Tag: frustration

Uncategorised

Let’s Table It for Now

Summer got up and made us a simple sausage and egg breakfast with toast. I started cleaning up the dining table so we would have room for cookies, and did that all through the afternoon. I tried my best not to just hide things away somewhere else, and put stuff where it actually needed to go. Eaddie left to have Christmas with Eli’s family, and Summer made some homemade dog biscuits, followed by cookies for us to decorate.

I eventually had a shower and took Muad’Dib for a run. Mom made duck soup, so I ate with them before everyone came over to decorate cookies. Noah showed up much later than he told us, and Eaddie followed. Dad came over a little after I got back, and we got to the cookies.

Dad left after we got tired of decorating cookies, and then Eaddie had Summer open up one of her presents. It was Phase 10 Tiles, which was a take on the original, except with little plastic tiles instead of cards. We played a few rounds of that, but Noah couldn’t wrap his head around the gameplay and we ended up quitting halfway through.

Noah and the girls opened presents after that, and it wasn’t long before Summer was ready for bed. Muad’Dib seemed pretty tired too. Eaddie took Noah somewhere, and then it was off to sleep.

It was like Christmas all year long.

Uncategorised

Hammer and Chisel

I got up this morning and actually got showered fairly early. Eaddie had the community concert in the evening, and Summer wanted to do some shopping. I wanted to take Muad’Dib, so we went to PetSmart first to pick up some more food. Then we put him in the car while we quickly poked our heads into Belk. They didn’t have what we wanted, so we drove over to JCPenney. From there, I got Muad’Dib out and we walked up the strip. Summer stopped at Shoe Carnival, and then we walked a little further up before returning to the car.

We were pretty hungry by then, and I was actually hungry enough to eat Italian, so we tried to stop at Italian Garden. Muad’Dib got super whiney, so we let him out to run a bit first. That was my mistake, because I should have had Summer queue us first. By the time we got in the door, she said there were a few people waiting. They quoted her ten minutes, but we decided to leave. I made a quick pass downtown to see if the taco place down there was open, but they weren’t. Feeling my frustration steadily growing, I took us to the house and warmed up some pizza and other leftovers.

Summer went to the gym and I started chipping away at the dining room table. I got a little bit of stuff moved, but there was just so much to put away properly. Summer eventually made it back, and I took Muad’Dib for a run while it was a little warmer out. Mom made curry, but it wasn’t ready when Muad’Dib ran us straight there. We continued around our reverse route for a while and then turned around just a couple blocks from our house to go back to my parents’.

I ate and then we started rolling back to the house. I got to the end of the road when my board threw a charge error again, but I was able to limp it most of the way home. I did carry it for about a block total, mostly just to make it up the hills. By then it was about time to get ready for the concert. We put Muad’Dib out back and then picked up Dad, and made our way to Witherspoon.

We sat near the back with Eli’s family, and Salvadore talked to me until we finally sat down. Summer wanted to sit by Shaana, so Dad and I just sat at the end of the aisle. The music was pretty typical for a Christmas concert. On the way out, Summer had us walk all the way around the building to avoid Gerald, which seemed a bit ironic considering the heat I’ve gotten for wanting to avoid Autumn lately.

We dropped Dad off and then got back to the house so I could give Muad’Dib a bath. He did wonderfully, and even stayed in the tub for me while I fetched the blow dryer. I gave him a good vacuuming afterward and pulled off a bunch of hair. Then it was a rush to bed.

Payout for tricks!

Uncategorised

Blue Da Ba Dee

Summer and I got up early so we could get to Little Rock for her race. The organizers waited until the last possible minute to post the actual location, so we got stressed when we arrived at Allsopp Park and didn’t see a crowd. Summer had me make a block, but we came back and saw a few cars at the top of a hill. That ended up being the race, but it was small and informal, without any real prizes or anything. They had nachos, beer, and Fireball, and the race path was not at all paved. In fact, they had to explain symbols, marked in flour in the dirt, so that people would know where to go or when they were off course.

