Tag: friends

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Check the Cable

Today was very busy for me. We got to work immediately started prepping the new computer for Heaven. I brought my adjustable power supply to see if it would help, and that was when I learned that Dell power supplies have a data feed to confirm OEM power, otherwise the CPU gets throttled. I eventually remembered there was a bigger power supply on the breakroom computer, so I stole that for the rest of the day.

It was a good thing I had a frozen breakfast sandwich that I could eat late, because it was another long day without leaving for a break. I had a random anxiety attack just before noon, but luckily it passed quickly without any lingering effects. I eventually got the new computer in place in the early afternoon, but then the video would work during POST, but quit before Windows would load. I went back and forth before giving up until after hours.

Then Amanda needed help with the check printer. I fought it with drivers, but it ended up being a loose USB cable on the computer side. We had only checked the printer side, but the cable was hanging off the edge of the desk, which caused enough tension to lose connectivity.

I skipped lunch and had some watermelon that Teisha had cut up and divided out for everyone. I did some more troubleshooting, and then went back downstairs after Heaven left to try and figure things out. An hour and a half later, I figured out it was the video adapter I was using. Apparently it was having trouble negotiating the DiisplayPort signal, which didn’t make sense to me, but I found an adapter that worked.

I finally left, proud to have maybe finally worked longer than Janice. Of course, that wasn’t the case. She and Elizabeth were there much later trying to finish up something else.

I stopped by Harp’s for some beer, and Casey’s for some free slushies. It wasn’t until after I checked out that I realized it wasn’t Friday, and I wouldn’t be getting the slushies for free. I just paid and headed home.

Summer had volunteered to stuff race packet, so I beat her home by a little bit. She took a shower and then we went to New China for dinner. Some of the food was impressively good, but some of it was well below average. While I was getting my first plate, I heard my name from a table behind me. I didn’t recognize him, but it was my old classmate Cecil. If anyone had asked me, I would have said he didn’t even know my name back when we were in school, much less 25 years later. We fist-bumped and carried on.

Muad’Dib had been in the car the whole time we ate, so I took him for a run when we got home. It was dark, but he did great with his headlamp. He ran or jogged swiftly the entire time, almost never slowing down to walk. I let him lead, and he took me on the full route, but skipped the basin on the way to my parents’ house. We visited Dad, then made it home.

Summer went to sleep, Eaddie was out all day and night, and I ended up messaging Dan to ask about his Steam Machine reservation. He had posted earlier that he won the lottery but would probably pass on the purchase. We ended up catching up for a couple hours until I finally had to go to bed, itchy with residual poison ivy oils from something.

POISON!

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Runabout Rock

I had my wellness appointment this morning, and I really wanted to push the anxiety issue I’ve been having. I spent way more time talking to Irene, the nurse, than Crystal, who just came in for a couple minutes and basically asked how I was from across the room. She said she could refer me to a neurologist and run some extra labs, so I gave a little bit more blood and then left.

Summer, Muad’Dib, and I loaded up and headed to Little Rock after that. We went straight to Southern Tail for some lunch since we could take Muad’Dib out on the patio. They were pretty quiet and it was pretty hot outside, but they had sunshades up, and we got to sit on an outdoor couch to eat.

From there, we went up to my old office to see if we could catch Randy or any of the other guys. Anita had been moved to Transportation, and everyone I wanted to see was at HSTI, but I went back and saw Charles, Jimmy, and Gary all sitting on their computers scrolling social media.

We got to Gwatney Collision about half an hour early, but I filled out my paperwork and they got out pretty quickly to take pictures. I didn’t hear about my estimate again, but hopefully I’ll get an email soon. We left and went by the new Tesla service center to see what it was like. The showroom was surprisingly barren, but I talked to a guy named Vaughn(?) for a while before going back to the service department where I met Phillip.

I went back up front and got Vaughn to sign me up for a test drive of a Cybertruck. He had to take me first, but then he dropped me off and I took Summer for a spin. She was surprised at how well it drove and handled, so I guess that was a win.

We stopped once more for Muad’Dib and then headed to Conway for a charge. Summer said “ice cream” while I was thinking it, so we stopped at Kassi’s Cookies for a couple scoops and then made it home. Dad need to go to Walgreens, so I dropped Summer off and then picked him up. We got his prescriptions, then went to the Neighborhood Market to get my own before dropping him back off.

