Tag: friends

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Magic Screams 2019

Summer went to get the girls this morning after spending the night with friends, and I went home to clean up and get ready for our trip to Magic Springs. We left right around lunch time and headed down to Hot Springs to meet Ronda, Steven, and Maleea at Outback Steakhouse. We got behind some pretty slow traffic for the majority of the trip, so we ended up getting there quite a bit after them. The service was pretty great when we did get there though, and it was pretty funny how much bread we were going through.

After we ate, we headed to the park. Along the way, something flew up over the car ahead of us and gave me a pretty big chip in the windshield. I’ll have to get that fixed immediately so it doesn’t get worse. The park was fun, and Summer let us talk her into riding all the roller coasters. Eaddie really enjoyed them, and she and Maleea had a good time together. I couldn’t fit into the restraints for the X-Coaster, so Summer ended up riding that one without me. At the end of it all, our last wait was a ridiculously slow, short line for the bumper cars. They only had six cars, and hardly anyone doubled up.

Steven wanted to treat some of Ronda’s family to dinner, so gathered up the convoy and headed to Rod’s Pizza Cellar. We got there not long before closing, but the service was great there too, and the pizza was amazing. We got a 17″ spinach bacon alfredo that was by far our favorite at the table. It was the perfect end to a great day. On the way out of town, we stopped for some more spring water. The drive back home had me exhausted, but we made it in one piece past dozens of deer by the road. Now I’m excited to go again in the summer.

3 spoopy 5 me!

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Ketchup Over Rice

I slept as late as I could this morning, then got up to take the girls to school. Afterward I went home and started some more cleaning and laundry. I got a good shower, then went to meet Suzanne at Linhs for lunch. They were super packed, with people coming and going. It was really nice to see after so many visits in the past to an empty restaurant. Suzanne showed up shortly after I sat down, and we chatted over an assortment of our usual choices. It was really great having a conversation of substance after such a long time apart, and I even got the truth out of her that she was the one that sent that embroidered apron to me out of the blue.

After lunch, I went home for just a little while to wait for Eaddie to get out of school. I gave her the choice, and she had me pick her up from the junior high with the bike. Then we went back to my house for a little bit before taking the car out for gas and then to get Autumn. I took both girls to their house to wait for Summer to get home from her retreat. Once she got there, I took them all to Western Sizzlin for dinner.

Stuffed, we returned home for the girls to get ready for bed. Summer and I caught up on a couple episodes of Battlestar Galactica and finally found Earth. It was nothing we wanted and less.

Nothing but the rain.

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Conquer the Buffet

I had to set my work alarm this morning to get Summer to Little Rock for her Conquer the Gauntlet race. Her group started at 10, but she had to get registered first and wanted to be there around 9. It was a pretty quick and uneventful drive, and we stopped at a gas station so I could get snacks on the way. She would be racing with Dylan, and I assumed Hannah and I would be doing something else, but when we pulled in she made me pay the $10 for spectator parking.

She got registered and we met the others. They brought their dog Jovi to hang out as well, who was a big hit with everyone around.

Once Summer and Dylan got started, the three of us waited around and tried to decipher the map and find the best places to catch them at the obstacles. The first stop was a little bit of a wait right near the start, where they had to cross a pool of water using inclined monkey bars. Then we found another spot where we thought we could catch two obstacles, but we ended up only getting to really see one. We had to wait for over an hour for them to get there, and we seriously thought we had missed them somehow. They finally came trudging along just as we were contemplating heading back to the finish line.

When they finally did finish, Dylan and Hannah left for other things while Summer and I hunted down some food. My snacks were awful and I hadn’t felt well all morning, so I wasn’t up to being very adventurous. Summer decided on Tokyo House for their buffet, and we made our way across greater Little Rock.