They finally kicked off the race and people disappeared around a corner, and I drove down the hill to Beignets & Brew for coffee and a snack. The beignets were hot and fresh, so I ordered a few more to take to Summer when she finished. It wasn’t even a full 5k, but she seemed to enjoy it. They had an assortment of trophies, probably picked up from a junk store, and basically handed them out at random. They even tried to call me up for being the partner of the best looking runner from Russellville. We had some nachos, and left shortly thereafter.

Our next stop was Park Plaza to do a little looking around. Summer picked up a couple of things, and then we continued to Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken. I impressed her with my perfect parallel parking after she sassed me about having the car do it. I think I actually executed it better and faster anyway. We split half of a chicken and some extra sides, and everything was delicious. I just wished the chicken was bigger. Then we made our way across town to the IMAX.

We got there just in time to get situated, but I had to swap my glasses due to some wicked glare I couldn’t get rid of. Avatar: Fire and Ash was a spectacle, to be sure. It was an enjoyable, long movie. I barely remembered The Way of Water, but I wasn’t terribly worried about keeping up with the lore anyway. We were entertained.

After the movie, we went straight home except for a stop in Blackwell. Summer wanted to get some wine for Shaana, and I picked up three more kegs of Fireball that were on clearance for less than the price of two bottles, so that was a pretty great deal. I don’t know why they were clearing them so close to New Year’s Eve, because that seems like prime time for that stuff. I grabbed a dozen tamales from the food truck outside when we left, and the girls really enjoyed those when we got back to the house.

I spent too much time dawdling after that, in spite of feeling pretty exhausted. Tomorrow will be a busy day of cleaning up, and it will only get more stressful from there.

She’s crazy!

Uncategorised

Gumball

We finally had our staff meeting this morning, and I did my best to represent well. Afterward, we had a pretty boring call with more of the same from Aptean. It always feels like a sales call, promising more from their future plans. I bounced around a lot after that.

We took a really late lunch and I had my McRib. Then the afternoon was a bit slow and quiet. Summer had her company Christmas party, so we got back into town and I picked up some Taco John’s to eat before going.

I dressed Muad’Dib up in his ugly sweater and antler headpiece, and we went to attend at the lube. Summer was like a nervouos teen, hoping all of her friends would show up, and I just felt bad. Muad’Dib got a decent amount of attention, and then Summer made me play Dirty Santa with them, so I stole a gag gift to give out at my own Christmas party.

I was feeling pretty melancholy afterward, so I decided to take Muad’Dib to PetSmart again. They would be closing within minutes, so instead we stopped in the parking lot so he could go to the bathroom. Then we kind of cruised aimlessly toward home. I set the car to “chill” and let it go, without a destination. As we approached our side of town, a cop pulled behind me and lit me up. We pulled into the hospital parking lot where he informed me that my tags had expired. That didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but sure enough, they were. He let me go with a verbal warning, and I headed toward the house.

I didn’t notice, but after I walked in, Summer stopped to warn me that Autumn was there with Eaddie. It wasn’t until afterward that I noticed her text asking what I was doing and why I was avoiding coming home. It was completely loaded, because she could have sent a warning first. I immediately put my shoes back on and walked out with Muad’Dib, but she stopped me in the garage to express her own frustration at me as I trembled.

I let Muad’Dib take me for a walk through almost our entire route in reverse. We stopped at the basin and sat on a bench for a while to knock on the sky and listen to the sound. A stiff breeze came in as we eventually made our way back to the house and found our way to bed.

Unexpected, in the middle of a walking path.

Uncategorised

Undust

Eaddie went to Little Rock with Eli’s family today, so Summer and I spent the day cleaning and resetting the living room. I finally had a path to get to my plants again, so I took care of all of those, then cleaned and dusted things as they came back into the living room. I couldn’t believe the TV didn’t take any real damage. It looked like the frame might have been slightly bent where it came down and hit the center channel speaker below it, chipping the wood slightly in the process. Otherwise, the corner that took the full weight of the ceiling drywall appeared fine.

