Tag: friends

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Birthday Boo!

We all slept a little late today. I didn’t see Eaddie at all because she was starting band stuff and would be out all night. I had a stomach ache that lasted from the early morning hours on through about lunch time, and it may have been from the greasy hog meat.

I tried to clean up a little bit, but was kind of scattered all day. I jumped from task to task and couldn’t really focus on anything. I keep filling up with worry and then don’t accomplish much.

The big event for the day was Grant’s surprise 40th birthday party. Summer went to the gym and I was going to grab some food before the party, but then Dad said they had spring rolls. Muad’Dib and I drove over to eat quickly before going to the marina visitor’s center.

I took the Onewheel with us so I could give Muad’Dib a run around the park. Blake and Mitch beat us there, and we stood outside talking with Robert and some of the other folks. It was a pretty good turnout, and a nice, quiet place to have the party. When Grant’s mom got the text that they were on the way, I had to put Muad’Dib in the car because of a “no pets” sign. Several of us recorded the surprise, and then we got to eating the catered Subway sandwiches while Grant made his way around the room.

Summer came ot get Muad’Dib after she finished at the gym, and they went on a run before going back home while I visited with the group. We weren’t out super late, and I stopped by the Neighborhood Market for some shampoo before getting back to the house. Then it was a quick night to bed.

Gross.

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And This Little Piggie

Summer left for work and I caught up on some sleep with Muad’Dib, though I don’t think he was as deprived as me. We eventually got up and I took a shower around the same time that Eaddie got up. Then I ran Muad’Dib down to Ridgewood Brothers to check out their whole hog event. Along the way, we encountered a house with a water leak around their water meter, so I rang the doorbell. I didn’t get an answer, so I called the emergency number at City Corp to report the trouble.

I kind of thought they were going to have more going on at the restaurant, but it just seemed like business as usual. They were busy, but I don’t know if it was any more busy than usual. Summer met us there, but ended up taking Muad’Dib to the store for bread and ice while I stood in line. She had to take the ice to the shop while I worked my way forward to get three pounds of meat, a baked potato, and some of their Carolina slaw.

I stepped outside to chat with Grant, Kyler, and their guest smoker, Rich Pettitt until Summer got back to pick me up. It was cool to hear about their overnight smoke, and then we went back to the house to eat.

I spent the afternoon working on Vine reviews while Summer went to the gym, but I didn’t get as many done as I really needed. It was just so hot in the house that it was difficult to get motivated. The afternoon and evening went by quickly.

Summer made it to bed, but Muad’Dib really needed a run, so I took him out until it got dark. He got a vacuum when we got home, and then I wrapped up while the girls chatted in the bedroom for a while.

Went, “wee, wee, wee!” to the moon and back.

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Southern Tails

I’m having trouble finishing up some tasks at work because of the randomness of it all, and from simply not knowing what I’m doing every time I receive a new one. Rhonda came up first thing and said her internet wasn’t working. I checked the switch and everything seemed fine there, so Muad’Dib and I went down to have a look. Peyton was having trouble as well, and while Muad’Dib and Bear were playing, Bear peed on the ground. Peyton cleaned that up, and as soon as he walked out, Muad’Dib peed on the trash can, so I had to clean that up. Fortunately it didn’t take terribly long for me to find that their DNS settings were manually set to the old domain controller, which I had inadvertently turned off, but shouldn’t have been used for DNS any longer anyway.

I took Muad’Dib outside for some impressive and unexpected zoomies around the parking lot. He had wild eyes, and his tongue flew back in the wind as he sprinted in a figure-eight. We eventually made it back upstairs and started poking at the old server and the old virtual domain controller. The server had been running out of space, and it looked to be from backups of its own database, so that’s something for me to clean up.

We eventually took a break and went to Taco Bell for lunch since they had a couple tables outside. I wasn’t expecting it to be so hot in the sun, but it was blazing with only a few clouds in the sky. He did well while I ate, but then snuck through the door the second time I went back inside to throw my trash away. One of the employees shooed him out behind my back, so I took him out and put him in the car.

I spent some time in the afternoon looking at our security cameras, trying to figure out why the IPs appeared to match our existing scheme, but also may have been duplicating IPs. Confusingly, I think it’s on a completely different physical network and they just happened to use some of the same range.

At the end of the day, I changed into some shorts and we headed to Southern Tail in Little Rock to meet Mitch, Blake, and their friend Aaron. We got a table outside and pretty quickly got into some food. We expected at least one other person who never showed. I was super disappointed in the portions with my chicken sandwich, and I didn’t love the fried green tomatoes. It seemed like the fish and chips have been the only really impressive thing I’ve had there, and that was mostly because it was salmon. Muad’Dib did great though, and we had a good time chatting, though it was a bit more scattered in conversation than the last couple times we visited. It was an enjoyable evening though, and then we eventually made it back home and straight to bed.