I did some cleanup back home when I got a call with lab results. They said I was a little low on iron, but not as bad as last year. I was also low on vitamin D3, so I’m adding both of those to my regimen. Then I took Muad’Dib for an evening run when it actually felt really nice out. We stopped to see my parents and I had some mango soup, and then we ran home in the twilight and raced to bed.

I asked you what I owed, so don’t send me a bill later!

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The Ugg

I slept a bit more than usual last night and felt pretty good for it. When we got to work, we were greeted by another introduction email from our newest Dell rep – our sixth since I started 11 months ago. I kindly asked her to stop contacting us because I prefer to work with Howard, and she later called to get my rep’s information “to ensure we got our discounts.” I assumed that meant deal registration was a thing outside of the school world, and carried on.

We tinkered with Intune all day, aside from lunch at Sonic. One of the girls offered a pup cup, and then never returned with it. I don’t know if she was told not to, or if she just never had time since they were fairly busy running food in and out. We ate, then went back too continue tinkering with policies.

The drive home was irregularly fast when a couple large SUVs blew past me at nearly 100. I tagged along a ways behind, slowing down as I passed other cars, so as not to be a complete tool. Summer picked up some chicken to cook for salads and we had a great, healthy dinner before I started the sump pump again and took Muad’Dib out for his run.

We weren’t very far along when we spied Grant’s sister blow by us and start blaring her horn in their driveway. Concerned, we ran up to see if everything was okay. I did not expect her to get out of the car and come at me yelling. She made a comment about how many times she hadn’t hit us in the road, as though not committing vehicular manslaughter made her some kind of a saint. When their mom finally came out, I waved at her and let them be, but after we rounded the next corner, we saw her fly through the next intersection in a huff.

We finally made it to my parents’ house, and I pulled the pool robot out for a cleaning. We weren’t there long before it started to rain, so we left in a hurry. Of course the rain just came in harder and we arrived at home completely soaked. I sent Muad’Dib in for Summer to give him a bath while I went out to clean up the sump line. She was nearly done by the time I got back in, and then I took over drying him.

Eaddie was in and out, to see her grandparents. I rushed too get to bed, hoping for a repeat of a good night’s sleep.

And I thought they were ugly… on the outside!

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RingCentral of Fire

We got in this morning and didn’t immediately have to jump into anything. I got settled, warmed up a breakfast sandwich, and got some coffee. Then my morning went off the rails when Amanda called to say that Shane was having phone contact issues again. He tried to call Elizabeth, but got her instead. While I looked into that, he got transferred around to a few people and then eventually landed with me, but the caller ID said Amanda, so I answered the phone as I would with her. That was pretty jarring.

My research and subsequent conversation with support got me through lunch, which I had brought from home. Summer’s chicken pasta was even good reheated. I ate at my desk in the relative quiet, but then it got even quieter when Janice left early. I had the last couple hours to myself.

The drive home was frustratingly slow, with idiot drivers blocking lanes. We made it home to find Summer in the bath. I wanted to take her out for dinner since she had an early mountain-climbing run in the morning, so we ended up dropping Muad’Dib off with Dad and going to Check-H.

Dinner and service were both way worse than last time. The salad was great, but the hot food was pretty terrible. We basically had no service, especially after our server left unannounced. Our last server kind of took over, but only barely, for the essentials. I left more of a tip than I intended because I was distracted when Josh called out to me.

I hadn’t really seen Josh since he left the school, and though he sent me his new number, he never responded to my texts. We got that sorted, and then I took Summer home so I could take Muad’Dib on a run.

The basin had flooded, so I took him around the block where they had bulldozed the local forested area. It was then that I remembered I had ordered a set of heavy equipment keys. We made it home where Summer was shutting down for bed. I played around with Julie and Kevin’s website for a bit, and eventually went to sleep.

Safe More Humble

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Ortega Bros.

It was a little rainy, but really misty this morning, so I had to use my meats to drive to work. The weather wasn’t bad once we got there, but it showered again at least once while we were there. I had my head buried in Intune for most of the day, and was stuck waiting on my test computer for much of that.

Lunch time came around, and Grant had planned to meet me for some Ortega’s, so I walked out with Muad’Dib and waited for him. We rode to the restaurant together and had a good meal and chat. I think we’ll plan on some double date stuff soonish, and I’m hoping Summer can make a good friend of her own out of it since I don’t really know Jana at all.

