Tag: friends

Uncategorised

Blast from the Past

Summer and I got up and out as quickly as we could this morning. I had to run to the house to swap shoes for comfort, then to my parents’ for some meds, and we were almost ready to leave town. Too hungry to wait, we stopped at Sonic to split a chili cheese coney. Then it was off to Fayetteville. Rogers, more specifically, to meet up with Josue. I hadn’t seen him in so long, so we picked him up for a day around town.

Our first stop was the Rogers Splash for a free wash and detail of the Murano, as a fringe benefit of dating company management. Summer had a blast wandering around and chatting with the employees to see how they did things.

Once we were done there, we drove back to Fayetteville to eat at Sassy’s Red House. The food was decent, but for as much as we ordered, I didn’t really feel overstuffed. From there, it was just a quick jaunt down the road to get to Arcadia Retrocade. Neither of them had ever been, and it had been quite a while since I had gone. We only had a couple hours left before they closed, but it was still well worth the fiver just to wander around through the relics.

Summer probably played the most games, bouncing all around the rooms. Yes, rooms. They expanded to the next room over, approximately doubling their size. They had so many more machines down the long ramp, though not much I recognized. It’s incredible just how many arcade machines were made back in the day. The highlight was probably watching Summer blow out an Atari cartridge so she could kick back with a joystick and play some Pac-Man.

We nearly closed that place down to take Josue back home. Then it was a relatively short drive to wrap up the day. We did stop at Braum’s to share a sundae. It was tough winding down early, but we’ve got a loooooong day ahead of us.

But the dawn is breakin’, it’s early morn’.

Uncategorised

Lunch with the Paddler

I got up and took my shower at Summer’s this morning so I could get the kids to school and still have time to get to work myself. It actually worked reasonably well, but I still struggle with the water pressure. I jumped right in to the work orders that had been assigned to me over the past few days, but had trouble completing much of anything. I mostly bounced between Impero and CPPC stuff.

Janie called me to fuss about the policy we were voting for or against removing, and she seemed unwilling to vote for anything other than something that will directly impact those that have been screwed in the past. I hope she wins that fight, but I don’t want that to hold me back from removing redundant or uselessly complicated policies.

I called Allen and planned lunch at Sam’s, and I should have called Dale as well since we saw him at Taco Villa on the way. We had a good size group and had a good time. It was nice to see Allen in public and not looking too scruffy. Retirement looks good on him. While we were there, evidently Brice was sitting across the room and came over to chat, or leer. Or at the very least, awkwardly hover. I really hope they don’t consider him for the job, if only because I don’t want to have to be around to rebuild the entire department when they quit because of it.

We found the bus that would bring Eaddie to my office, so she came over after school and we picked up Autumn after her color guard practice. Autumn really wanted to go to karate but had to go to her band awards ceremony for a grade, and tried weaseling into being toted back and forth across the complete opposite ends of town. We shut her down, and left her at my house so I could get my own chores done.

I dropped Eaddie off at karate, got Summer’s last prescriptions, and then did some work with Mark for about an hour. I had about 10 minutes to chat with Nate across the street before I had to pick her back up, and then we went to get Autumn.

On the way up to Summer, we stopped for some Burger King and had a late dinner. I tried to start on my taxes, but didn’t really get anywhere before I had to get to bed.

The problem with going to the moon is that there is no “up” in space.

Uncategorised

And They Act Like They Forgot About Drapes

I rode the Shadow to work today, and it paid off with a beautiful afternoon. I had to go by Dwight first thing to babysit testing, but of course nothing happened that required anything of me. Karen was right behind me in the office, and had to run to a meeting. When she got back, she said we were having a Classified Personnel Policy Committee meeting next Monday about the salary schedules.

I got back to the shop just in time for lunch, and I met Gary, Zach, Josh, and Brody at Taco Villa. They were busy inside, but we got a perfect table outside for everyone. It actually ended up being a way faster lunch than we usually take, so I stopped by the shop to see Summer before going back to work.