Everything was great there, and somehow I managed to overstuff myself far more than I’ve done in a long time. I was absolutely miserable the rest of the day and into the evening. We came straight home without any other shopping stops as I had intended, and Summer got cleaned up from her race. Eventually I had to take Noah to work, and then I went home to nap a while until Summer was ready for me to take her to her 20 year class reunion at Old Bank.

After dropping her off, I headed home and napped on and off a while longer until she was ready to come home. I think her reunion was probably both harder and better for her than mine was, but all in all I think we’ve both decided reunions are for the birds.

May be time to finally pay for some of that web hosting now…

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Retire S’more

Today didn’t start with an overabundance of direction, but somehow I found my way pretty quickly. I got a bunch of stuff closed out, and moving around a bunch made the day go by a lot faster. It also helped that I left for an early break for Becky’s retirement shindig. I had to get some gas first, but then I ran to Walmart and grabbed a huge bag of knockoff Golden Grahams, two bags of mini marshmallows, and four bags of chocolate chips. I thought I was being clever making s’mores trail mix, but a quick search on the internet showed I was far from the first person to come up with that idea. I did think about adding a twist with pretzel sticks sprinkled with liquid smoke, but I didn’t have the time to experiment with that properly.

I brought a couple laptops with me so I could get some work done, and just sat in the lounge with Becky for quite a while. It was nice to visit with everyone again while wishing her well, and we just had a rotation of people coming in to eat lunch with us. Brice came by a couple times, but I’m not sure where he had holed himself up to work. I didn’t get to spend as much time just socializing as I would’ve liked, but it was a great change of scenery working outside of my office for a while.

After lunch I went and got the interns from the library and let them dig into some of the computers I’ve had sitting in my office. Nathan seemed openly knowledgeable and excited to show that he could do things, while Spencer just quietly got to work and started fixing laptops. I was really happy with how well they jumped right into it with such limited direction, and throughout the afternoon I got a better idea of how to utilize them better.

When I finally left work, I ran by Oakland to get my bowl before going home to change. Then I went by the shop to get the girls so Summer could go to the gym, and we went to my parents’ house to clean up some leftovers. We got back to Summer’s just a little before she did, I tinkered a bit, and then we went to bed with some Battlestar. Eaddie came in and watched just a few minutes with us too, which was nice because she’s usually reluctant to hang around for very long.

Space sure does have the best glassware.

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Under the Limit

I got up this morning and headed home to get ready for Bikes, Blues, and BBQ. The bike was washed, but I still had to clean and lube the chain as soon as I got home, and then it was a quick shower and scramble around the house to find all the little things I wanted to bring. We met Allen at his house, then followed him to the ATM and then to pick up Charlotte. We took the interstate all the way to Ozark, and I’m surprised we didn’t lose them for good right then and there.

The gas station was packed with bikes, but somehow they spotted us once they got there. Charlotte made it all the way there without eye protection, so Allen made her pick up some sunglasses and we sat down for a quick lunch. I thought we’d just pick something out of the hot case, but Allen and I both ended up ordering for table service. Summer and I shared a ribeye and eggs, and he had a chili dog while Charlotte ate a hamburger from the case.

We hit the road as soon as we finished eating, and I should have talked to Allen first about his speed. It took me all day long to convince him that his speedometer was reading way too high, and that he was just barely crawling along. I took it super slow, but we just kept losing them and having to stop and wait. I figure he averaged in the low 40s, and even being passed by an SUV wasn’t enough of a hint for him. It made my ride pretty miserable, but he just refused to try and keep up, which hasn’t ever really been like him in the past.

We made one stop for gas just as we got out of the woods, and then made our way to Dickson Street. The place was packed just as it always is, but I managed to snag a parking spot right on the corner of where we’ve always parked before. Allen and Charlotte finally caught up to us, and we made our way down to the food tents. I got my refillable cup for way cheaper this year because they offered a single day cup for $10 instead of the normal $25 or more for the whole weekend. Then we wandered around collecting a little swag wherever we could.

