Clock Ticks

We got out of the cold, wet house early this morning, so I stopped by Hardee’s for breakfast. Once at work, I tried to pick a task and stay focused, but I still felt a little like I had imposter syndrome. We took our short McDonald’s break and finished out the afternoon with a bunch of reviews.

I grabbed a deal from Taco John’s when we got back home, then stopped at Superfast for some washer fluid while Summer was there for a late team meeting. When we got to the house, I ate my Taco Bravo and then made a ham sandwich while starting some laundry. It wasn’t until after it was nearly done that Dad texted about bánh tôm chiên khoai lang. Summer said she wanted those when she left work, so I started walking with Muad’Dib and she picked us up along the way.

I wasn’t very hungry by then, but I had a couple with Summer and then we headed back to the house to fight about laundry.

Twenty One a Day

Something Wicked

We wanted to watch Wicked: For Good today, since it would really likely be our last chance to see it on the big screen since Zootopia 2 came out across multiple auditoriums. I got up and made us a couple really good grilled ham and cheese sandwiches out of some frozen rye bread, parmesan, and cheddar. Then I relaxed with a cup of coffee before getting cleaned up to go.

Eaddie went out, but made it back in time to watch Muad’Dib for a while. We got to the theater just in time to find some good seats in front of Melissa, Jennifer, and whoever else was in their crew when we ran into them. The movie was good, but I never liked the second half as much as the first. I just didn’t feel like any of the music or themes were as strong, but it did wrap up the story well.

After the movie, Eaddie had left Muad’Dib outside for us, and I wanted to take him on a run before I gave him a bath. My board stalled just before making the corner to my parents’ house, so I limped it there and had Summer meet me. We went in, and Mom ended up making shrimp noodle soup for us. After dinner, we let Muad’Dib run alongside the car back to the house.

I gave Muad’Dib a bath and blow dried him while we were in the bathroom, which worked out great. Eaddie came over with a bunch of friends, and I put the dishes away before taking care of a bunch of Vine packages. The kids all left and I wound down for bed.

It’s looking at things another way.

Madness Is the Most Shining Way

I slept super hard for nearly twelve hours last night, through many wild and vivid dreams. I eventually got up, warm and cozy with Muad’Dib, and went to rearrange the dishewasher. Summer had another run, in the rain this time, but was back home and on the couch by then. We went to eat leftovers with Dad in the afternoon and I gave him the rest of the leftovers and turkey parts that needed to be cooked down into soup. Mom was asleep the whole time, but said she was itchy. Later on, Dad said her whole right side was broken out into hives, which would seem to have been more affected by sleeping on the unbreathable leather couch than just having the dogs inside. We probably won’t have much luck getting her off the couch though.

Eaddie left after we got back to the house, but then called Summer to say she was in a hit-and-run. I didn’t realize she was with Eli, but they got to the house in his car, and he had some relatively light scratches across the front-left bumper and driver-side mirror. All things considered, it could have been way worse, but of course they had almost no description of the vehicle that hit them. Summer and I had them call it in to the police, and then they left again.

Once I got cleaned up, Summer and I settled in to watch Wicked. I hadn’t realized how long the second part had been out in theaters, so we missed our only chance to see it in IMAX 3D. We’ll just have to settle for a Sunday matinee in town.

If only because dust is what we come to.

Dogtown

Summer and I happened to end up in traffic around the same time, as there had been a wreck and vehicle fire right outside of Morrilton. She continued on to Little Rock and I got to work right around eight. Janice brought a tiny little goblin dog to work, so Muad’Dib had fun running around with her. We were up and down the stairs several times and stayed really busy all day.

PetSmart called early in the morning and wanted to move Muad’Dib’s appointment up an hour, citing that they were really busy leading up to Thanksgiving, and that they wanted to make sure he had plenty of time away from other people and dogs. It didn’t make much sense to me, since I figured an appointment time was just for him, but from the sound of it, they do several dogs at once in batches, and then kennel them between steps. It didn’t make much sense to me, but luckily I remembered that Summer would be passing back through. I had her pick him up and take him home, and then Eaddie delivered him to PetSmart at three.

