Human Adult Things

I wasn’t sure what the girls were doing today, so I decided to take Muad’Dib to work with me, just to make sure he stayed out of the insulation that was covering the living room. I brought him in on a leash, but as soon as we got upstairs, he was off. He did great, ate some food, drank a bunch of water, and eventually got to go socialize a bit. Everyone seemed to like him, but as expected, some were way more excited to see him than others. I think I was most surprised by Joel’s response to get way down on the floor with him.

Nobody really wanted to attempt his name, but Muad’Dib and I hung out upstairs most of the day. Summer actually stayed home today, so I had her try and find someone else to quote us on a repair and cleaning. She found a single guy named Cano that said he would come out.

We eventually went to get lunch, and I just picked up some McNuggets at the drive-through. I picked up a free slush at Casey’s, and then we went back to the office to eat. After that, I spent some time with the Vuzix headset again. The afternoon was dead.

Cano finally came by the house late in the afternoon, but just before I got there. Summer must have been starving, because she wanted a Chinese buffet. We left Muad’Dib in the bedroom alone for the first time, and drove across town to discover that New China was closed for some personal event. We ended up at Mulan’s for a relatively quick meal before coming back to the house.

Muad’Dib seemed to do fine. he had a little block of yak cheese that he had been chewing on at work all day, and I found where he had hidden it under the stuffed cheetah under the bed. We laid with him for a while in exhaustion, and then we skipped his run to go to bed.

displaced

Stretching the Upper Limit

Johnny called just as I got to work this morning, so I talked to him for a while. He actually knew quite a bit about Microsoft 365, so he can probably help me for a change. I had a fair bit of trouble focusing after that.

I went to Wendy’s for a late lunch, and grabbed some McDonald’s fries on the way back to eat in my office. It wasn’t very long after that when Eaddie texted that, “Hey so part of the ceiling may or may not have just fallen.” I don’t know why she would lead like that, but I eventually got some photos from her that showed the drywall leaning up against my irreplaceable 3D OLED TV.

Teisha told me to just go home since Joel was on a call, but I wanted to at least message him about it. He said the same, and I headed to the house. Eaddie and Eli were both there to see when it happened. The entire living room was coated in a thick layer of dust. Our fuzzy couch was completely covered. Everything was covered. My first priority was to get the drywall off of the TV. It was heavy, and I was completely astounded when the TV turned on without a shattered corner. It actually broke the drywall. I got some of that out, and then Dad came over to help the kids and me clean out as much of the insulation as we could.

We moved the most expensive stuff into the sunroom in case of further collapse, and then Dad and I went to his house to find some wood and a floor jack to get the rest of the drywall screwed up to the joists. It went better than I expected, but we still have a lot of work to do.

Summer got home after her doctor appointment for her knee. I was already irritated that I beat her home from my job in Morrilton, and that she couldn’t make our home a priority. Then she had the nerve to ask if I would support her quitting her job before finding new employment because she had a really bad day. I’d been telling her for YEARS to find something else and quit, and she always pushed back. So no. Hard, “NO.”

I was able to move the thermostat sensing to the bedroom so it wouldn’t just keep pumping air into the gaping living room. Then Muad’Dib and I left to run, and I went to my parents’ house to swim. Mom thought this all happened at the old house, but I told her it was at our new house.

We left once I was sufficiently cooled down, and got to the house before dark. Summer was in bed, and Eaddie had gone to Eli’s for dinner.

Shocking. Make lemonade.

The Power to Automate

I felt less bad this morning. It was my day to try and complete some tasks, so I dug into block coding with Power Automate, sent off my fixed asset checklist, and at the end of the day, played with the Vuzix smartglasses that were given to me. I took a break in the middle of all that to get a Big Mac – my cheapest local meal that isn’t a dollar frozen burrito from the Walmart. The fries were really sad, so I stopped at Sonic on the way back for a dollar corndog.

I had an anxiety attack just as I was driving away from the office, so I let the car do its thing. Eaddie wanted to take Eli and Ceci to my parents’ house to swim, but Dad wanted me there as an adult to watch over them, so I changed clothes when I got to the house and rode Muad’Dib over on the Onewheel to meet them. Mom was actually home early too. I sat outside with the kids and dripped sweat after a while.