The train pulled in after not very long, and we decided it would be fun to take a ride to Baum Stadium instead of driving. The train left every half hour, and even though it was a short ride, I thought it was worth the $10 round trip tickets just to experience the old train cars.

Baum was typical as well, but this year RumbleOn came out swinging with a wind tunnel money booth. Summer and I both got a turn in exchange for our motorcycle VINs, and we really scored big time. They had some funny money thrown in along with the singles, but we could use it to buy prizes from their booth. I caught $12 in real money plus like another $25 in the fake stuff. Summer did pretty close to the same, and they rounded us up a couple times just to give us more stuff. We walked away with 22 singles, two shirts, and two insulated cups, as well as a couple souvenir poker chips made for the rallies.

We hit all the tents there, then took the train back to Dickson where we got dinner. I had the best alligator I’ve had yet, which was battered like catfish. We all basically lost the Cherokee Casino wheel spin because we all won $10 in free plays, when all we really wanted was some hand sanitizer or lip balm. We wandered around a little more, but were pretty exhausted by that time, so we headed on home.

Allen still refused to keep up, so we just left them and made the trip home as quickly as possible. I thought it had started to sprinkle just as we got into town, but it was really just a massive cloud of bugs hanging out over a bridge by the lake. It was super gross, so we had to shower before we could do much else. When Allen got home, he called and said he dropped his bike as we were leaving Fayetteville, but luckily nothing was damaged. Overall, aside from an incredibly slow ride, it was a great success.

Next year we’re riding the Grom so they can keep up.

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♬ I Told the Butt Doctor I Had a Bloody Poo ♬

♪ It’s been leaking blood from me just like it was a geyser! ♪

I forgot my badge and keys at home this morning. I also forgot to take my meds after deciding to take them a little later in the morning rather than before I left for work. None of that seemed to matter much though. I went with Amanda, Heather, and Gary to hang a TV above James’s piano. I had an above average time drilling into the brick at first, but I could tell the bit wore out pretty quickly. We were supposed to rehang another one I had hung last year because they wanted it higher, but the class was occupied and we didn’t make it before lunch. We ended up killing some time in Heather’s freezing office, chatting with Kevin a while until lunch.

Allen and I decided to walk next door for FryDay, where we sat across the room from Heather and Gary since they didn’t invite us. We both got the three meat fries special of the day, which was beef, chicken, and shrimp over fries with garlic butter and “taco sauce” which was more of a taco-seasoned cream sauce. It was all good, but left me a bit gurgley from all the butter. I took a half sick day to go to the gastroenterologist for my meet and greet.

I went home first to change, then went to my appointment and filled out a bunch of new patient paperwork. It was probably the least painful that I’ve ever experienced that process, and the girls at the front desk were just great. I thought Dr. White was a relative hoot, though he definitely controlled the conversation. I was most impressed with how quickly I was in and out of there, and I wished I could have that experience ever again in healthcare.

After that conversation and subsequent scheduling of a proper pooperscope, I went home and got the Grom to see Summer at the shop. They weren’t super busy, so I got to tell her all about my doctor visit before going home. I relaxed for just a little bit before taking my bike out for a bath. Then I met Allen at his place for a quick polish on the bikes. With that done, I had just enough time to get gas with him, and then head on home to prepare for the evening.

Travis was hosting a Star Wars Monopoly night, so I went to get Summer and we met him and John for game night. I was either the first one out or the winner, depending on who you ask. A great time was had by all, and Summer got to bring home an oddly monochrome JAWS sink stopper. By the time we wrapped things up there, it was time to get home and into bed for the early ride in the morning.