I grabbed a quick lunch at McDonald’s and then continued David’s quest to learn how to import documents. I got a call about an hour and a half earlier than I expected, telling me that Muad’Dib was about finished, so I headed back home to get him. They said he did well, but I was actually disappointed in how much I paid for such a short service. We probably won’t be doing that again.

Summer said something about going to the store when she got off work, so I thought I’d go with her. When I got home, the kids had eaten two of the three steaks and left me one, and Summer none. I took Muad’Dib on a quick run, and he absolutely flew down the street. When we got back, I learned that at some point, Summer thought to eat the rest of the squash, which left me with a slab of meat and literally nothing else. The kids went with her to the store, so Muad’Dib and I went to Taco Villa.

They had my taco salad made quickly, and I didn’t notice when he followed me in the door, but we got back outside and ate at a picnic table in the cold. It was nice to decompress. Afterward, we went by the old house to look for a few things. Dad had emptied the cabinets, but I was lucky enough to find one of the things I was looking for.

When we got back to the house, Eaddie told me that they weren’t going to see Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox with us because she just learned that they wanted to record for the Tech band album they’re releasing. I tried to talk to her about commitments, but that fell on deaf ears, and nobody around here is willing to put family over anything else.

Well I guess if you want to be alone, be alone

Wingin’ It

We left in some light rain this morning, but had time to stop at Hardee’s for a burrito. I had a pretty quick anxiety attack in the morning, which put me out of whack for a lot of the day. On top of that, I was a little offput by the constant talk of AI when it was actually easier for me to just follow a well-documented tutorial to perform the import task we were trying to do.

When lunch time came around, we grabbed some fries and a drink from McDonald’s, and then Casey’s had a deal on chicken wings. We got back and stuffed ourselves in the office. Then things were mostly quiet until quitting time.

It was still wet by the time we got home, so we didn’t go on a run. Summer got some broccoli and I started the smoker to cook some steaks I had picked up on clearance. Eaddie finally made it home from her weekend trip, and we had a nice dinner together before cleaning up and dispersing. I stayed up later than I intended writing reviews, but they had to get done.

Snoop C-O-Double-U

Let’s Review

I didn’t sleep great, but we slept in just a little bit before getting up for coffee. The girls went outside and I sat down to write a bunch of reviews while continuing with laundry. The day went by really fast, and we were all aware that we felt a little moody. Maybe it was cycles, or maybe it was seasonal affectivity. Maybe it was the anxiety attack I had when I started laundry. Maybe it was a continuation of the melancholy and dissatisfaction that we all seem to have accepted.

Summer made it to the gym, and Eaddie left for a concert of some kind. I took Muad’Dib for a run a few minutes earlier than on work days, and then Summer and I went to Colton’s for a late dinner. We sat in the car for a while before going in, trying to work through some feelings. Then we ate too much and came home to go to bed.

stuff

Problems with Pilots

It’s been a bad year for pilots. I was headed to work this morning, stopping at Starbucks for red cup day, when I saw Dad text that Mom was in the emergency room after wrecking on her way to work. I messaged Teisha and Joel that I would be late, then headed to the hospital to see how she was doing. I got in just in time to watch them roll her off to a CT scan, so I sat with Dad for a bit before having to go back out to scold Muad’Dib for trying to climb into the front seat.

We walked around the parking lot a bit, and then I went back inside once Mom was out. She looked to be in good shape, but had some cuts from the glass after rolling her car. She was in the left lane, and a semi truck was in the right lane, turning right. Someone on that road didn’t see her behind the semi, and T-boned her, which caused her car to roll. All things considered, she fared really well.

Muad’Dib and I eventually continued to work, and then just stayed at the office all day. I found a good series on subnetting with some practical exercises, so I mostly did that all day. I had my bánh bao and some popcorn for lunch and just worked straight through the end of the day.