After Summer finished at the gym, we set up a couple outdoor Christmas tree lights. Then I took Muad’Dib out for an early run. I was super hungry when we got back, and Summer agreed that Chinese sounded great, so we went to New China. Muad’Dib was mad at me for making him sit in the car and pouted a bit when we got back.

I couldn’t find my lalst few speaker wires all day, but finally found them behind some of Summer’s stuff in the bedroom, so I was able to get the home theater set back up before bed. Everything seemed to be working great as far as I could tell.

Finally, if not a win, at least a reset.

Uncategorised

Deal With It

Eaddie left early this morning, dressed up for something. Summer and I had coffee and then started to reset the living room. We had an appointment to take Muad’Dib for pictures with Santa, but then Summer told me she wanted to have Autumn come over to decorate cookies and we ended up unpacking a lot of other stuff instead.

I cancelled the appointment and took a shower late, but then Eaddie and Eli came to the house and we met them at PetSmart where we could just walk up to what was one of the worst Santas I’ve ever seen. They were informal to say the least, but they gave him a little treat and snapped a couple poor pictures with my phone. Then we wandered the store for a little bit to see if Muad’Dib wanted a treat. He sniffed the bones a little bit, but all he really wanted was a guinea pig, and Summer wouldn’t let him have one. I suggested that if we got two, he could have unlimited treats for free, but that didn’t work either.

We took him outside to take a break from all the excitement for a little bit, and then we ended up going to Point Remove with the kids. We got a large charcuterie board, some drinks, and eventually a pizza. I saw Amber and Brian there for a Christmas party they were having for their runners club, and one of the ladies came down and convinced Summer to sign up for a membership or something.

Muad’Dib was perfect under the table and off the leash the whole time. I took him outside, and he was perfectly behaved the entire time. People loved his ugly sweater and Max antler. We were there for a little while because they were quite busy with a couple parties going, and seemingly very understaffed.

When we finally got back to the house, I cleaned up some more stuff to set up the living room. Summer went to bed. I wasn’t very motivated, and I couldn’t find my two longest speaker wires anyway, but I got a little bit done. Afterward I did some more reviews and had an anxiety attack before bed..

whether it’s scientific truth, or historical truth, or personal truth

Uncategorised

Salad Means Healthy

We got out the door slightly late today, but had plenty of time with a Soylent for breakfast. I dove right back into NetBox again, and struggled with Linux, but it was the workplace equivalent of fun. I had an anxiety attack just before lunch, and it seemed like it could be tied to some extra energy or blood pressure relating to trying to space out my bathroom breaks. It’s been a struggle to keep extra-hydrated just as a habit.

We went to Ortega’s for their Tuesday all-you-can-eat special, and the taco salad and chili relleno combo was just what I had dreamed of. The tamale wasn’t on their approved list, but I had the same server that gave one to me last time, and he said it was no problem. I was in and out of there quicker than McDonald’s, and at a similar cost without an app deal.

The afternoon went by fairly quickly as I made some progress with my test VM. It may become my live environment after all, since I’m not sure how excited I am to do that all over again, but at least now I have it documented.

We made it home quickly to run, then had to go to Walgreens for some prescriptions and the old house to find my old slow cooker for Summer. Muad’Dib and i hung out there for a little while trying to dig through some stuff, but then came back to the house when Summer left work.

Summer had come home during the day for another round of carpet shampooing, and it looked like he didn’t quite cover all the space I thought he would. I would have liked him to cover more of the area where the coffee table goes, and that’s what I expected, but I guess Summer wasn’t watching him. At least he mostly covered the area where the sectional pieces were covering before.

I ended the night with a bunch of reviews, but it’s getting harder now as the easier items to review have already been done. It’s crunch week.