♫ He said that, “Poo-py, oooh ah ah! Ting tang, walla walla bing bang!” ♫

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Lunch with LeRoy

Today was pretty incredibly scattered for me. I got a few things done, but I had trouble prioritizing things to actually get them off my plate. Instead, I kept starting new projects and finishing nothing. I had planned to go get a $5 garden bar with Summer for lunch, but Ben invited everyone to Taco John’s, and I couldn’t pass up seeing him again after his retirement. Ben’s order got made and delivered twice, so I took the leftover tacos to Summer so she’d at least have the same light lunch I had in case she wanted to go to Ruby Tuesday later in the afternoon.

The afternoon was more of the same scattered nonsense for me until I finally left and had to get the girls from the shop to go home to change for karate. They did a good job of hustling and I got them dropped off just in time, and then I went to my parents’ house for some leftovers. I didn’t realize how late it had gotten when Summer left work for the gym, so Autumn called when nobody came to pick them up. I ran to get them, then cooked up some chicken sandwiches for their dinner before going home to complete some laundry.

Tomorrow, I’ll have to sit down and just do a thing.

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Let’s Get Weird

We got up a little early this morning so we could get out of town for lunch. Our first stop was Home Depot to pick up some work lights I bought, and then we went to a little diner called Taylors’ Made on the other side of Conway. Summer had breakfast food, and I got the reuben. It was all pretty good, but I didn’t care for the super thin onion rings. I wish we had tried some of the appetizers.

As we got into Little Rock, I decided to go down to the Park Plaza Mall rather than the usual McCain. I figured it would be closer to the hotel, and we could kill enough time there until check-in time at the hotel. Summer was happy to look around but was reluctant to pick up anything. I got an armful of clothing from Dillard’s, which reminded me of how much I hated shopping there with my parents as a child. It was just always so boring, but now I get it. We covered most of the mall by about 3 in the afternoon, and then headed to the Wyndham Riverfront to get our room.

Eventually Amanda messaged me back, and we met her at the Red Lobster for dinner. Sarah decide she didn’t want to go to the concert, so she brought her father along instead. Summer and I got our fix of endless shrimp, and then we headed back for the concert.

We both parked at the hotel and walked the quarter mile or so to the arena. We were early, so we had to stand out in the heat for a little while before we could go in. Once the line started moving, I had trouble getting the TicketMaster app to load the tickets, but fortunately I saved them to Google Pay and that worked to get us in.

The concert was incredible, but I was surprised they didn’t have the upper bowl open. We were in a lower section of removable seating right by the stage, so we could see everything really well. It was awesome having the orchestra there, especially seeing a McLovin lookalike on the French horn. They started off with some Indiana Jones, and we loved the Superman theme song. They took a 20 minute break after the warm up routine, and then Weird Al came out with his crew and performed a huge mix of songs I expected, as well as some I’d never even heard before. Afterward, Summer and I made our way through the merch line to get a couple shirts, and then walked back to the hotel for the evening.

And protect them from the evils of the world, like trigonometry and prime numbers!

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Third Wind

I went to bed early last night but tossed and turned for a couple hours before I finally fell asleep. It wasn’t too much later that I woke up to the sound of the cat retching in the floor, so I had to get out of bed to clean that up. Then I tossed and turned, wide-eyed from about 3am until about 5:45, when I finally jumped out of bed and drove to Waffle House. I sat at the bar by myself with only one other customer in the restaurant, surprised that there weren’t more people there for breakfast. Running on so little sleep, I knew what I had to get. Bacon cheese burger with hash browns scattered all the way with chili and gravy. It was full-on punishment for the betrayal I felt as my body refused to go to sleep. The cook was a rockstar, but accidentally threw some hash browns on the grill for a regular customer that ended up not wanting them. He offered them to me for free, so I mounded them on top of my already sloppy plate and destroyed it all. No mercy.

It was a super fast breakfast with nobody else there, and I made it home just in time to hear my alarm clock start buzzing. It was go-time. Full morning routine and out the door a full 10 minutes early. I made it to school and got up into the building way early and jumped right in. Then I was assaulted by the library when some testing didn’t go as planned. Failures exaggerated, our pseudo hero jumped in to “save the day” and “take the credit.” Gary showed up in the middle of it all and had to go hide in my office for all the screaming.