I had an anxiety attack in the afternoon that left me slightly dazed, and then incredibly sleepy for the rest of the afternoon. It may have just been yesterday dragging me down, but I tried another cup of coffee and didn’t feel super smurfy for it. It felt like maybe it was stress, but I didn’t think I felt like I had any reason to be stressed.

We made it to the end of the day and ran to therapy. Summer finished up at the lube and then we had a decent session. I don’t really think the book is helping as much as if we were just talking through some of the specific pain points we have, but at least it gives us a guided tour, regardless of whether the topics are relevant ot us.

Mom had more bún bò Huế for dinner, so we headed home to change. Summer took a shower while I ran Muad’Dib, and then she and Eaddie met us there for dinner. I tried to help clean up a little, and then we made it home to try and wind down early. I showed Eaddie how to clean the hair out of the vacuum brush, Eli came over late, and they went to watch a movie since Eaddie had been cleaning up her stuff all day.

Water!

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Just Following Policy

I slept in a little bit today since I could wake up and walk to my office for work. It ended up being one of my most productive days as I tinkered away with Intune policies to manage the browsers for the maintenance shop PC. Eaddie was in bed all day, so it was just Intune, my speakers, Tiny Towns, and me.

I took a break to finish my old nachos from Ridgewood, but otherwise I stayed pretty busy all day. Before I knew it, Summer made it home from work and got ready for Sip + Stretch. I showered after, then had to run to my parents’ house to get Muad’Dib’s collar remote, and then Julie’s house to fetch a package. As soon as we got back to the house, I jumped on the Onewheel and Muad’Dib and I rode toward Point Remove.

As we neared the end of our run on Phoenix, we ran into Mollie and Craig walking down the sidewalk. We stopped for a hug, then continued to an absolutely packed house. There was a wedding party with a ton of people, but we managed to find a small table out back. Muad’Dib behaved perfectly and stayed right by me as we went through, then back to get him a cup of water.

Summer had gone to yoga with an old employee, and they both eventually made it down to join us. It wasn’t long after that when Eaddie showed up, and nervously walked around the outside of the building to avoid all the people. Summer ordered wings and a large charcuterie board, which was basically three giant blocks of cheese. I would be so happy if we never ordered that ever again. The wings were great, but there needed to be more of them for four people.

It eventually died down, and then we headed home. Muad’Dib wasn’t ready to come in though, so I took him for another short run to see Grandpaw. Then we saw the neighbors walking and talked to them for a moment before making it home for the night.

What a waste of skin and teeth!

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Browntown and Down

I managed to wake up feeling better this morning, though I didn’t sleep very late. I have no idea what caused my sudden confusion last night. I suppose I had been low on sleep, and I was stuck looking at confusing file paths trying to recover my lost tabs sessions, but I’ve never been so immediately disoriented like that before.

Summer went to the gym while I got around. I took my iron pill again, which may have upset my stomach a bit. Once Summer made it back and we got all showered up, we went to Brown’s to use a couple coupons for lunch. Muad’Dib had to wait in the car since Eaddie left for rehearsal. The restaurant lobby was absolutely packed, but evidently it was just one large party, because they were able to seat us in a fair amount of time once all the others were taken to the back room. We also saw Steven while we were waiting. I guess he just walked over from his food truck to use the restroom. We should really go visit him again.

After we ate, I dropped Summer off at work for a closing shift. Then Muad’Dib and I found Eaddie at home, ready to do some pressure washing. She brought out all the chairs from the back porch while I set up the pressure washer in the driveway. I was full and it was super hot, so I burned out quickly just moving around. She did a great job of cleaning the chairs though, and I even got to wash my car and try some new soap and a new foam cannon. Once everything was cleaned up, I covered them on the back porch so they’ll be clean the next time we want to go out for an impromptu porch sitting.

Summer finished up around six, so Muad’Dib and I went to pick her up. Then I spent way too long trying to clean up the battery in the Murano so we could get it charged. It has always kind of eaten batteries, and both terminals were completely caked in corrosion. I had to clean off the toolbox to get to my sockets, but I couldn’t get the positive terminal off at all because the bolt was stripped or something. I vaguely remembered having trouble in the past, so it could probably just use a new terminal, or at least a new nut and bolt to tighten it.