Compress

Uncategorised

60% of Postmodern Jukebox

Summer left for a race in Vilonia this morning. I tried to sleep in a little bit since I would be driving late, but still had to get up and clean my car for the trip. First, I made some eggs over sourdough, and then made some for Summer as she came in. Then I stripped the seat cover out of the back of my car and did a deep clean with a vacuum and a blower, washed the windows, and wiped down all of the surfaces to try and keep Mom from having an allergic reaction.

I finally had a chance to take my shower, then took Muad’Dib for a quick and early run before we went to pick up my parents. We barely made it to Ozark before Summer had to stop. I went ahead and charged partway so we could get up to Viet Buffet in Rogers and then back down. I was worried there would be a wait, but we actually got right in. Everyone really enjoyed it, and though it wasn’t all just like Mom made, it was probably the most authentic I had seen anywhere, and they had all the greats.

From there, we made it to the Ozark Music Hall and actually got to park right outside. The concert was far from sold out, but the seats I got us on the balcony were right behind a speaker on stage-right. About a third, to a half of the stage was covered up, and I was livid. We probably could have gone down to the floor, but Mom didn’t want to move. Summer and I ended up moving to the empty reserved section right next to us at the end of the stage. Nobody said a word to us, and we could finally see the show.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy it, and since we were able to charge while we were at the show, we were able to make it all the way home without stopping. We dropped my parents off at home, then Summer dove straight into bed. Eaddie had given Muad’Dib a bath, but he seemed to be shedding some dandruff or crumbs of some kind, so I wanted to give him another one. I ended up getting frustrated at a bunch of little things that were left undone, and gave up for the night.

What a bunch of geezers.

Uncategorised

Apple Fraud

Today started out a bit better for me, but Summer got called in to work early due to having multiple people out sick. I got a message on my drive in that the scanners weren’t working, and it took me far too long to reach the conclusion of restarting the printers. It didn’t make much sense that two separate devices had the same failure complaining about the SMTP server not having enough resources, but surely as I restarted them, they immediately started working again.

At some point I got a text about a possible fraudulent charge from Apple on my Discover card, so I reached out to Eaddie and got a predictable amount of help. I wasn’t terribly worried about it, and figured I would resolve it later. At some other point, I had a quick anxiety attack that spaced me out for just a moment.

Jacob from Tesla Mobile Service showed up somewhere in the middle of all of that and cleaned the inside of my windshield in front of my cameras. The wipers still came on erroneously, but I no longer had warnings about the camera being obstructed.

I had some cheap McDonald’s for lunch, and then the afternoon was dead silent because everyone upstairs was gone. We didn’t see another soul all day, aside from following one car out of the gate. We had a relaxing drive home and then went for a quick run. I found my heated vest, so I was much more comfortable. We visited my parents, I had a little bowl of some turkey soup and scalloped potatoes, and then we continued back to the house.

Julie texted to remind me that she had a loaf of bread for us, so Muad’Dib and I rode across town to get that. We visited very briefly before heading back to the house, and I sat down with Eaddie to review some charges. There were several attempted Apple charges that I contested, and of course now I’ll have to get a new card number. It will be annoying, but was probably necessary after all three of the girls had access to that card number at some point in time.

Can’t write or rewind.

Uncategorised

Todo lo que puedas comer

I ran a little late today, but still arrived on time, and dove into more of my NetBox buildout. The morning wasn’t bad, but the afternoon got tiring. Summer came through on her way home from Little Rock, and we met at Ortega’s for lunch. They had an all-you-can-eat for about the price of one of their lunch specials, so I had that with an assortment of goodies. It was probably the best no-frills Mexican food I’ve had in a long time. They weren’t elevated dishes, but they tasted great, and were all molten hot.

Summer took Muad’Dib home with her because she had been having a rough day and needed some company at home. I finished what I could and made it home to take him on a run as it got dark. My board died again, but I was able to limp it back to the house where I cleaned up a bit and wrote a bunch of reviews before bed.

You look like you know what tastes good.