Tag: frustration

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Caught in the Middle

Joel came by early this morning after we got another email about moving DNS, and he had my back in an almost angry kind of way. They wanted to set up a call, but I had another call with Aptean that wouldn’t be over in time. All of that happened right around lunch time, and it was also Peyton’s last day, so they planned to have cake in the breakroom at some point.

I didn’t much care about DNS anyway, and deferred to Brian’s judgement for that. He ended up backing down, but I couldn’t tell if that was by force or not. The Aptean call was mostly a gripe fest without an agenda, so nothing real was accomplished there aside from everyone being on the defensive.

I went downstairs for cake, then took Muad’Dib to McDonald’s for a quick, late lunch. The afternoon was short, but I left a little bit late, then stopped by Casey’s for slushies before making it home. Kyle from Hydro Carpet Solutions was scheduled to come clean our living room carpet, and Summer got home early with KFC.

Kyle arrived shortly after I did, and immediately got to work on the sectional, and then the carpet. I didn’t watch super closely, but he was in and out in just over an hour. I question how much he actually extracted, but I’m also past my limit of genuine care. Summer and I ate while he worked, and then she wound down for bed while I ran Muad’Dib.

Late in the evening, I got locked out of Vine because I was behind on reviews, so I submitted a few dozen more before bed.

You’ve won! You did it! You did it! I knew you would! I just knew you would!

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Usul, We Have Wormsign!

We grabbed Burger King and shared the hash browns on the way in this morning. I thought I was further behind than I was, but we actually got there a little bit early. Marivic came by my office and asked if she could give Muad’Dib a treat, and then she set down a huge bag of Pup-Peroni just for him. I told her to keep it downstairs and we would come visit her every day, but she said to keep it because she just loved animals. It was a reasonably productive day after that. I did have to go downstairs to help Peyton and Heaven with some goofy OneDrive shares at one point, and I had a phone call with one of the IT guys at Garland before lunch.

I wasn’t super hungry, so we grabbed a small box from Taco Bell. It was a bit warmer out, but still reasonably nice. Muad’Dib had to poop when we got back to the office and there was a big proglottid squirming around in it, so I had Summer go by the vet for some dewormer. The afternoon was really quiet after that, but we eventually got back home where Summer was making her Polish sausage and sweet potato bake.

Eaddie had left with the Model Y because they still hadn’t fixed the Murano tire, and she had run the Pathfinder too low on fuel to trust it for a trip to Tech. I took Muad’Dib on an early run, visited Dad, and then came back to the girls sitting down for dinner. They talked about the drama surrounding Chance and how the school board was going to have a hearing to determine his fate. I didn’t have a clue who Charlie Kirk was when the news broke, but it took less than a minute to decide he was an incredible asshat completely undeserving of any controversy. Chance has always been one of the best teachers I’ve ever known, and the district would be foolish to lose him.

It’s shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult.

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Frog Went a-Jumpin’ and He Did Ride Onewheel

We skipped breakfast this morning but had some coffee at the office. I felt busier, but it was still quiet, and that may just be the nature of the place for me. That would be swell. I did have an anxiety attack pretty early in the day that rattled me pretty hard, but as usual it was gone within seconds. I had to go downstairs a couple of times, and I was helpful both times, which was great.

I forgot Muad’Dib’s lunch, but we went to Taco Bell and I shared some of my burrito. While we were there, an older couple came up with three small, well-groomed dogs to eat at the other table. I chatted with the lady while the gentleman went in for food. I was super proud of Muad’Dib for his behavior – especially when I asked if I could leave him outside while I went in for a refill and to throw away our trash. I had him sit and stay, and he didn’t move a muscle the entire time I was inside. I almost couldn’t believe it.

Summer was going to be working until one in the morning, so we were on our own all evening. Diana wanted to chat, so I called her on our way home. Then we stopped to see Summer at the wash. I took the opportunity to vacuum my car, and then took it to the quarter wash for a 75-cent job. We got to the house and I got a call from Kyle from Hydro Carpet Solutions. He quoted $150 to clean the carpets and the sofa, which was significantly less than I expected. His first availability wasn’t until Friday evening, and I was surprised to hear that he worked that late, but he got us on the schedule.

