Tag: friends

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Killswitch Triggered

Summer left early this morning for a run in Danville, and Eaddie got up shortly after I did, then left for some band assessment event. I felt a little rough from my meds again, but it wasn’t terrible. I got out to check on the dogs, and it sounded like they were gone. Summer got home just as I was getting dressed to go find them. Then I rode about nine miles all around the neighborhood before I finally found them on my second trip to my parents’ house. I kept listening for barking dogs, but hardly heard anything anywhere, and nobody I encountered had seen anything. We got home and I ended up tying Stilgar up and putting the shock collar on Muad’Dib. I think Stilgar just had too much fur for it to work on him.

After that, I took a shower and got ready to leave town. I washed my car first since it was covered in spots from being washed, sprinkled upon, and then dusted. Then I headed toward Fayetteville for Brandon’s birthday event. I stopped to charge in Ozark, then made it up to the Northwest Arkansas Mall to charge outside Dillard’s for a few minutes while I waited for everyone else to show up at Smokin’ Oak Wood-Fired Pizza and Taproom.

The mall was quite busy in most areas, but there were definitely dead spots too. Dillard’s had a surprising number of people, and there were a couple interesting stores inside. The food court seemed like the busiest area even though it was a little between lunch and dinner time.

I got to the restaurant just moments before Brandon, Diana, Ryan, Aaron, and Alma. I didn’t know what to think about the place, but it was their first time as well. It looked like it was a part of a fancy apartment complex, but it may have just adjacent coincidentally. It was a neat looking establishment though. We found a couple of tiny sofas and sat around a coffee table thing before getting any food. They had a wall of beers and wines that were all self-serve, and we had to go get an RFID bracelet that let us tap to pour. I really liked everything I tried, and the pizza wasn’t bad either, though it was all pretty pricey.

It was a great time catching up, but we had to get down the road to the concert at JJ’s Live. Aaron and Alma weren’t going, so we bid them farewell and I ended up driving the other three to the venue. We parked across the street at Target and walked over where it was a relatively easy entrance to a pretty packed floor. It was a very industrial chic with a catwalk balcony overhead. We were late enough that we completely missed Frozen Soul, but we stood near the back of the floor for Fit for a King and got to see their whole set. By the end I was sweating pretty hard and went to the concession stand to get some water.

While standing in line, I started to feel faint like I did at the school’s self-care fair. I ended up taking a knee right in line a couple of times, and finally got to the point where I turned to the guys behind me and let them know I thought I was having blood pressure issues. I asked them to help me get some water while I walked to the wall and had a seat on a flat dolly. They mentioned a nearby EMT, then reported the venue was out of water bottles, but the bartender poured her water into a cup of ice and gave that to me. Then I asked the guys to go ahead and get the EMT just to have him check my blood pressure.

That was when I met Hunter, the 22-year-old, patchwork tattooed, chatty EMT. I had a giggle to myself at his little Kilroy tattoo. He was super friendly and did his best to get my BP, pulse, and oxygen levels while I was sitting there. It was hard for him to hear, but he thought I was right around 120, which was unexpected. After sitting through all of that, I felt good enough to walk outside while he accompanied me to find a chair. It got super cold, super fast.

I texted the group and stayed outside for all of Kublai Khan TX’s set, but from what I heard, they would have been way too hard for me anyway. Diana came out to find me outside between sets, and then we went back inside for Killswitch Engage. I definitely liked them the most, but most of it was still too hard for my liking. We weren’t close to the stage at all, but it was still too much of a packed floor for me. I thought I was going to feel bad again at one point, but kept drinking water out of the sink until I felt fine.

After the show, we made it to the car really quickly and I dropped Brandon, Diana, and Ryan off at their car. Then I made it back to Ozark for a charge, break, and snack. I got home well after midnight and wrapped up quickly for bed.

Hydrate.

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Blunderive

I woke up several times last night with terrible shin and calf cramps. Then as the night progressed, I started waking up to Stilgar barking at something outside. I eventually got up when Summer got out of bed, and she made us some bacon and eggs for breakfast. Then she went to the gym and Eaddie got up to go do something in the early afternoon. I had plans to meet with Mark to help with some computer questions, so I eventually got cleaned up to go help with that.

I stopped by Walgreens to pick up my iron pills, and I should have just asked the pharmacist if I could take it with my antibiotic, but I didn’t think of that in time. I made it to Mark’s place and waited a couple minutes for them to get in, and then I tried to help him talk through the concerns he had. They’re never really deeply technical problems that he has, but rather software quirks he has to work around because he just seems to have a lot of stuff he wants to manage. I ended up hanging out there for about three hours, in part waiting for OneDrive to sync, and he handed me a hundred bucks as we finished up for the day.