What’s eating you‽

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One Step Two Step Red Step Blue Step

Kevin checked in to see if I contacted Diamond Ridge, and ended up calling Jon to get things moving for me. I wanted to be respectful of his time and work/life balance, but Kevin gave me Jon’s personal cell to work things out.

Rhonda got a little fussy about the automation I created for shipment documentation, but without invoking more human involvement, there wasn’t much I could do to improve the automation. It seemed simple enough to sort files by date, but after our conversation about phone storage the other day, I don’t guess I was surprised to hear she felt it was impossible to find what she needed.

Muad’Dib and I went to Sonic for lunch again since it was still nice out. We shared a toaster, but he couldn’t have any onion rings. I did risk giving him some of the breading though. Later in the afternoon, I was invited downstairs for some leftover ice cream with the team.

Jon called on my way back home, and said he would have someone visit us tomorrow. I stopped at AT&T to see Kevin, and brought Muad’Dib inside. He was busy with a customer, but Hope came out and found me. We chatted for a while, and Kevin would come over periodically while his customer was, presumably, transferring stuff between devices.

I left there and stopped to see Summer at the wash, and tried to vacuum Muad’Dib’s seat protector. That went fairly poorly, so I’ll just need to remove it and shake it out. It wouldn’t hurt to hose it off either. As soon as I got to the house, Muad’Dib and I rode over to my parents’ house for fish soup.

After that, the girls were home and I sat down to talk with Summer for a while. Then we tried to find something to watch on the bedroom TV, but she fell asleep almost immediately.

A Leash Called “Obedience”

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Hope Dangles on a String

Summer had a race in Clarksville this morning, but declined the suggestion that we could all get up early to go with her, then continue to the greater Fayetteville area immediately after. She wanted to come home to shower first.

I am right, I swear I’m right. Swear I knew it all along.

We had plenty of time to get around, so I watered my plants before jumping into the shower. Once everyone was ready, we headed out and picked Eli up before hitting the road. We stopped at Dodge’s in Clarksville for some hot wings, and ran into Autumn just as we were leaving.

Scars are souvenirs you never lose. The past is never far.

We made it all the way to Lowell to charge. There was a queue before we could plug in, but there were only a couple of cars ahead of us and it went pretty quickly. I had never experienced that before, but it wasn’t bad at all.

And I’d give up forever to touch you.

I had previously texted Shawna and actually got a response that she wouldn’t be joining us for the concert. I planned to transfer the ticket to her, but I couldn’t do that until closer to the event, and even then she didn’t want it. Brandon was able to join us, so we planned to meet him for dinner.

I’ve got my defenses when it comes to your intentions for me.

Once charging was done, we went to Goodwill to kill a few minutes. We ended up grabbing a telescope stand for Dad, and then headed to Chuy’s to meet Brandon. There was a relatively short wait, and then service was pretty sparse, but the food was good.

My hopes are so high that your kiss might kill me.

After dinner, we walked to the amphitheater with plenty of time to find seats on the packed lawn. I skipped the merch until after Dashboard Confessional. They did a great show, followed by a wonderful, much larger show by the Goo Goo Dolls. All I could do was think about how the evening was supposed to go.

I’m not the one who broke you. I’m not the one you should fear.

Brandon took off a little bit early. We left at the very end and got on the interstate without any fuss. We probably didn’t have to stop, but the car routed us to Ozark for a quick charge before making it home. I gave Muad’Dib a quick vacuum and washed his feet, and then they were all off to bed.

I wanna wake up where you are.

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Aisle 5

Summer went to the gym this morning, then came home and mowed the lawn. I slowly chipped away at the dining area, trying to get things to their forever homes for further processing. Eaddie left to help Maristella find a dress for Jaylinn’s wedding in the afternoon, so she was gone all day. I stopped at some point and called Summer in to have some late lunch, because I knew she wouldn’t take a break otherwise. I felt like she was disappointed in me for most of the day, but I tried to keep things moving.

Mom made chow mein for dinner, so we eventually made our way over there to eat. We brought Muad’Dib along, and he was a little bit too excited. He kept wanting to come inside, and after giving him some water, he came in and sat under the dinner table, which prompted Mom to leave and eat in the living room. Apart from that, I had brought along a water gun I received from Vine, and found myself disappointed in the number of shots it could hold.

We made it back home before very long, and settled in for the night. Eaddie wasn’t long behind us, and sat quietly while Summer did her nails and I flipped through things on the TV. Summer and I watched the next episode of Ironheart and Eaddie went to her room, but then she came out and said Maristella and one of her sisters had showed up unexpectedly. We encouraged setting boundaries, and even offered to be the “bad guys,” but they came in and watched a movie in her room.