Eaddie was gone, so I took Muad’Dib to pick up some Popeye’s to take to Summer. It took over half an hour to get our food from the time I played the order, but after a surprisingly bad experience with everyone I spoke to, the guy that bagged my order actually hooked us up with a little bit of extra food. We made it to the wash and saw the crew that was there to help with the deep clean. They were all excited to see Muad’Dib, and upon learning his name, one of the guys said he had that tattoo. He pulled out his phone and showed me a picture of his black and white, realistic style mouse.

We ate, Summer gave away what was left before I finished eating, and then Muad’Dib and I went back to the house for a quick run in the dark. When we got to the basin, a frog jumped at my path on the Onewheel. I swerved to try and miss it, but wasn’t sure of its fate until I felt it jump off of my foot a moment later. I was glad it survived. We stopped to see my parents just briefly, then got to the house to find Eaddie locked away in her room. Finally, bed.

Does this make me Shai-Hulud?

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Dust Busters

I got up pretty early despite going to bed so late, and tried up some leftover hibachi rice with some other leftover steamed rice and some eggs for Summer and myself. She wanted to really dig in and clean some stuff today in preparation for some carpet cleaners, so she got into the floor, baseboards, and vacuumed dust off of everything imaginable. I spent my time sorting and unboxing some old stuff to get it out of the way. Eaddie was gone for most of the day, came back for a while, and then left again in the evening.

It was a tough time for a lot of reasons, but I appreciated the work she wanted to get done. We cleaned up the last of the spaghetti for dinner, and I took Muad’Dib for a slightly abridged walk. I let him dip in the creek before his bath, and we visited Dad briefly. Then at the end of the road, I was pretty sure I spotted Grant’s dad’s dog, Lucy. We tried to chase her down, but she took off like a lightning bolt and disappeared between some houses. I called Grant, but it wasn’t until much later that he received the message to pass along to his parents.

When we got back to the house, Muad’Dib got a flea bath, shampooed, and then some nice conditioner that all had a chance to sit for a while. He did great in the bath this time, and then we all headed to bed.

Searching…

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Build Me Up

I had to go downstairs to help Peyton and Heaven with some stuff this morning, and Muad’Dib snuck downstairs with Janice. Then he started being rowdy around us, and I had to take him outside to burn off some energy. It must have been the smell of the other dog that got him wound up so tight, because he ran around a bunch, and then came inside and tried to do it some more. I ended up taking him back outside and putting him on a short leash the rest of the day. He knew he was in trouble.

I went to McDonald’s for lunch and made him wait in the car. Service was expectedly terrible, and I got a guy “in trouble” for going behind the counter to get his own drink cup when nobody responded to his cries for help, but my food was okay. Then Shane put me on the spot in the afternoon when his new girl couldn’t enroll her laptop in Intune due to a licensing issue. Fortunately I was able to figure that one out pretty quickly.

Eaddie had her first ballgame in the evening, so I ran home to change and pretty immediately got picked up by Summer to go to Tech. We were super early, found seats, went back out of the stadium and found Eli’s family, and waited outside with them as the band marched up, played, then went inside and played a pregame show. I thought we might leave for food during the game and come back for halftime, but we stayed.

I tried to play Don’t Starve on my phone, but couldn’t do much because it was hard to see and the touch screen controls were terrible. I did get most of my map plotted though. Halftime was super short, and Dardanelle came to play with Tech for some reason, so we actually only got to hear a couple pieces from Eaddie’s set. Then we headed home to crash.

I had an anxiety attack in the kitchen trying to track down whether the kids had brought in a package. If they didn’t, then we’ve got a package thief.

Let me down.

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Stay.