Mom said they still had fish soup, so I brought that in to heat up just as Eaddie said she was going to their house for dinner. Mom went out to water plants, so I ate alone and then finished my walk with the dog. He was pretty sluggish and we cut about a mile off our route.

It was recycle and trash duty when we got back. The kids stayed out late, and I tried to sleep early.

what if then else

Clean Stuff

Summer got up this morning and made fried rice with some leftover onions and an over-easy egg for us for breakfast. Then she took Muad’Dib for a run before having to go to work in the afternoon through closing. Eaddie acted like she was cleaning up, but every time I saw her, she was sitting in the same spot on her bed. I picked at things all around the house, but mostly the kitchen.

The afternoon went quickly, but I knew I needed to give Muad’Dib a good bath. Eaddie had plans to go to a birthday party. Mom called with fish soup in the evening, so Muad’Dib and I rode over there to eat. They didn’t have much rice, so I ran back home to grab the leftover from the morning, and we all ate.

When we got back home, Muad’Dib did great to climb into the tub on his own accord, and got a good scrubbing. Then he came right to our bathroom for a blow-dry, followed by a vacuuming in the living room. Summer got home late and wound down quickly while I tried wrapping up. I got to bed about an hour later than I wanted, but I felt pretty good about what I had accomplished.

Space cadet over here…

“barbecue”

I left around lunch time to get a free slush from Casey’s, and grabbed a pretzel and some free cheese sticks from Sonic on the way back. Then I got another slush on the way home. Julie wanted to go to Fat Daddy’s for her birthday dinner, so Summer and I met the family there. I picked up a third slush after dinner.

Muad’Dib and I went for a walk when we got home, and Eaddie left to spend the night at Maristella’s.

After that, only television noise.

At the Table

We had a staff meeting this morning, and it was interesting to have a seat at the table. I learned a lot about the business in a short amount of time, and it doesn’t look like there’s any slowing down. Later in the afternoon, I had a meeting with Shane as well, and came up with a few tasks to actually resolve.

I took a rock to the windshield on the way home and got a round-looking fracture on the far passenger side of the glass. It looked like it formed a cone that went deep into the glass, so I don’t know if it will be fillable, but if it is, at least it will be out of my line of sight.

Summer worked really late. I stopped to see her for just a moment, then made it to the house to bake some potatoes for dinner. She fried potatoes the other night, and it looked like she left a bunch of small ones for some reason, including one that had been cut to remove a bad spot. I wish she had chosen differently.

Noah was still at the house, but Eaddie was nowhere to be found. He was in and out, smoking on the porch, and dragging his stank into the house. I opened some packages and then ate alone before taking Muad’Dib out on a walk. I helped Dad fold the pool cover when we stopped by there, then had a bite of some fried noodles Mom made.

It was a quick and frustrating winddown, but early to bed.

Un-

Cold and Quiet and Hot and Slow

I didn’t hear from anyone today, so it was hard to get motivated without a real project to work on. I just dabbled in things all day. It was cold upstairs, so I ended up turning on my heated deskmat for a while. I had hot lunch in my office again, and then it was a super long afternoon.

Noah was still at the house when I got there, but said someone had work for him to do in the evening. He left, Summer got home and made some potatoes and Brussels sprouts to go with the leftover meats I smoked, and then I took Muad’Dib for a run. He was pretty sluggish, and I’m sure he’s ready for some cold weather.

what an outlook

sdrawkcaB

I dragged out of bed this morning, and pretty immediately felt sick to the stomach. I got to work about half an hour later than I have been, but still within the parameters I was given, so I didn’t bother messaging ahead that I’d be late. I brought a container of some leftover rice, chicken, and veggies for lunch that looked a lot more like supper, but I was a little bit afraid to eat it.

I had an anxiety attack early on. Then I had a couple of meetings to sit in on, and felt mildly productive with some other things as well. I hope people like me.

I happened to go downstairs to warm up my food a little late and ran into Elizabeth as she warmed up her own. We ended up sitting in the breakroom to eat, and then Janice joined us. Elizabeth made a comment about someone who was voted one of the top nurses in the state, and then showed me a picture of my old friend Tiffany. I guess she’s dating Tiffany’s father, or something of the sorts.