I spent the afternoon helping Josh a bit, and then we went poking around the other dungeon/basement area with Gary, Greg, and Kyle. At the end of the day, I sat in with Ben for a while and chatted. He confirmed the beaded curtain was still in the closet where he originally hid it, so I went back in there and almost immediately found it. I knew it had to be in the box of ceiling tiles, but it just didn’t feel heavy enough and the curtain had fallen down to the bottom of the box. I didn’t notice until I flipped the whole thing upside down and saw a couple beads poking out the bottom.

When I got home, I fixed a webcam for Summer so she could take it to work. Then I went into denial about how hungry I was and dawdled around until I finally broke down and warmed up a can of soup and made some popcorn. It didn’t really satisfy me, but it made me not hungry. In fact, I probably got too full from it all by the time I finished everything.

To wrap up the evening, I finished some laundry while watching the first episode of Superman & Lois. I really just wanted to see how good it was, and it landed about where I expected, if not a little cheesier. It might be a fun watch though, since this was just the pilot.

Just a bunch of gibberish.

Uncategorised

Dos

It started out cool and rainy today. I made it into the shop to discover someone had hidden my bead curtain and pirate flag. More on that later. It was pretty quiet at first, though my attention shifted away from the Apple yet again. This time it was for an AP testing app. The morning went by super fast, and before I knew it, it was time for lunch.

Gary and Zach chose Sam’s since we didn’t go yesterday. I got the jambalaya, which was awesome. For some reason it came out super late, so the others were halfway through their meals by the time I started. Then Gary surprised us by paying for our meals.

After lunch, I had to get my second COVID shot at central office. Gary and I went together, and while we were there, we were pulled aside several times to fix various things. That lead to the discovery that Jason had never set up PaperCut for them, and basically everything would be a rebuild from scratch. Already down in manpower, we left that to be a problem for Future Us.

When I left work, I stopped by Mark’s to try and help with something, but he didn’t have time to chat after I had been unsure of how I’d feel after getting my shot. Instead, I ran across the street to chat with Robert and Grant for a while. Then I went to my parents’ for a little bit.

Noah had taken the girls home from school, and Autumn was supposed to grill brats for dinner, so Summer had me run to the store for salad and buns. It wasn’t until we got home that we discovered the kids had gone to Brick Oven after school instead, so Summer and I went out for a quick date night.

I mentioned having gone to Sam’s for lunch, so she decided we should go again for chicken livers. I got my usual 3x3x3 which turned into 5x4x3. I also learned that I do not care for fried green tomatoes. I only ate a little bit of my food after feeling full from everything else, so we packed up our leftovers and I took Summer home.

By the time I got home, my shot arm had tightened to the point that it hurt all the time. I didn’t have a fever, but was cold enough to wear a robe. Hopefully I’ll feel well enough to go to work tomorrow, but only for the sake of winning this month’s attendance award. We’re halfway there.

DOH! DOGE!

Uncategorised

Bike Day

Eaddie and I got up this morning and rode the Shadow to the Ridgewood Brothers for lunch. I called Dad and had him meet us there too, and Grant was so excited to see all of us. I finally got to try the cheddar jalapeño sausage, and it was fantastic. I had the bronco sandwich, which had a link on it, and got an extra one to go as well. Felix was feeling some attitude today, but overall came through in taking care of us.

After we ate, we ran by the shop to share some banana pudding with Summer. Then Eaddie and I took a long motorcycle ride around town. We went around the marina, peeping at houses along the way. Then we took a slow cruise through the park before continuing up the mountain and back down to Old Post. She wanted to get off and play around in the park a bit, so we goofed around a bit and had some swing time. Sheri spotted me and came by to ask if I would be applying for Ben’s job. I appreciated that she at least said I would be good at it.

Once Eaddie got tired of the park, we went back up the mountain and finished the Skyline loop before making it back home. We watched a couple episodes of House, and then she took off on her bicycle while I poked around the garage some more. It was just the smallest amount of organizational progress, but at least it was something. Eventually I needed a break and took the R1 across town to deliver the CPL sticker I had forgotten to bring Grant earlier in the morning. We chatted for a little while more before I headed home.