Summer had Eaddie outside taking pictures before the Sweetheart dance when I got home, and I made it inside to find my Mothman onesie just in time to get dressed up and take some pictures with her. Then we took pictures of her with Eli when he showed up.

Dad invited us over for spaghetti earlier in the day, and I still had to run the dogs before dark, so I took them out while Summer saw the kids off. We were doing pretty well until we made it around to Promenade Circle. We got to the last stretch of that road, and Stilgar decided he had to make an emergency stop to poop. Muad’Dib was already pretty far ahead, so that yanked everybody by the rope, and I tripped off the board as I tried to slow down. I landed on my right hand hard enough to draw a little bit of blood on my palm, and the dogs both wanted to come up and check on me. I got myself up, picked up the trail of poop, and we made our way to my parents’ house for dinner.

I left the dogs in the fence out back, and Summer showed up while Mom was prepping the last of the salad. It was completely dark by the time we finished eating, so we didn’t stay long. As soon as I stepped out back, Muad’Dib was there to greet me at the door. They must have pushed their way out through the fence and run around and back in somewhere else. I called to Stilgar, and saw him climb out of the pool cover to excitedly come greet the three of us. Dad and I tried to inspect the fence by phone flash, and he found a couple loose boards they probably pushed through. Luckily Stilgar didn’t appear to have pushed the cover all the way into the pool, but it made another good case for a taught cover.

Summer followed me home and the dogs were rowdy enough that they didn’t get dinner. Summer sat on her phone in the living room while I wrapped up on the computer, and we eventually made it to bed. Eaddie ended up bringing her friend Emma over to stay the night because she lives a little ways out and it was late.

Don’t oversync it.

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Don’t Break Anything

I got out a little earlier today and had a slower drive in to work to save some battery power. I could have made it home on the charge, but I still ended up supercharging on the way home anyway.

Randy was out at a conference, so it was just Maggie and me all day. She was in better spirits after her friend passed yesterday. Randy emailed us some things to do, but it seemed like those weren’t entirely our job to do. It’s confusing what we’re actually responsible for because the district is so overstaffed. We personally handled much more at both of my previous districts. On top of that, people kept knocking at the door all day, pulling me away from whatever I was avoiding.

I actually didn’t even take a lunch, but Maggie made me eat her leftovers. I can never tell if she’s just worried about me being hungry or if she’s just genuinely not hungry enough to finish her food. It’s a pretty regular occurrence for her to have leftovers, so I try not to feel guilty about eating stuff she gives me. I thought I’d leave a little early because I never left, but I only got out about ten minutes early.

I stopped in Conway to charge a bit just so I wouldn’t have to shuffle cars late at night. Then I got home and ran the dogs to the Ridgewood Brothers to see if I could catch Robert. I actually saw Grant, and he seemed to be doing a little bit better. I think their whole situation has probably just gotten to the point where you throw up and then start to feel a little bit better.

We got rained on a bit as we made our way back across town. Just as it started to sprinkle, we encountered Hannah driving the opposite direction. She stopped to chat and we caught up for a little bit before we continued on to my parents’ house. By then it had started to rain pretty hard, so my leg was soaked by the time we got home. The dogs were good though, so they got hot dogs before dinner.

Someone had brought a bunch of Vine packages in for me, so I sorted all of that before Summer got home. The morning went by fast, the afternoon went by slowly, and then the evening flew by. Summer had a bad day at work, and I think we’re both feeling pretty unsatisfied in general. We chatted for a bit before she went to bed. Eaddie got home late and went straight to her room, and then I crashed as quickly as I could.

You broke it.

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Support Class

I got a better amount of sleep last night, so it was only fitting that I would be up late tonight. I was the first one in the office, and we rode it out until lunch time. David and Woody came to talk sales and take us out to lunch at Saltgrass. Maybe I just had my hopes up too high, but I was kind of disappointed in the steak. The quail and Brussels sprouts were delicious. I liked the baked potato soup, but there wasn’t much of it. My ribeye was just very thin and gristly, and apart from the crawfish and shrimp on it to make it “Cajun,” the tomatoes just watered it down. Overall it was a good, large meal though, which was good because it was my only one.

The afternoon went by relatively quickly. I helped someone find a breaker they had thrown using two space heaters on the same wall. Luckily I had just enough charge by the time I left that I could make it home without Supercharging.