I went to bed super early with my feet up, and woke up just before my alarm. That got me out the door without a rush, and we made it to Morrilton before I decided to stop in at Wendy’s for some breakfast for a change. They weren’t in much of a hurry, so I got to work around the same time as usual. I got in and tinkered with PRTG and the PLCs some more, but didn’t really make any meaningful progress.

I actually ate my breakfast slowly throughout the morning since I had such a tall cup of coffee, so we went to lunch really late. It was nice out again, so we went to Taco Bell and shared a box. I was really proud of Muad’Dib for listening when I told him to stay at the table outside. He actually laid down and waited while I went in a couple of times.

When we got back to the office, Shane was there and asked for a laptop and an account, but didn’t have any details. I went upstairs and Teisha at least got me information on the account, and I spent the afternoon trying to wipe a couple of laptops. The whole process was way slower than traditional offline imaging, so I may end up using a flash drive with bootable media in the future if this becomes a habit.

As I sat there, I started to spin a bit as I felt my heart race and my blood pressure rise. I ended up taking a clonidine pretty quickly and rode things out, but I couldn’t really tell why I spiked. Caffeine and sugar? Salty foods? Stress from work? I alerted Teisha just in case, but I leveled off after a while.

Mom was making bún bò Huế for dinner, so we got back to town and waited for Summer to get home, and then I ran over with Muad’Dib while Summer drove. Along with cooler days are earlier sunsets, so Muad’Dib and I had to hurry and get the rest of his run in. He did not hurry. He made me proud with his obedience, and then immediately frustrated me with his whimsy. At some point I stepped in some poop, presumably of his, and may have tracked some into the house, so I cleaned the floors just in case.

Eaddie called just as we were finishing our run, and put me on the phone with Shaana. They wanted to add Eaddie to their family plan since Eli got a new iPad and they were giving Eaddie his old one. Eaddie’s Apple account has always been a frustration because their father had it set up at an AT&T store, and we never actually had any control over the girls’ accounts. I wanted Eaddie to figure out her own account and manage it herself since she was old enough, but she’ll just continue to ride along whoever will take care of her, and that’s a disappointment.

I had an anxiety attack while head-down in some Vine stuff, and then tried to wind down quickly to get as much sleep as the night before.

I don’t know what’s next either, but I have a pocket full of stones and a reckless kind of hope.

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f⁻¹(g)

I ended up elevating my legs last night because the swelling in my feet hadn’t been getting any better. It had done wonders by the time I got up. Summer went to the gym and Eaddie went to church. I did Vine reviews all day.

I warmed up some spaghetti for lunch just before Summer got home, and then we went out back to try and find the pendant for the living room fan. I went back in and kept doing reviews while she cleaned up.

Mom was supposed to make bún bò Huế for dinner, but when I checked in the evening, they weren’t ready. Summer and I ended up going to Buffalo Wild Wings instead, and sat outside with Muad’Dib. I think the noise got to him, because he was rowdy for a while when we first got there.

Service was inexperienced, and the food wasn’t great. The chicken seemed to be cut in half or thirds from what they used to serve. Overall it just wasn’t worth the visit.

I took Muad’Dib for a run in the cool air when we got home, and he ran well. We visited with Dad, and then made it back to the house for the night.

y

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I’ve Got the Sheets

I grabbed my leftover breakfast burrito and hit the road surprisingly early this morning, so I stopped at Burger King for a coffee and some free hash browns to share with Muad’Dib. I called Dad once I got to work, while he was at the house with Adam. Dad agreed that the joint in the ceiling looked worse than before, but Adam said the best he could do was float the mud joint out more. I just wanted to get over it, so Dad paid him off.

I got pulled away from more IT-centric tasks when Shane called and asked me to update some products in HubSpot. I worked on it a bit, but had to take a break for lunch because Muad’Dib kept pawing at me more and more. We went to Taco Bell again so we could sit outside while it was nice. It got surprisingly windy while we were out there, but we made it work. I may eventually start taking food back to work and eating at the picnic tables in the smoking area, because it’s at least sheltered by a field that Muad’Dib can use to burn off some energy.