With that crisis out of the way, Gary and I wandered around vo-tech taking care of phones. The Mac internet issue ended up not being my problem, which was nice. Then it was back up to the office for our second crisis. Just as class let out, one of our internet circuits went out for just a few minutes and I had a line of people out my door wanting to know what we were doing to fix it. Without even having enough time to identify the failure, we had people wanting to know an ETA for a fix so they could plan their next period. Gary rage-quit and went back to his office for good reason, but I was no stranger to dealing with people in a self-induced panic. Boom, more work orders closed.

I continued on with work orders until lunch when Allen invited me to Smackin’ Wings. I met him there, along with Gary, Zach, and Ben. We had entertainingly, lovingly hateful conversations, making sure we made it fully around the department. Then I had to load up a computer lab worth of computers to take to the high school. Allen helped me move them to the dock to load them into my car, and then I cut him loose to do his own things. I got lucky and ran into my intern while looking for a dolly to bring the computers inside, then got a bit of sass from my mohawked maintenance guy for knocking on his dungeon door. I get personal space, but I still felt slighted. I may have to take his internet.

Ben met us to help set up the computer lab, which ended up taking the rest of the day. We fought the switch configuration a bit, and even had trouble toning out a line, and ended up switching ports in the room for one that was labeled at the switch. All done except for the deployments. Then I closed out a few more things before walking out.

Finally home, I just continued my work streak and cleaned up all of the aquariums. It looks like Murderface has a bit of hole-in-the-head, but I’m not certain. Gotta keep his water changed more often, especially since I never test it. Those snails are messy. Once everything was cleaned up, I headed to my parents’ house to pick up some props for picture day. Then it was off to Summer’s for promised head scratchies to ensure absolute sleep tonight.

All the angles.

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There’s No Good Time

I made it in to work just a little early this morning, still pretty groggy from waking up a few times last night. I made up my own parking space in the grass again, but I can already tell it’s going to be trouble when it rains. I’m not looking forward to it at all, but I guess I’ve got the sick leave to burn if I wanted to just not work every time the weather is bad.

I spent a little time on some stuff in my office, then wandered around the campus for a while to clean up some work orders. Zach stopped in since he was there working on something else, and we went down to the ATCC for a bit to scope out a couple things. Then I left him to go close out a couple things at the multipurpose facility before lunch. Summer wanted to join us for the $5 salad bar, but we had to wait until 1 o’clock for her. I picked Zach up on the way off campus, then we got her from the shop, and made our way to Ruby Tuesday. Our server goofed and Zach got a free meal just because he didn’t want to ring out another guest because of some fraud prevention system. To me that sounded a bit broken, but we tipped him for it.

After dropping everyone off, I headed to the shop for a bit to set up a new laptop and then research some of my more time consuming work orders. Ben eventually came around the shop and asked when we could set up a desktop computer lab, and I just had to tell him there is no good time because I feel like I’m drowning in things to do as it is, so we’d just have to make the time and sacrifice something else. Then we sat down and he showed me the system to create IVR systems in Avaya. It looked really fun, and I can see myself borrowing some of our outbound numbers in the future, assuming I ever find any free time ever again.

I worked a little late to finish making the user accounts for the new vo-tech phone lines, and then went by my parents’ house for just a few minutes. They weren’t really doing much and I wasn’t hungry since we had a big, late lunch, so I sat there for a few minutes before Dad decided we could move the boat onto the paver stones I bought. We couldn’t really push it around by hand, so we actually had to hook it up to my hitch and drive it a couple feet, but it wasn’t too bad. It was hot and humid outside though, so by the time that was over I was ready for bed. I went home and laid down for a while before getting back up to finish my evening routine, then crashing a few hours early.

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