We got back home for a quick run, checked on my parents, then came back to the house where I ate some of the grosser leftovers that hadn’t been finished yet. Then I unboxed some Vine stuff before an early bedtime.

shortest days

Dull Drums and Electro Acoustic

I had another rough start like yesterday and got out of the house a bit late, but I made up the time. Muad’Dib must have had a belly ache, because he had to stop a few times outside before he was done. Then he threw up in Tyler’s office later in the morning, but he didn’t eat and hardly drank anything all day.

I pushed lunch out again, not feeling great myself. I decided to try Domino’s since they had a large one-topping for $6.70. I ordered a thin with half pepperoni and half bacon that I ended up just eating in the car in the Domino’s parking lot. There wasn’t another soul there, and all three employees were sitting at a little table in the corner when I walked in. When I opened the box, I spotted a singular, tiny little critter crawling around, but I think it was just a little spider. Everything else appeared clean.

The pizza was good, and Muad’Dib seemed to have plenty of energy when we got back. I let him run it out and then we dragged on through the afternoon. I had a bit more fun when Elizabeth called me downstairs for some help, and I got to quit reading documentation all day.

I let the car take me home, and immediately took Muad’Dib for a run since Future Motion won’t do the right thing and replace or refund my board. They won’t even give me the benefit of the doubt and take it back for service without charging me. My hope is that the attorney general helps, since I’ve had luck with that avenue in the past.

We rode into the dark, stopped by my parents’ empty house, circled past home and then went back to see Dad. Mom showed up just as we were pulling out, so we circled back again before going back to the house. I could never reproduce my battery failure, but the motor did disengage for a split second at one point.

I picked at some random leftovers that didn’t quite make a meal while Summer baked her gingerale-soaked cranberries in powdered sugar. She went to bed, Eaddie came and left, and I wound down until Dad prompted me to run outside and check out the northern lights. I blew off a notification from the MyRadar app about it, but then Dad shared a picture he took and I had to go outside to try myself. It was visible with the naked eye, so I decided to wake Summer up to see it, and then it was quick to bed.

Peachy.

Cold Quiet

We had our first, brief freeze last night, and it was a cold, quiet drive to work. I got there much earlier than I expected, and to a relative ghost town with several people out. I was surprised to hear from anyone at all. We took a late lunch and ate mostly free on McDonald’s rewards, and then the afternoon went by fairly quickly after that.

I got a response back from Future Motion that they wouldn’t refund me, which was expected, so I compiled a timeline of all my warranty and paid services to send to the attorney general, and finally replied back requesting to escalate the issue.

It was an easy ride home, and Summer was there early with a bad back. I made us a couple burritos when she got out of the bath, and then we laid down to watch Justin Willman’s Magic Lover on Netflix before I got up to finish my routine.

Nowheel

La Magia

Summer had to work today, so I got up as she left and made some coffee with some old plant milk. The oat milk had gotten solid, and may have made me a little sick, but the almond milk seemed okay. The coffee tasted a bit burnt, but I wasn’t sure if I should blame it on the milk. I reheated a biscuit and sausage patty and fried an egg for a sandwich, and then tried to clean up a bit.

Dad invited us to a joint magic club meeting at Pasta Grill at the last minute, so we abandoned our dinner plans. I took Muad’Dib for an early run to see them at the restaurant before they opened, and then met Summer back at the house to go for the show and dinner. As I climbed the final hill, my board buzzed about needing to be charged again, which will be the third time I’ve had to send it in for service.

Summer picked us up so we could leave Muad’Dib and I could change, and we made it to Pasta Grill in plenty of time to catch the end of Ron’s lecture, and then we had most of a show before they took our food orders and then quickly served our food. The show continued for a little bit while we ate, and then we wrapped up pretty quickly after that.

Summer wound down quickly and ended up in bed while I tried to stay mostly focused on cleaning. It didn’t look like much, but I tried to be meaningful with what I was doing. I still probably should have focused on vacuuming, but I just needed to make some space.

I wrapped up the evening by submitting a help ticket to Future Motion, and I’m waiting for their response before I send something to the attorney general as well. I asked for a full refund of my purchase price, plus the $905 they charged me to replace the BMS, which has still not actually fixed my issue. I’ve been injured too many times for this nonsense, and my original warranty will be up before they could even get the board back to me.

Compounding Disinterest