The afternoon was for importing products and trying to combine the multiple cost sheets into something I could try and automate for importing in the future. Near the end of the day, Muad’Dib started throwing up in Janice’s office. It was just liquid, but he didn’t act sick otherwise. Even afterward, he ran around the office a bit.

I had an anxiety attack just before we walked out, and then we grabbed a couple slushies on the way home. Summer had beat us by a couple hours and was having a bath. The kids were in and out. I had my board charged up to 100%, so we went for a ride to try and repeat the failure.

I was going to let Muad’Dib take a dip in the creek, but he got down to eat some grass and then threw up some more. I couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like maybe he got some rawhide out, which would explain his lack of appetite for the last day and a half. When we got to my parents’ house, Mom said they still had meat for spring rolls that needed to be eaten, so I cooked some of that and ate at the counter. It was dark by the time we left, and we made laps near the house to see if I could get the board to fail, but it never did. Muad’Dib ran his little heart out and had a great time in the dark.

As soon as we got inside, I gave him a really good fleabath, followed by a good scrubbing. He lost a ton of hair and came out super fluffy and happy. The girls went to bed early for Conquer the Gauntlet. I mentioned going with them, and Summer didn’t seem excited by that at all.

Pick your poisons.

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Games All Day

Taco John’s was supposed to have BOGO breakfast burritos this morning, but the app was uncooperative. The friendly, but otherwise lackadaisical staff eventually got around to greeting me at the counter, and took care of the order. Muad’Dib hadn’t been to work with me in a while, so he was super excited to see everyone.

I thought I’d have a call at some point with someone from Garland, but it never happened. I carried on through lunch at Taco Bell where more corporate shenanigans took place with rising prices, and coaching people through placing their own orders at the kiosks. I would have ordered through the app if I could have used my paper coupon.

We had a good time eating outside in the reasonable weather, and then I grabbed some mozzarella sticks from Arby’s next door before heading back to work. We were the last ones out of the office at the end of the day, and it was a reasonably relaxed, quick drive home.

Summer had to close the lube, so we stopped to see her before making it home. Dad had met Adam about some of the finishing touches in the living room, and he’ll have to come back again tomorrow to get paid. They patched the hole they put in the wall, which was our biggest concern. The paint finish wasn’t great, but we’re ready for it all to be over. I could sell the house at any moment to be rid of it all.

Eaddie and Eli were around for a bit, but Muad’Dib and I went out for a run. We cut a block to avoid a noisy poodle, visited my parents for a little dinner, and then experienced another Onewheel battery failure on the way back to the house. I had Dad come get us so I wouldn’t have to carry the stupid thing the rest of the way, but after a couple blocks I got out and walked with the dog the rest of the way and just let him drop the board off at the house for me.

I looked at the living room some more, and it seemed like the rafters might have shifted some more where they crawled up to fix the ceiling fan box. There were lines that were more obvious than before. I was just ready to move on from everything.

Games all night.

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Assemblance

I worked from home today since the guys were supposed to finish work on the ceiling. They did a bit of painting, I pointed out some issues, and they touched up. The total cost increased by about $500 due to some extra construction elements they had to do to raise and level the whole ceiling. They got ceiling fans re-hung, and I immediately noticed a missing pull chain. I looked all over for it under the deck, but didn’t have any luck.

Dad came over to look at some of it with me since he would be over to hand off the second half of the money the next day. Summer got home and started making spaghetti. I took Muad’Dib for a run to the bank to get the money, and we went inside to talk to Aaron for a bit.

When we got back to the house, Dad wanted to go to the other house to uninstall the microwave so they could have the cabinets replaced. I picked him up and we got that taken care of. Eaddie finally got home so we could eat, and then I took Muad’Dib out for another run. While we were out, Summer noticed a hole in the wall, some broken trim near the floor, and I found a broken USB cable from one of my security cameras, so I had to send another email before wining down for bed.

Spaghetti and Squealy Olive Balls