Summer was home when I got there, and had to charge up from 5%, so she was pretty nervous coming home. I took the dogs out for a good, long run. We weren’t breaking any records, but we maintained a good clip. We encountered both of my parents driving separately, and chased them down their road to the house. Then we made it home for doggy dinner because I forgot to thaw hot dogs.

As I was trying to process my evening, Mitch called on me for some support. We chatted a little bit, and then I called Robert. We didn’t talk long because he was just starting a movie, but then I ended up talking with Mitch for quite a while after that, just to catch up. I eventually got all of my nightly chores done, and an overstuffed recycle bin to the curb, so hopefully sleep hits fast tonight.

More buffs!

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Cheap Lunch Crew

Eaddie ended up having a quintet practice session in Fort Smith today, so I had the house to myself. Then Zach texted wanting to know if I had to take a personal day to be off during the snow day, and I just had to laugh. I asked him if they had lunch plans, and wasn’t surprised to hear they were probably having Mexican. I ended up meeting them at La Chiquita. Gary was the one that interacted with me the most. Thomas, Greg, and even Zach were mostly just present, but would respond when I talked to them. The thing I missed most was paying less than $10 for lunch. Food in Little Rock is insane, and it’s typical for me to pay nearly twice that, or more.

After we ate, I stopped by the Superfast to see Summer while she was working out in the cold. I thought I’d install my yoke, but it was going to be too involved, and I didn’t want to work on it there in the cold. I figured I’d borrow a hex socket later and do it from home.

I got back to the house and took the dogs out for a run at the peak temperature for the day in the high 20s. We had a good run, and caught Dad at the end of their road. He spun around to get me a heat lamp for the dogs, though Muad’Dib never came out to use it. I don’t know where he was sleeping, but Stilgar has been the only one at the door in the warmth.

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning house, and then quite a bit of time consolidating my blood pressure tracker to share with the clinic. I still haven’t heard anything more about seeing a specialist, and I’m hoping it was just a fluke reading after being sick.

Eaddie got home pretty late, followed by Summer. She ran a bath and I warmed up some pizza for her before bed.

Hexed

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Fancypants Fundraiser

I caught up on sleep last night, but we had plans all weekend. Eaddie had her fundraiser event at Co-Create in the evening, so the girls were up and around to take care of some last-minute errands for that. I got up and out with the dogs for a good run since I knew we wouldn’t have time later in the evening. As soon as I got home, we had to start getting ready to go set up.

When we got to the venue, the whole crew was standing outside the front doors because they evidently didn’t unlock as intended. Dan had contacted the owner, but I glanced at the maglock sensor, borrowed Eaddie’s music folder, and bing, bang, boom.

I hadn’t seen the inside, and was disappointed that it wasn’t a maker space, but it did seem like a hip new co-working space. We got things started, rearranged some tables, and then Summer wanted to go print some stuff off at the wash. I thought we had decided against it, and were just going to set out some instrument cases for donations, as though the kids were busking.

After that unnecessary trip, we decided to stop at Panda Express for dinner. I ordered on the app, but the long line churned quickly and it would have been quicker to just order in person. I recognized a couple people as they came through, and talked to Alicia briefly before we got our food. I thought the rice was dry, and Summer almost died from something spicy. I thought it was a good spice level, but she must have gotten some seeds or something.

We got back to Co-Create just after things had started, and we walked around a little bit before finding a place to sit permanently. It was a neat, uncrowded event. Dad showed up and joined us, and we rode it out to the end. There was a little bit of cleanup, but I think it went faster than the setup. Then we snuck out the back door and headed home.

Eaddie went out with her friends, Summer went to bed, and I took a long bath. My Vine evaluation period passed, though it says it will take up to four days for my account to be updated. I guess now I need to slow down on ordering, because my item value will probably go up from here.

Just some light B and E on a Saturday evening.

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Surprise Rest

I woke up this morning to a text from Diana, which reminded me of the plans I knew we had for the day. I jumped up and took a shower, followed by Summer, so we could go visit with her. Eaddie was still asleep, so we left her and made it across town in some leftover drizzle from some rain overnight. Diana was super happy to sit and visit for a while, but still had to get packed and ready to travel back north.

Summer thought she would have to close the Conway wash, but just as we left Diana’s, she got a call that one of her employees wanted to take the shift. I had been considering going with her just so we could have some time together afterward and maybe do some more Christmas shopping, but getting to stay in town with her was even better. We went home to check on Eaddie and fed the dogs. Eaddie wasn’t hungry, so the two of us went to Mulan’s for a late lunch.

