Tag: friends

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Tread on Me

I slept in pretty hard today, and actually woke up a little later than I wanted. Aaron was already up and ready to get the computers I had for him, but Summer wanted to know if we could get the treadmill he was supposed to deliver to me several years ago. Things actually worked out in our favor, so we went straight up to his house to load up the treadmill. Then after we delivered it to my garage, we went to the shop so he could bring an old, metal, rolling cart back to the house for me too.

Summer had gone to work out, so I did some rearranging in the garage for a bit. Then I met her at Arby’s for a late breakfast/lunch/early dinner. From there, I went back home to clean up because we had to get to Old Post Park for Angela’s end of treatment celebration.

I picked Summer up on the Shadow and we rode down to the park, stopping at Dollar General for some cookies along the way. When we got there, Allen was the first person I saw. I was a bit surprised to see him and Charlotte there, but I was glad they were. I was really disappointed in the number of people that showed up, especially from Oakland. I really thought it would be a big deal. It was still nice to visit with everyone though, and Summer was really entertained by Michael’s personality, never having spent any time around him before.

While we were there, Michael let me ride a Trek mountain bike that he had converted to an e-bike. It was really neat, because I didn’t really feel the motor doing anything and I still felt like my legs were getting a workout, but it kept my speed up enough that I could feel the breeze on such a nice day.

After winding the party down, I took Summer back to my house to trade for the Murano, and then we went to her place for the evening. Aunt Beth got back eventually, after spending the day cleaning up at their parents’ house. Summer settled in for bed pretty quickly, but the others stayed up surprisingly late. I got stuck shopping at Kohl’s for longer than I should have, but eventually made it to bed.

I feel like there’s progress, anyway.

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Three Meals a Day

I got up a little bit early this morning so I could go by McDonald’s for a free “Thank You” meal for working in education. Even being out of the house early, the line at the drive-through was slow enough to make me a few minutes late to work. The morning was otherwise pretty quiet as I worked on a couple different projects.

Suzanne came by the shop a little bit before lunch just so she could see my office, and then we went to Linh’s to eat. It was nice catching up a little more since this was really only the second time we’ve talked in several years. After that, I spent the rest of the school day at Oakland taking care of some work there.

Just as school let out, I went to the high school to talk to Ethan and one of his kids that was wanting to compile some C++ code but couldn’t run the executables due to our security restrictions. We discussed some workarounds and basically settled on having a couple unrestricted computers for his overachieving students to use.

As I left work for the day, I realized that Summer was at the high school as well for a marching competition. I went on home to clean up, and then met her at Chili’s for a date night while the girls were both at the competition.

When I got back home, I got right to cleaning carpets again. The water still isn’t coming up clear, but it wasn’t crispy either. Hopefully I can be done for a while after today, but if it’s still bad, I have some ideas for tomorrow’s cleaning session.

Heck, it took 30 years to make it. It’s not coming out overnight.

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Mini Reunion

It was an odd and quiet day at work today. I heard a lot from Brody as usual, but not so much from anyone else. He’s been putting some work into learning his way around some of the Apple stuff, and was shocked to learn that doing so makes him the leading expert now.

I ended up taking a late lunch break and picking up a couple sandwiches from Subway, then surprised Summer at work. We ate quickly, and then it was back to work. It wasn’t until the end of the day that Gary came around to my office and chatted for a bit about this weekend’s class reunion. He seemed to think I should have just come out, but also understood why I didn’t. Fortunately he and a few of the people I actually did care about were getting together at Taco Villa for dinner, so he invited me out for that.

Most everyone was there by the time I pulled up. Robert and Grant were talking to Mike, and Gary and Jon showed up right after I did. The building was packed as usual, but we squeezed in and got our orders placed. Then Gary and I just carried food outside for everyone so we weren’t using up all the oxygen in the place.

I mostly sat and listened, but I was glad the others had a chance to catch up. It was a proper boys night out, and I got to hear stories about Jon being a shithead. That was most of the stories. Grant did show us their building design, and hopefully the bank will sign off so they can break ground soon.

We didn’t stay terribly late, and I went home for the night. I had to scrounge up enough packaging to ship off an old TV remote I sold on eBay. I honestly never thought it would sell, but here we are. It wasn’t worth much, but it’ll pay for lunch… or half of lunch.

Keep it short. It’ll be less awkward.

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Buddy Thing

I didn’t let myself sleep in today, and got up to finish the leftover chicken tacos from weeks ago. Summer got the girls up and around, and eventually we left for a day in Conway. We went to Kohl’s first so Summer could look for some clothes. As we finished up, I wanted to run through the guy’s clearance, and that’s where I ran into Kyle and Terri. It was great getting to catch up with him for a bit, because it’s been ages since I’ve seen them since they moved to Conway.

As they had to run, the girls rushed me out so we could find some food. We landed on Golden Corral since we had over an hour to kill before the movie. I stuffed myself pretty silly and paid the price in various cramps during the show. Venom wasn’t even playing in 3D at all back home, so we settled for a smaller screen in Conway again.