I came in to take a cool shower for the night, and the girls settled in quickly. I was up later than I really wanted, and didn’t feel great, but it could have been much worse.

Sleep more!

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Unseasonably Stressed

I tried to relax coming in to work, but we had a staff meeting first thing in the morning. That went okay, and then I brought my stuff downstairs to work with Tammy for a bit. I didn’t feel bad up to that point, but then I had an anxiety attack while I was kneeling next to her at her desk. I was able to quickly log it in my spreadsheet, but I asked later and she said she didn’t notice anything strange about my breathing or anything.

I was a little foggy for a bit after that. I wasn’t super hungry at lunch time, so I grabbed the Soylent I didn’t drink in the morning and carried it outside for a walk to see if I could stir up an appetite. We did a short lap before I decided to grab some Subway, and brought it back to the office to eat.

I managed to get the price sheet updated in HubSpot, though it took me a couple tries because it didn’t properly check all of my import rows. Things got quiet in the afternoon and we wrapped up helping downstairs for a bit before heading home.

As we got close to town, I decided to stop by AT&T to give Kevin a gift I had for him. I chatted with him, which jogged my memory about having anxiety issues due to anemia. I decided to start taking iron again before my next checkup at the clinic, to see if that would help. After he left, I talked to Candice for a little bit before heading home. We just barely beat Summer to the house, and I told her that talking about red meat had me craving a steak, but she wasn’t very hungry.

We ended up going to Ridgeewood Brothers so Muad’Dib could sit outside with us. It was a nice evening for it, and I wish I had felt better, but I didn’t feel awful. We ate, and of course Muad’Dib got some “scraps.” Then I took him for a short run when we got back home.

It was a rush to get in bed after that. With any luck, it’s the lack of sleep and iron getting me down, but something’s got to change. I don’t feel right.

Outside, in the distance, a wildcat did growl.

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Family Assembled

We slept in a while today after a long day yesterday. Summer got up, and I followed to make breakfast croissants. Then Eaddie got up and they spent the day together cleaning up the porch and assembling planters I had gotten from Amazon Vine. We originally had plans to have Mother’s Day with Eli’s family, but several of them couldn’t come down, so they wanted to try for another time.

The day went by pretty quickly, but it felt good to get so much done. There’s more to clean up, but we have at least a little more space now than before. We wanted to do something with my mom, but they didn’t want to go out to dinner with everyone else in town, so Summer and I went to Popeye’s to pick up some chicken.

Eaddie went to visit her grandparents while we waited in the longest line I’d ever seen at that restaurant. The drive-through was wrapped around the building and there was another line inside, but they did a fantastic job of working through all the orders.

We made it to my parents’ house, and then Julie responded that they had been napping all day, but they’d end up coming to visit. Eaddie showed up late as well, so we didn’t wait for her to eat. It was a good time, and then Eaddie took Summer home. I followed a little later and let Muad’Dib run off some energy before driving him the last couple blocks.

We ended the evening watching some of the Kevin Hart roast on Netflix, but we didn’t start early enough to finish it. I was proud of Summer for staying up as late as she did, but we had to get sleep before work.

Motherhood takes many forms.

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Let Off Some Steam

Autopilot was a frustration to and from work today, so I spent both drives disengaging repeatedly so I could record feedback. I figure it looks bad for them to have interrupted or shorter drives, even if I’m one person in the 10 billion self-driving miles driven.

I was surprisingly pretty busy today just helping others, so it felt good to be out of the office a bit. It was a nice day out too, so Muad’Dib and I went to Taco Bell. I ended up not eating all of my food, so I took my burrito for later and finished up the afternoon. Janice left a little early, so it was quiet upstairs.

Eaddie arrived at home just as I did, but then left. Johnny called and I talked to him for a little while. Then Summer showed up and we ate some leftovers. I took Muad’Dib for a late run, and then I got to play with my new Steam Controller for a bit as she went to bed.

A storm blew through pretty quickly with some loud thunder, but it didn’t last. Eaddie came home late and gave me the news that Whattaburger closed for good tonight with little notice. I felt like it went downhill when all the knick knacks disappeared and were replaced with generic pictures of food. It would have been nice to see that kind of stuff make a comeback.

Simpler times had lower standards.