The afternoon went by a little quicker, though I stayed a bit late and then got hung up in traffic for the second day in a row. I thought about stopping by Taco Bell to pick up a Tuesday deal I scored, since it would expire overnight, but ended up going straight to the house instead.

Summer and Eaddie were working on a chicken salad for pitas, and some guacamole for dinner, but it looked a lot more like lunch. It was really good though, and Eaddie brought Noah over to join us since he wrecked his car today, only then learning that his insurance had expired.

I took Muad’Dib for a run, visited with a little corgi named Kaylee, saw my parents, then made it home for the night. I gave him a good bath, and then tried to get to bed as quickly as I could. That was when I remembered Taco Bell. I couldn’t place a future order, and the kids wouldn’t pick it up for me, so Muad’Dib and I ran out to get it. To make things worse, the closer restaurant couldn’t make it, according to the app, so we had to drive all the way across town.

stank boys

Super

I made everyone get up a little early today so we could get breakfast, hoping that we would make time for lunch or dinner later in the day. They had the same offerings as they do during the conferences I’ve attended, except for the addition of custom omeletts. I don’t recall having those during ACOT. The food was good, though I missed out on the poppyseed bread when they changed that out for cinnamon. My omelett was great.

After breakfast, we all got packed up and checked out. We had some time to kill, and it had been a little rainy, so we went to the Park Plaza mall. They weren’t open yet, so we waited in the parking lot for a little while before going in to browse. Summer kept chatting up a mattress sales guy in Dillard’s, so we were stuck there for longer than I wanted, but otherwise it was a fine time. We made it to the food court so they could get bobas, and I grabbed a pretzel and frozen lemonade.

Once we left that mall, we went across town to the Promenade to walk around. We really only went in to two stores, and one of them was the Apple store, so it didn’t really count. I felt a little bit conned because the girls had been talking about being excited to go shop, but then neither really jumped in to any of the stores, nor buy anything that I recall.

As movie time approached, Summer and I went in to AMC while the kids got ice cream. I got our snacks ordered, and then we got seated with plenty of time. Unfortunately I had been dehydrated all day and drank too much before the movie, so I couldn’t make it all the way through.

I thought Superman was awesome. It was a pretty big departure from anything we’ve ever seen, which was fine. It really dove head-first into a new, existing universe, and did so unapolagetically. It was pretty funny to watch a fight happening in the background while Lois and Clark talked in the foreground. Just another day in Metropolis.

After the movie, we headed back home and I took Muad’Dib out for a quick run before dark. Then he had a great bath when we got home. I’m trying so hard to reinforce behaviors, but it’s difficult when the girls don’t follow the same patterns. He knows who lets him get away with stuff.

It was tough getting everything done and ready for work in the morning. It feels like the girls forget that I’m tired too, and that I don’t like how little sleep I get while they’re already in bed for hours.

Man…

F is for Family

I had to disable an account today, and it seems like the employee process could use some work. It’s also possible that having government regulations involved actually made schools more security-focused. The rest of the day, I spent mostly worried about being in way over my head compared to the last guy. I may have had another anxiety attack, but I also might have been remembering yesterday. At the very least, we are two very different individuals with brains that function very differently. This seems to be a theme lately.

It’s me. Hi.
I’m the problem.
It’s me.

I got out for some McNuggets for lunch, and then the afternoon was super quiet and difficult to stay focused. I meant to go to Casey’s for a slush after lunch, but forgot, so I stopped on my way home. I stopped again in Atkins for another one because the first one ended up being mostly air, but their machines were off. I stopped to see when Summer would be home, then got another one at our Casey’s after waiting in a checkout line that wrapped through the store.

Mom was making phở, so Muad’Dib and I ran over, arriving just as Julie did. Summer and Kevin both sat it out because they said it was too hot after spending all day in the heat. Food was good, but then Julie started prying about our issues at home. I mistook it for a safe space to vent, but it felt more like I was being grilled and blamed, so I walked out. Muad’Dib and I finished the walk, made an extra block to avoid a small, yappy dog, and opened some Vine stuff before putting the girls to bed.

Drink to the foam!