had an above average time drilling into the brick at first, but I could tell the bit wore out pretty quickly. We were supposed to rehang another one I had hung last year because they wanted it higher, but the class was occupied and we didn’t make it before lunch. We ended up killing some time in Heather’s freezing office, chatting with Kevin a while until lunch.

Allen and I decided to walk next door for FryDay, where we sat across the room from Heather and Gary since they didn’t invite us. We both got the three meat fries special of the day, which was beef, chicken, and shrimp over fries with garlic butter and “taco sauce” which was more of a taco-seasoned cream sauce. It was all good, but left me a bit gurgley from all the butter. I took a half sick day to go to the gastroenterologist for my meet and greet.

I went home first to change, then went to my appointment and filled out a bunch of new patient paperwork. It was probably the least painful that I’ve ever experienced that process, and the girls at the front desk were just great. I thought Dr. White was a relative hoot, though he definitely controlled the conversation. I was most impressed with how quickly I was in and out of there, and I wished I could have that experience ever again in healthcare.

After that conversation and subsequent scheduling of a proper pooperscope, I went home and got the Grom to see Summer at the shop. They weren’t super busy, so I got to tell her all about my doctor visit before going home. I relaxed for just a little bit before taking my bike out for a bath. Then I met Allen at his place for a quick polish on the bikes. With that done, I had just enough time to get gas with him, and then head on home to prepare for the evening.

Travis was hosting a Star Wars Monopoly night, so I went to get Summer and we met him and John for game night. I was either the first one out or the winner, depending on who you ask. A great time was had by all, and Summer got to bring home an oddly monochrome JAWS sink stopper. By the time we wrapped things up there, it was time to get home and into bed for the early ride in the morning.

♫ He said that, “Poo-py, oooh ah ah! Ting tang, walla walla bing bang!” ♫

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Jesus Hubert Christ

I made it in really early today and got started in a classroom to test and fix an Airtame 2. The teacher’s laptop was still trying to connect to the old device for some reason, so I just had to point it at the new device instead. I was pretty productive the rest of the morning as well, but then got stuck on some medieval software that another teacher wanted me to install on all of her students’ devices from a compact disc.

Allen wanted to go to KFC for lunch again, and I’m always down for that party. We had just sat down to eat when I looked out the window and spied, with my little eyes, Jesus of Nazareth. Not like a long-haired, blonde, homeless vagrant type, but like a guy wearing potato sacks for clothes. You don’t get that stuff at Walmart. I don’t even know where you’d begin to look for fabric like that. I told Allen that he was about to be raptured away, and that I would be left to eat the rest of the chicken all by myself. The guy came in holding something square under his arms wrapped in the same fabric, but I couldn’t make out what it was. His ensemble was complete with some kind of rope or heavy twine for a belt and everything. I knew for sure that this was it. Either the end times were here, or we were about to be blown up by some religious nut coming after gluttons at a buffet.

The man came in, spoke to someone at the counter, and then left just moments later. It seemed we were all spared. Or all left behind. I’m always telling Allen he’s not living right, but he never listens. Not one soul was spirited away, so maybe we’re all damned. I’m not really sure how we would know in any event. Allen suggested that maybe there was a play going on at the church next door, but I told him that this was no Thursday matinee Jesus. This was the Saturday night, packed mezzanine, prime-time son of God.

I went back for seconds. Then dessert.

After lunch, I went to the junior high to pick up another rubber cable cover, then stopped by the library on my way out. When I got back to the shop, I chatted with Ben for a bit about various goings-on before heading back to the high school. I wasn’t super motivated by that time, and ended up talking with Karen about my spiritual encounter. Eventually I did get back to work, and the girls came to my office so I could shuttle them around after school.

We left first to go to my house so I could change. Then we dropped Autumn off at the junior high for her football game. Eaddie had some time to kill before karate, so we ended up at Sonic for some cheese sticks and fried Oreos à la mode. Everything was incredible. I dropped her off, then went to my parents’ house to visit while she was in class. Dad brought out a bunch of old junk for me to discard, and I went to get Eaddie.

When we got to her house, Summer was laid out in bed feeling ill. I started watching Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, which I wholeheartedly recommend for any old fans. Autumn called for a pickup just as the credits rolled, so I went to pick her back up from the junior high, and we all came home for bed.

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This Drill Is Not a Drill

It was a little wet outside this morning, but I wished I had ridden the bike to work anyway for as cool as it was in the morning. I jumped right into the work I had and got things done. The fire alarm went off just as I was finishing some of that work in a classroom, so I couldn’t hide out inside like I normally would. It was a little creepy going outside in the back, so I just kept my eyes open and watched people. When things calmed down a bit, I wandered around to a couple people that had open tickets, and managed to get enough information to close them out as well.

Allen responded with Quiznos for lunch, but by the time he said it I would have been meeting him there late, so I just kept working instead. Eventually I did take a lunch break and went to Sonic, but it was one of the worst visits I’ve had there. The tots were probably the most stale tasting potatoes I’ve ever had at a restaurant, ever. The “Philly cheesesteak” barely had anything in it, so it was mostly bread. The only thing that saved my break was the fact that I went home to eat in front of the shrimp tank, where I just sat and relaxed for the rest of my hour before going back to work.

My afternoon was short after having such a late lunch, and by quitting time I wasn’t in the mood to stay much later. I went home and started researching eye doctors. I wish I had made an appointment at the very start of the year so I’d be sure to have everything filed on insurance before dropping it. Now that I’m researching it, everyone in the EyeMed network seems to have terrible reviews except the CFO’s wife’s clinic, and there’s no way in hell I’m supporting that racket.

Summer had a roast going in the slow cooker, so I went to Walmart for some slaw mix and met up at her house. The girls said they forgot about tacos, and had already eaten Wendy’s with their grandparents by the time I got there, so Summer and I just ate in the kitchen. Eaddie couldn’t help but have a few herself because they were so good.

I played a bit of Superbeat: Xonic while the girls all got ready for bed, and then Summer and I watched another episode of Battlestar Galactica. Luckily it was actually an episode that really carried the main plot.

Who the hell shoots heavy artillery fireworks this late at night at the end of September? Country bumpkins. That’s who.