Summer was beat after just one episode, so she went to bed. Eaddie was up fairly late even after Maristella left. I was up even later than that, but without purpose.

Okay, maybe it’s silly to hoard bread at our household income level.

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Breaker Breaker 1-8

I got out early enough to stop at Hardee’s for a Frisco breakfast sandwich on the drive in to work. After driving all the way to North Little Rock yesterday, today felt like a breeze. Teisha wasn’t there yet, so Joel gave me a quick tour upstairs and showed me to my office. It took a little work to get into my laptop due to two-factor and unfamiliarity with their setup, but we eventually got it. I rearranged very lightly until Teisha came to get me and start my paperwork downstairs.

We worked on that for a bit, and then she gave me a tour of the downstairs. It will take me quite a while to familiarize myself with everyone there. When we got to the customer service office, they had a tiny, fluffy dog hanging out in there. I tried not to get too excited, but it would be neat to be able to bring Muad’Dib on occasion.

I finished the morning reading through training documentation, which mostly didn’t really apply to my role, but had to be done. Then I left around lunch time so I could get back to town for my hematologist follow-up. I stopped at Taco Bell in Morrilton to get something to eat on the drive, and ran into Francis as they drove through the drive-through. He stopped to chat, and then I got my order and hit the road.

I was worried about being late, but when I got to Genesis and started to check in, I noticed the clock said I was an hour early. My guess was that the laptop was in the wrong time zone, so I left an hour earlier than I needed to. Fortunately they were able to squeeze me in, and the doctor tried to get me on a lower regimen of iron and a return visit in six months. I suggested instead that I should just call it good and walk away. He seemed surprised, but then agreed that a follow up with my PCP would be good enough to monitor my status before deciding to proceed with any specialist treatment.

When I had just gotten into town, I passed Suzanne and called to see if she wanted to get together. After my appointment, I met her, Dawn, and her dog Elvis at Point Remove for beer and pizza. We chatted for a long while in a mostly empty taproom, and I avoided fussing about stolen valor with their fake service dog.

I went home after that, and Eaddie was in the shower. I discovered Muad’Dib had chewed up a bunch of stuff he had evidently pulled off of Summer’s dresser. I tried cleaning up a bit, and when Eaddie finally presented herself, I addressed the fact that I had disabled her Discover card after I found she had thrown away a bunch of good stuff, including a metal spoon from our silverware drawer. She walked back to her room, left out the pizza box that she didn’t finish, and then came back out to leave, saying she wished I had brought it up sooner. She was super upset, got choked up, and nearly started to cry, which I didn’t completely understand. My goal was to address it with her in a way that wasn’t demeaning or embarrassing in front of her friends the night before, so I really don’t know how I could have approached it any better.

Summer was home shortly after that, and we talked about it. That went fairly expectedly, and then I walked Muad’Dib around the block while she took a bath. He had been outside all day, so I gave him a bath when we got home. The girls talked at some point, and then we all talked together, and then they talked, and then Eaddie came to talk to me. She just wants us to split up, plain and simple. I don’t feel like I’ve been taken seriously as a disciplinarian, and at this point she’s already on her way to living her own life anyway. I’ve done what I can, and I don’t expect to make any sweeping changes on a weeknight after my first day at a new job. Maybe we’ll figure it out tomorrow.

So you’re just gonna like… trust me?

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All of This Has Happened Before

Summer left this morning for a local race. She said she was going to take Muad’Dib, but she didn’t. I got out of bed a little later, seemingly stuck in a time loop.

When she got back from winning first in her age division, she woke Eaddie up and they eventually went to get the stuff to bake the birthday cake for the party tomorrow. I cleaned up in the kitchen so Summer would have room to work.

My head has been spinning out, and I just felt incapacitated for much of the day. I kept telling myself you have to break things apart to make them better, but sometimes it feels like we’re building it up to break it back down.

Eaddie was in and out of her room all day on her (now) multi-week project of cleaning out her room. Summer was in the kitchen for quite a while making pigs in a blanket and cake.

I learned that Sharon, the recently-retired music teacher from Oakland, had passed, and it tore me to shreds. I was touched by all of the social media posts about her. I had a few of my own unexpectedly deep and meaningful conversations with her in the music room. She was such an incredibly rare, kind, and loving person to have known even for the short time that I passed through that campus, and it broke my heart to hear of her untimely passing.

I had a long shower and tried to pick up around the house a bit more. I heated up some wings for myself and then for the girls in the air fryer, and that worked a treat. It was a light day for meals. Summer had a bath, and we watched all of the available episodes of Ironheart on Disney+. She went to bed, and every time I looked up, another hour ticked by.

All of this will happen again.