After we ate, we stopped by Walmart for some more treats for the dogs. We browsed minimally aside from that before stopping by the old house to clean out the mailbox and poke my head inside to get an idea of what I might be able to move sooner than later. The problem is that I’m still struggling to find time to break down boxes of stuff that I’ve already moved, and I’m just out of room until I do. Seeing the relative minimalism at Jim’s house last night nearly made me consider burning the whole place down. It’s paralysis, and I had forgotten about the stuff Dad already moved into Bác Vân’s shed next door.

We made it home and I struggled a bit to keep my blood pressure down. Eaddie ended up going over to Eli’s for a while, and I soaked in a bath to try and relax. Summer and I talked some more and finally decided that it would be a smart idea to get another car right now, partially due to the incentives and partially in case of a breakdown in one of the older vehicles. Letting her drive her own car was important to me, and having options was important to both of us.

Eaddie came home and talked with us for a while as well, and then I helped her order a Christmas gift. Then we all settled in for bed.

Contractually convoluted

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Reverse Mormons

I snoozed this morning, so I got to work through virtually no traffic about half an hour late. Just as I got parked and charging, Randy, Kyle, Maggie, and her girls all walked out of the office to go to Sam’s to pick up stuff for the Christmas party. It didn’t look like anyone else was really around the building, so I just hopped in Kyle’s Jeep with Randy and went with them.

The store didn’t actually open for about 20 more minutes, so I went with the guys to fill up on some gas before going back to meet the girls. Then we walked through the store, looking like an odd group of reverse-Mormons, and each got an assortment of things we needed for the party. I ended up getting a bunch of salad kits and a case of Member’s Mark hard seltzer.

We got back to the office, and things were quiet. The morning went by pretty quickly, and Jim came to get Randy and me to go to BJ’s for their catfish special. We had a relatively quiet lunch and then went back to the office to kill the rest of the day until the party.

Summer had to work in town, so she just went to Conway and I met her at Target after work. We shopped for her Dirty Santa gift, then headed back to Jim’s house in North Little Rock for the party. I’d been to his house, but never in it, and it was super nice. We eventually got the tour, and he was right. It really was his wife’s “HGTV” moment. They completely rebuilt everything, and it was like a model home. They had a couple fire pits on the large back deck, and plenty of space inside to entertain.

Maggie eventually showed up with pizza, and then we played Left Center Right with dollar bills, and exchanged Dirty Santa gifts. I ended up with a coffee mug, and Summer got a snowglobe. I think only a couple people stole gifts, which kind of spoke to how silly most of them were. In hindsight, I wished I had stolen the Really Loud Librarians game that someone else got.

We eventually had to leave, and made our way to Conway for a quick charge before heading home. Eaddie went to bed as soon as we got there, as did Summer. I wasn’t far behind after such a long day.

Gotta get the kids gambling their lunch money!

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Just Breathe

My blood pressure wasn’t fantastic when I got up this morning, but it was my “normal” high level. Summer left for work after we fed the dogs, and I made myself an egg and cheese biscuit for breakfast again. I followed that with a banana and grilled cheese since I was slightly low on potassium. I started both my 5mg amlodipine and 25mg metoprolol, then tried to relax a bit on the computer before taking a shower.

My numbers kept climbing for a while before they kind of leveled out again. It had me a bit worried, but I eventually felt confident enough to take the dogs out for a ride. I even put Max’s antler from the Grinch on Stilgar, and he didn’t oppose it at all. Muad’Dib kept wanting to bite at it, but I eventually told him “no” enough that he quit altogether. Stilgar wore the headband the entire way to the Ridgewood Brothers to see the crew there.

Everyone came out and was super excited for either the Onewheel or the dogs. Even Robert took a spin on the Onewheel, then promptly wiped out. We hung out for a little while before heading back up the road where we stopped to see Mollie at her house. She came out onto the porch for a bit, but we didn’t stay long before heading home. We made our way through the basin where Stilgar wanted to be an alligator. I put the antler on Muad’Dib, but it was really too big for him, and it kept falling down under his chin. I got it back on Stilgar and we made it to my parents’ house, but they weren’t home.

The dogs got hot dogs and food when we got home, and I spent some time relaxing to keep my blood pressure down. It didn’t seem to help, because the longer I sat, the higher it rose. I decided pretty early that I shouldn’t drive by myself to Conway to see Eaddie’s performance. Then I started to get a lump in my throat, and I called Dad to take me to the clinic when I hit 155/102.

Mom drove them to the house and we headed to the clinic in a fashion that had me stressing out even more. As soon as I got checked in, I sat down and then had a dizzy spell like I did at the self-care fair. Things started to get dark and I thought I might black out, so I told my parents to get someone. It didn’t feel like I was met with as much urgency as I intended, but I pulled out of my spell enough to talk to the ladies that came out. Much like the urgent care clinic, they couldn’t really do anything for me and instead called the paramedics.