The movie was relatively forgettable, much like the first. It was mostly a buddy film, with not much of a story, especially for an iconic villain. I was glad to see them fold the cinematic universes together at the end, though It was a bit jarring how they did it. The whole thing felt super forced, so hopefully the final result isn’t awful. I think we’re going to be going off the rails from here on out though.

When we made it back home, the girls got ready for bed. Eaddie and I stayed up for a couple episodes of House, where we got to a less procedural episode. I like it when they try different things like that in long-running shows.

Disappointment is anger for wimps.

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Can Michael Go Home Now?

It was another cold ride in to work this morning. We had a brief team meeting, where Thomas updated us on some procedures including timesheets. We all hate them, nobody looks at them, and as far as I know, we don’t even send them anywhere. I’ll almost prefer to have a timeclock system over a superficial policy over a technicality.

From then on, we didn’t have much else going on. The morning went by super fast, and then almost all of us ended up at Western Sizzlin for lunch. Kyle got a baked potato for like three bucks, which was genius, because he got the full potato bar with it for hardly any money. I’ll have to remember that trick.

When we got back to the shop, Kelsea was outside trying to change her tire because it was “10 PSI” low and kept slowly leaking. We tried to convince her to just drive it to a gas station to get some air, but she insisted on changing it instead so she could drive to Conway to have it fixed under warranty. I ran home to get my impact wrench and a floor jack, but by the time I got back the guys had already changed it using the emergency tool kit. Not only that, but there was a tow truck there to pick up her car, so I doubly didn’t understand why she insisted on changing the tire there. It all seemed very dramatic, and evidently I wasn’t the only one that thought she had gone a bit nuts.

The rest of the afternoon was quiet until everyone filtered out a bit early. I stayed a bit late as I finished up some things, then went home to change before meeting Summer at Walmart for some guacamole ingredients. I chopped everything up, she mashed it all together, and then we were off to John and Melissa’s.

We were the first to arrive, then Veronica actually showed up, and finally Travis arrived with the pizza. We ate and chatted around the table. No games made it out, as we just reminisced about the old days, and caught up with Veronica’s adventures. Johnny periodically came out to ask if we were all leaving yet, and for the longest time we weren’t. Until we did.

It was really good to see Travis in good spirits, and it really reminded me more of our time working together when he was a much higher functioning human being, contributing to society instead of hiding out at home with his mother. I had a great time catching up.

How do you make a dead baby float?

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Gossip Girl

I woke up about 15 minutes before my alarm this morning, to the sound of my security cameras going off from the lightning outside. I never heard it storm overnight, but it was mostly clear the rest of the day. I squeaked into work and spent about an hour answering questions before getting into much else.

I ended up going to Oakland before lunch, and then took lunch to go home and finish up some leftover grilled hotdogs from a couple weeks ago. It was actually kind of nice to have a quiet lunch to myself.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty quiet as well, until my phone started going off with all the gossip chatter of our Facebook group chat. I never cared for the gossip, and said as much. I didn’t expect that to be particularly well received, but I wasn’t planning to hold it back either. That got Travis on the defensive the rest of the evening, but at least he quit going on and on.

I finished the day at Oakland, working a bit late to try and figure out a SMART board. I figure the controller went bad or something, so I gave up for the day and went to my parents’ house for some leftover phở. Once Eaddie was done with karate, I picked her up and we went to my house so I could change before taking her home.

Summer was winding down. Autumn came in late from after school events. I watched the schoolboard meeting just out of curiosity, but didn’t learn much other than that the general public seemed overwhelmingly in favor of spreading COVID. I had Eaddie read our group chat just to see if I was the asshole, and she finally concluded that I was, but just as I had said, that didn’t make me any less right. She just seemed to think that what I said didn’t change anything, but it did at least serve to change the direction of the conversation, which was my entire goal in the first place.

We finished the night with an episode of House before everyone made it off to sleep.

Don’t be silly. If anything, I’d be solar-lighting you.

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Hyper Extensionism

I had a bit of trouble getting to sleep last night, but this morning wasn’t too bad once I got home and ready for work. I actually made it in a few minutes early and got to settle in, then spent a good portion of the day helping others as they came through. It was a Carly Rae Jepsen kind of morning, and I was surprised to find a new album waiting for me.

Zach, Gary, and I met Greg at McAlister’s for lunch, and I struggled to get cellular data and their app to cooperate. Eventually I was able to redeem my 30-day tea pass from the free cup day Autumn and I attended, but the subscription never showed up on my account. The girl at the counter took care of me, but I’ll have to see if it shows up on my account tomorrow, or at least next month when I return for the BOGO-next-month deal. It was really the only way the $10 baked potato would be even remotely equitable.

After lunch, I tried digging into a couple of deployments that took up the rest of the day. My phone continued to ding as Travis relayed stories of things he had learned of his wicked ancestors after his mother passed recently. That continued through work and into the evening.

I stopped by the shop to see Summer briefly on the way home, then continued with my final two loads of laundry to complete t-shirts and empty out the new hamper for restructuring. I’ll be glad to get this old floral loveseat out of here. I just wish I had a better place to store my shirts.

Eggscellent.