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HSTIBBQ

I didn’t think we were getting lunch today because there wasn’t a break in the schedule, so I skipped the keynote and went to Sonic for a breakfast burrito before going to the conference. Being able to eat while the car drives me is really the killer app. I walked into a session and saw Jason, so we caught up briefly before things got started.

After the first session, I saw that they had barbecue for lunch, so I circled the vendor area, found Ben, and then we sat down to eat instead of going to another session. Craig was there as well, so I had him sign my badge as a local celebrity. After lunch, Randy, Dustin, and I sat in on Ben’s presentation about APSRC data projects, and then I had one more session on cyber forensics before the end of the day.

The other Craig and Dustin had to get to The Blitzed Pig early enough that Craig could get set up for karaoke in the evening, so we planned to have lunch super early at Fisherman’s Wharf. I got another car wash before going to the room to clean up. Then I met Randy and Kyle at the restaurant. When Dustin, Craig, Ben, and then David showed up, we realized that we really needed a bigger table and moved to the back corner. David ended up covering us, which was unexpected. We had a great time though, and I got way more full than I expected on my filet Oscar.

I went back to the hotel to clean some of the humidity off of myself, and then called Summer to spend some time catching up. I eventually made my way to The Blitzed Pig for karaoke and drinks on IK’s dime. It was not at all my type of shindig, and it was still super humid outside, but we stuck around through the good, the bad, and the ugly. By the end of it, We had a ton of drink tickets left, so I gave the wheel of them to a waitress when she finally came back around, and asked for as much Fireball as she would bring us.

A little while later, a guy came out with a tray of individual shots, so I poured as many of them into a big plastic cup as I could before he picked up the tray and walked off. He didn’t seem keen on me drinking it all, but my goal was to walk out anyway. They eventually did door prizes, and Randy and I both won. He traded me his Tosy glowing disc for my SSD enclosure, and then we left. I made it back to the room to dump my cup into an old bottle, and I’ll have Fireball for another day.

But you’re still alive.

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Big, Bad Waffle

I hardly got any sleep again last night because I stayed up too late writing reviews, and then when I finally laid down in bed, my mind was racing. I eventually passed out and woke up to a bright orange sun peeking over the horizon beyond the lake. I didn’t take much time to enjoy that before taking a shower so I could meet the guys for breakfast.

I met Randy, Kyle, and Jim at Phil’s Family Restaurant across town, and it was a cute little restaurant in an old house. I ordered their waffle special, and it was a ton of food. The waffle was awful though, and had a rubbery pancake texture like it was just pressed into a waffle maker after it had already been cooked as a pancake. It wasn’t crispy on the outside at all, and they charged me an additional $1.29 for a tiny cup of peanut butter. The servings on the eggs and hashbrowns were enormous though. It said it came with two eggs, but there had to be at least four scrambled on my plate.

I think Randy was the only one that had anything scheduled today. I was pretty sure I told Maggie I wanted another class in the afternoon, but I didn’t get anything. Jim disappeared, and I don’t know if Randy took Kyle to sneak into another class, but I ended up heading back to my room by myself, but I stopped at Proglide Car Wash first because I was long overdue.

I ended up signing up for an unlimited plan because they had a $10 special for their best wash. When I got around to the entry, I saw that they had a guide that I was worried about hitting, so I stopped and talked to one of the employees. He insisted they had never had any trouble with Teslas, so I took the chance. I wasn’t super excited when the two of them then got some soapy sponges out to try and scrub off the worst parts. I’ve had bug guts with grit in them, and I didn’t want them to scratch my paint. I let it happen though, and made it through the wash without incident. I stopped to vacuum my car, checked the rims and paint, and then went back around for a second wash to get some more of the bird poop that it couldn’t remove the first time. The guy cleaned it off by hand, and then I finally made it back to the hotel.

I worked all day on Vine reviews to try and get my ratio up, and I’m still showing only 80% reviewed for some reason. I can’t seem to figure out how they’re calculating their number. Beverly Hills Cop II was on, so I watched most of that, followed by some of Beverly Hills Cop. That seemed counterintuitive, but what do I know? A storm started to roll in, and I watched part of the new RoboCop remake. Eventually I met Randy and Kyle downstairs and took them downtown to meet Todd at The Rooftop Bar for the ProMAS social.

The food and drinks, and the outdoor restaurant atmosphere was more my speed, even if our server appeared to be the only one serving the entire restaurant, but the guys wanted to move on to the Howard social across town. We went straight to H2O HAWG, the usual biker bar that Woody rents out. We were followed by Sam, the Jessieville coordinator that we had met at the previous place, and we chatted among a small crowd. Kyle, Sam, and I played some darts, and I won a Yeti mug in a drawing at the end of the night.

We got back to the hotel and it was a slow wind down for me. I tried to crunch some more numbers, but I could just never make it work out. Hopefully it all comes together in a couple of days though.

Wing and a Prayer