The trucks pulled into the lot pretty quickly, but it took them a while to get inside. I had moved into a wheelchair for ease of mobility, and before the guys came in, I started to have another slight dizzy episode without so much blacking out. They came in and took blood sugar, blood pressure, and my oxygen level, and decided they couldn’t do anything more than DoorDash me to the hospital. They did offer to load me up into our own car so I wouldn’t get a bill, but by the time we finished talking, I was good enough to walk again.

We left the clinic, and I had Mom take me to the house to use the restroom and grab my blood pressure cuff. Then we drove to the hospital and sat in the parking lot for a while, testing my blood pressure several times to see that it was going down. Once it got low enough that I felt comfortable leaving, we went to their house for some food.

Mom made me some mango soup while I watched my blood pressure start to rise again. Summer came over after dropping Eaddie off at home, and we ultimately decided it might be best to go to the hospital. The two of us got to the emergency room and checked in. There were several of us in the waiting room, and strangely, they called everyone back at the same time after a mysterious amount of waiting. Summer and I were in a room near the back and waited a while for a young, Vietnamese doctor to come check me out. My blood pressure had continued to drop a bit, and after recounting the last few days to him, his recommendation was to modify my normal medication timing and then follow up with my PCP. He offered to give me more meds and re-run all of the same bloodwork, but indicated that he didn’t really think it was necessary.

We were eventually discharged, and I suppose I earn enough by now that paying the bill didn’t send me into another event. We went home, Summer crawled into bed, and I wrapped up way too slowly for how tired I was.

Solidarity in healthcare providers.

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Hypertensed

I got up this morning and tested my blood pressure at 119/69, which had me hopeful. Summer was going to stay home with me, but ended up going to work for a while. I took the time to shower and relax a bit before I took the dogs out on a run to Walgreens to get my prescriptions filled. They found a persimmon tree along the way, so I fed them a couple that were hanging low enough for me to reach. Maybe we’ll get a tree out of it next year.

I went ahead and took them back around our normal circuit, though they weren’t behaving super well. In addition, Stilgar had eaten my old cat water jug, which angered me. We made it back home after some tugging along, and I continued my research to pick a new primary care physician. I also waited forever for Summer to finish doing work from home so we could pick up my prescriptions.

I started feeling a little hot behind the ears in the afternoon, and noticed that my pressure was climbing again. Sensing my urgency, Summer got up and we went to get my medicine. I continued to feel slightly worse, so we decided to swing by the Conway Regional clinic to see what they were like. There I encountered two familiar faces: Monalisa, who I don’t think I’d seen since my time at Asurion, and Lelan’s friend Cindy. Mona got me set up with new patient paperwork, which frustrated me further. It’s 2024. Get an iPad.

I think if I had known they were open in the evenings at no additional cost, I would have made my decision a lot earlier to go there instead of the local Baptist Health clinic. My only real gripe was about the lady that took me back and did my notes before the nurse practitioner saw me. She kept yapping loudly in my ear as I was trying to calm myself for her to take my blood pressure. It actually increased noticeably in the time I was in the room with her. The practitioner, Crystal, was wonderful. She came in early and gave me half the dosage of clonidine that I received in the ER the night before, and my pressure started coming down. We talked to her for a bit, she wrote me a prescription for some clonidine to take home, and we scheduled a full workup for January so I can get an early start on my high deductible.

We ran back to Walgreens for the additional meds, then ran home to change for the Christmas parade. My heated vest made me feel pretty fluffy, but it worked – at least around the collar. The body elements could have been warmer, but I couldn’t figure out a way to adjust just the neck. We made it across town and found a space in front of a tree where nobody had sat down. I hated to show up late and then get the best seat in the house, but the guy next to us encouraged us. We waited for Eaddie to pass, then crossed the street again to leave. I didn’t much care for interrupting the parade, but there was noone there to stop us, and Summer insisted.

From there, we went by Kroger for some bananas before I took us to Ridgewood for some food. I spotted Grant and chased him around back where he was trimming some brisket. I talked with him for a little bit, and I think we had a good moment to break through some concerns I had. He walked me through the restaurant and I got some food, and then we headed home.

Summer went straight for a bath while I mostly tried to relax. I kept watching my blood pressure since I couldn’t start a new cycle of meds until the next day. I was concerned that only getting half the dosage of amlodipine wouldn’t be enough, but maybe the addition of metoprolol will make up the difference. Time will tell, but for now, I guess I’m carrying three bottles with me.

Just, like, chill out, man.