Eaddie met me there, and we drove back up to Summer’s for the evening. Autumn was feeling moody, I suppose, and secluded herself as usual. Eaddie convinced Summer to watch a couple episodes of Glee, which finally got us started on the final season. At this point I’m just ready to be done with the show. It’s so far beyond everything that I used to love about it, so I’m ready to move on to the next thing.

Riding around town was more fun than the long highway ride to the rally, and the barbecue was leagues better too.

Uncategorised

Like the Snake?

When I got up and around, Autumn was already fussing about being hungry and not liking whatever I could possibly come up with. She tried convincing Eaddie to ride their bikes to Arby’s for lunch so they could take some to Summer at work. I told her it was raining, but she insisted she could just wear a hoodie until we opened the garage and she saw the deluge with her own eyes.

I had my shower, then took them on home for the day. It wasn’t long until Mark responded, and I went to his office to do some more printer finagling. When I finished up, I still had a little time to kill before the kids had to be at karate, so I ran across the street to see if either of the Bros. were there.

That’s when I met Nate. Nate seemed pretty cool; a younger guy, a professor at Tech. We chatted for a little bit until Grant showed back up. We had a couple laughs before Summer got off work. Then she took the girls to karate and met me at Brown’s for dinner. I still had my birthday coupon, after all.

It must have been RSD past and present night, because I saw Denise, Tammy, Josh, and Kristin all scattered throughout the dining room. I couldn’t blame them, because the food was delicious. I ate too much, but the fact that I couldn’t burp from my root beer that really hurt me.

Summer headed on home while I got the girls. I had to drop Autumn off at her grandparents’ house for the night, then took Eaddie home to shower and get a change of clothes before coming home for the night. Summer was already in bed when we got there, so Eaddie and I watched some House until bedtime.

Go for the fish. Stay for the chicken.

Uncategorised

That’s a Surprise

I slept in super hard this morning, but got up and around for an early lunch. We cleaned up some leftovers, then tried to keep the kids motivated to clean the house in preparation for the evening. Eventually it came time for me to leave for my shower, so it was up to all the girls to get things rolling.

While I was gone, Melinda picked Summer up for their pedicures. I arrived back at the house shortly thereafter with a fresh bag of ice and the hamburgers, and we did our last little bit of prep work before the guests started to arrive. Ronda, Steven, and Maleea showed up first, but were quickly followed by Suzanne, John and Melissa, Noah, and my parents. We had a house full of relative strangers to each other, and I was busy slicing vegetables and running the grill. Had I known the nail salon was running behind, I would have slowed way down, but for all I knew, I had about half an hour to get things rolling.

Around 6:40, Melinda showed up with Summer and we did our level best to surprise her. Ronda had the great idea to have all the friends stand back, so the kids and my parents jumped out first with a couple big confetti poppers. Then as she came further into the house, everyone else jumped out and surrounded her for a second surprise. It was hugs all around, except for Eaddie, who got totally got skipped.

Summer had a blast and was so excited to see everyone. The food turned out pretty well after Steven helped me keep the grill from going up in flames. The decorations Melissa brought were just the right touch, and Suzanne’s cake was amazing. I almost couldn’t believe we pulled it off. I did forget to toast the buns with butter on the griddle, but I suppose there’s always next time for the gourmet experience.

John and Melissa had to take off pretty quickly to get their kids. Dalia was going to show up late after closing at work, but she actually arrived at a pretty decent time since the pedicures took an extra hour to complete. As everyone eventually filtered out, the kids did a quick sweep up to get the house livable again. I ran across town to deliver some cake to John, then went home to trade my contacts for glasses.

Everyone was ready for bed by the time I got back, so I tinkered around for a little while, and eventually went off to bed.

Fool me once, shame on… shame on you. You fool me, you can’t get fooled again.