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The Grill of My Dreams

I got up this morning and had some more leftovers for breakfast. I thought we might get out to teach Eaddie to ride the Grom after learning that Arkansas raised the engine size limit for 14-15 year old riders, but she didn’t want to get out of bed. Summer and I ended up going to town to do a little deal and grocery shopping for dinner.

I’d been seeing seasonal deals on grills and outdoor stuff, so I really wanted to look around for a new grill. Summer’s propane grill has seen better days, and Mom and Dad have one like my old one that’s missing the right table side of it. We ended up finding a dual-fuel propane/charcoal one with a griddle insert for $150. Then Summer ran into a couple guys she knew from Autozone that marked one down to $100 for us since it was missing the charcoal door handle. I figured I couldn’t beat that, so we took a price tag, picked up our groceries, and checked out. All that was left was to find someone with a truck to haul it home for me.

I dropped Summer off at her house and then went home to clean up. Brody said he could help me with the grill, so I waited around for him to get back with me. I didn’t realize he was out of town, but eventually he came through. When I got back to Walmart, they had closed the garden center door, so I had to find an employee to help me walk the grill through the store and out the front door. Brody got there just after we got outside, so timing was just about perfect. When we got to my house, he took the turn into my street just a bit too fast and tipped the grill over on its front side, but it didn’t look like there was any damage. We got it down and into the garage, and then I was off to Summer’s for dinner.

Summer made chicken and dumplings, and it turned out really great. I ate way too much though, and the heartburn ate away at me the rest of the night. We watched a couple episodes of Modern Family, and then she went to bed and Eaddie and I watched an episode of House to finish up the fifth season. She still can’t believe the show is still so good this many seasons in, and I keep telling her it gets better. It’s one of the few shows I think they did an excellent job of ending without fizzling out.

After that, I headed back home for the evening to rearrange in the garage a bit. I made just enough room to squeeze past the grill until I can find a cover for it to put it under the porch. I guess now I’ll have to find a way to get my old one to my parents’ house, but that shouldn’t be too bad. The new one is huge though. I can’t wait to try it.

Went looking for a hot deal on a grill, and found a grate one. Job well-done.

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Bring Your Ex-Employee to Work Day

I went home to clean up, then picked Summer and Autumn up to head to Little Rock for another appointment at Children’s. We were early, so we picked Ben up at his office and ate at Cotham’s again. The three of us couldn’t resist the burger, but Ben had the chicken fried steak this time. I also ordered onion rings for an appetizer. All of the food came out super fast, and though the fries weren’t as good as last time, the burger was again incredible. I’ve made up my mind. I must own a flat-top grill.

We finished up a bit early, but we went ahead and dropped the girls off at the hospital so they could get in for the appointment. Then Ben showed me the way back to his parking garage. We walked up a couple flights of stairs, through a breezeway, and above the news studio, which was really neat. I vaguely remember going there, or somewhere similar on a field trip as a child. When we got back to his office, we sat for a little bit before he had me help fish a cable through some conduit in the wall. It was already run through the ceiling, but had to be dropped and terminated, which is kind of my favorite part anyway.

For the next couple hours, we sat in his office and just worked on our own things. I had my work laptop and picked through some email and a couple work orders. We talked about some of the scripts he had running in the past, and the reasons we had for doing certain things the way we did. His predecessor Kendal came in periodically from across the hall as they worked on something, frequently making comments about some “mothership” that I found amusing.

The girls eventually finished up and I picked them up to head toward home. We didn’t play around any more in Little Rock, opting instead to head through to Conway to shop at Sam’s. We walked nearly the entire store before heading out. There was some kind of wreck that had traffic completely stopped on the interstate going the other direction. That was stuck for hours as we drove across town to get a car wash.

Summer went inside to chat for a few minutes, and then we continued home. We had to pick up Eaddie from her friend’s house, and from then everyone settled in surprisingly slowly. I ate some leftover lasagna while Summer had the last half of her burger from lunch. Time just seemed to move a little differently.

Like an annoying little sibling???

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The Brains of This Outfit

I barely got a wink last night, but that was probably also the only reason it wasn’t too hard to get out of bed when my alarm went off. I made it in to work a few minutes early and got settled in. Gary was out sick, so I kept up with things in the office. Greg came back after receiving a negative COVID test, but his daughter never actually tested. I decided to run to Oakland for a bit to close out some tickets before making it back for lunch.

Zach really wanted CJ’s, which nobody else was really excited for, except Thomas. At least we got Zach to drive the five of us up there. I got plenty full and stuck around the office for the rest of the afternoon. Things got really quiet downstairs after Thomas and Zach went to the middle school to do some training. Tammy and I left just after quitting time and I headed home for the night.

Still full from lunch, I didn’t even make it to my parents’ house for more rolls. I just cleaned up a bit, both online and in one of the bedrooms. I even listed a single item on eBay – a TV remote for which I’ve never owned the TV. This is a gruelling process. Josue chatted me up later in the evening, starting the conversation with a picture of an old HP Touchpad I got him years ago. I still have a brand new one sealed in the shipping box under my desk. Evidently they’re still going for quite a bit on eBay. Who knows why.

eBay: where everything has value for some reason