Uncategorised

Now That’s How You Wedding

Summer made an assortment of foods for breakfast this morning. My leftover Popeye’s biscuit with sausage, egg, and cheese didn’t need any of the hollandaise sauce she made, but was equally delicious. I left shortly after that to take a shower and make it to Mark’s to work on some printer configurations. I was a bit surprised when I received a negative test page that was covered in toner and white text.

I had to cut that short after some gossip in order to get back home and ready for a wedding. Summer’s employee Justin was getting married, and I still had to tie an eldredge knot. I made it up the hill to pick up Summer and Autumn, and we ran to Lamar for the wedding.

We arrived at the Bacchus Family Adventure Farm, and were pretty charmed by what they had laid out. The weather was just perfect. There was a covered, open air pavilion for the ceremony, and then a petting zoo just up a little hill. The ceremony wasn’t quite the shortest I had ever seen, but it also wasn’t held in a cold, windy gazebo at the park in the dark of night. It really was perfect. The petting zoo had a surprising assortment of critters willing to eat some Fruit Loops. Then the reception area was really nicely done as well.

The surprise of the trip was the number of people I knew. Kelli was a bridesmaid. Carl, who I hadn’t seen in years, works with the bride. Being awkward as ever, I waved him and his friend(?) over to sit with us. It was a really great time catching up. I hope every wedding I ever have to attend for the rest of my life is more like this.

When we got back to town, I dropped the girls off to pack, then headed home. When they got there, we watched the first episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I thought it was fantastic how such different types of stories all fit so perfectly in the same universe. Summer thought it was stressful. She went on to bed afterward, and Eaddie and I watched some YouTube, then an episode of House before she passed out in my lap.

Yes, the carnivorous arctic fox you see here in Arkansas just loves carrots.

Uncategorised

A Lot

I got the Shadow out again today, but as soon as I hit the street I realized how frigid the air was. Fortunately I was only going to the high school, so it was a quick trip and I thawed out quickly. There, I dropped off a bunch of patch cables and helped Mike with a couple work orders in the office. Then I made it back to my office for the rest of the day.

Zach and Gary wanted Linh’s, which sounded great to me. The service was actually really good, but my noodles were either overcooked or under dried and I had to finish with a spoon. The weather for the ride back was much nicer, but it had still been cloudy for most of the day as far as I could tell.

I kept pretty busy with a couple short term projects that would help later down the road, and even worked a bit late since the girls got a ride to karate. When I finally left, I went by the shop to see Summer and drove past Kevin on the way, who eyeballed me pretty hard on the different bike.

I went to my parents’ house for some leftovers and then had a pretty good talk with them about all things past, present, and future. Then I headed back across town, deciding to swing by Kevin’s place on the way home. He had just gotten home from mountain biking and was in the driveway putting his bike away, so we chatted for a long time outside.

He caught me up on a ton of stuff I’ve missed since we’re horrible at keeping up with each other. I’ve missed being around him and the rest of the crew even though I was only around for a couple months before I left for the school district. I let him take the Shadow around the block. A little while later, Mayra rolled around the corner only just getting home from work. She jumped out and chatted with us for a bit with her own relationship drama as we each wrapped up to go home.

Isn’t that the kind of thing they run marathons for?

Uncategorised

Imperotive

It felt super cold today from how wet it’s been. I went to the high school first thing, and sat in with Mike all day. I tried to just be there so he could ask his questions, and guide him on a few work orders. He’s still having trouble keeping on task and closing out some of the simpler ones, so hopefully we can break him out of that before the start of school when it becomes much more overwhelming.

Lunch came around pretty quickly, and I picked up some Arby’s and surprised Summer at work. After we ate, I went to the shop and ended staying there the rest of the day, poking at Impero and contacting support so we can spin up another server to support all of the client connections we have.

The girls went to dinner with their father, so I went home and waited for Summer to get off work. She ended up just going home afterward anyway, which was a better choice all around anyway. Becky came by and dropped off a tiny painting she made me for Christmas, and we chatted for a little bit before I went to my parents’ house for dinner. Then it was back home for a cold, quiet evening.

Peek-a-moo!