Tag: gaming

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The City that Drowned

We finally made it to Quiz Bowl nationals trip day. Summer and Autumn went to pick up Burger King for breakfast while I got ready, and we made it to the high school to load everyone onto the bus. I ran into Ben outside the high school and told him my sick day was to meet a witch doctor from the south. We barely had room for everything and everyone, but I think they may have overpacked some supplies on the way out.

The first stop was Quiznos to pick up lunch to take with us. I guess it was easier than stopping somewhere along the way, and certainly expedited that process. I’m not really sure how we ended up with a full bag of extra sandwiches, but hopefully they keep until the ride home. I certainly would rather experience unique cuisine while I’m here.

Around three hours into the trip, we stopped at Lake Village behind a gas station, got snacks and took a bathroom break, and then walked over to a park to eat. Luckily it wasn’t too terribly hot out, but I did sweat a bit. It definitely took the bus a bit to cool back down after that.

Summer and I watched the first episode of Firefly after I did some finagling on my devices. I was upset to learn the iPad Plex app wouldn’t stream without a Plex Pass. I’ve never had that issue with my Android app for some reason. Not too long later we made it to a Walmart in Crystal Springs. I didn’t really need any snacks, so I wandered to electronics and picked up a couple clearanced smart light switches and a physical copy of Diablo III. It was all just so cheap.

The last leg of the trip was short, but took us through a bunch of traffic on what felt like the world’s longest bridge. It was interesting to see the water rushing out of the Mississippi River and just spreading out across what was once land. The water was high, and flooding has been expected all over, but here it just seemed a part of life.

We got to the Hampton in an old part of town, but really I think all of this area is old town. It’s been remodeled with new world commodities, but the outside shells of buildings seem to be left alone. We didn’t have any time to look around or do anything but eat, but I really didn’t want to eat the Domino’s pizza after overhearing the three telephone conversations it took to place the order. Instead, I opted to use Uber Eats to order some food from a nearby place called Magasin Kitchen. I got some grilled shrimp spring rolls and something called a bibimbap rice bowl that I didn’t dislike, but didn’t super care for either. It was decent food, but just not quite what I was looking for.

Summer passed out early for me, but it was really probably kind of late for her. I’m really glad I’m taking next week off after having to wake up early all weekend for this.

Love that chicken from Popeye’s!

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Basskitball

Crawford and Oakland had their staff basketball game this morning. I thought it was after school, but they reminded me that nobody would show up if it was after hours. They all bussed all of their kids to the high school arena, and had a rowdy game with an eagle mascot, and cheerleaders, and everything. Ben was playing for Oakland, so I tried to get the others to join me, but nobody cared enough. I noticed pretty quickly that nobody was around taking pictures up close, so I jumped right into the photographer role again. All I had was my phone, which was pretty terrible at catching the fast motion of the game, but I did what I could. I should have tried turning off HDR to see if it improved, but it’s too late now. The game went into double overtime and ultimately they agreed to end it in a tie where nobody went home a loser. It felt like the perfect analogy for public school.

After the game, I went to the junior high for a while and took care of some things. Summer and Autumn were going to leave for lunch, but I got stuck working on a phone issue and then got frustrated with some whining, so I just skipped lunch and went by Oakland, and then to the high school to work on keyboard bezels with Dale. He got some news that Ryan accepted a job with Thomas in Bentonville and sent a video of me working on laptops. Ryan replied with something about a timer and I had been curious for a little while, so I checked myself in at about six and a half minutes.

I left there a bit early and went to the shop to drop off a Chromebook. When Jason left, Ben, Gary, and I went upstairs to check out the refurbished auditorium. It looked better, but not great. The reverb on stage was too much to handle, and made basically everything incomprehensible. From there, I went to my parents’ house and had some leftovers before coming home to get ready and pack for New Orleans. Travel anxiety is always worse with other people involved, but having a checklist premade from previous trips made it easier.

Traveling on a bus for this long is going to be a challenge.

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Mow Fuel, Mow Problems

We got up this morning, and Summer tried to get the mower out to teach Eaddie how to use it. We could never get it started though, so we spent the whole day playing Magic instead. When she was finally ready to go to the gym, I headed home to mow my own lawn. I decided to take the power cord to the TV as well, and in response, Eaddie attached herself to me like some kind of spider monkey. It took a great amount of effort to get away from her without physically harming her.

Once I got home and started mowing, it went by pretty quickly. I really love my electric mower. My parents came by and saw me outside for just a second before I finished up, and then it was shower time.

Summer picked up our coffee urn from the junior high and groceries from Kroger on the way home, and I eventually made my way back up with a spark plug wrench in tow. It didn’t seem to help, and I’m guessing the mower just has bad gas in it. I asked if she got new gas for it, and I guess she thought “new from the gas can” was good enough. Crank as we may, we only got it to run for a few seconds before dying again.

Meanwhile, Autumn helped Summer make burgers, sweet potato fries, and asparagus for dinner. It was all super good, and I tried to fill up on the asparagus after watching a bunch of videos on how it grows. I never would have expected such a weird swamp grass-looking plant.

After dinner we played a little more Magic, and then watched a few episodes of Parks and Rec before bed.

You know what, I am going to have that third steak after all. Go ahead and put that order in now, please and thank you.

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Friar Cluck

Summer started off super early to get the car show going. I got out as quickly as I could, feeling much better after sleep. I had to go by her place to get some cakes she forgot, then made it in at least before it started.

I didn’t feel confident in running more than one deep fryer because of the lack of outlets, but I managed with just one pretty well. The show had a great turnout, and people seemed to have a really good time. Nick sold out of pulled pork peculiarly fast, but we had chicken strips for days. I just kept churning them through the fry baskets, using the timer on my Pebble to keep them going. While I was there, I had a few esports kids come in to play, but they were just left to their own devices since I was busy elsewhere.

Dad came by to check it out and hung out with the Model T guys for most of the day. I pulled him away for just a bit to climb up to the roof for some photos. The trees were a bit in the way, but I got a decent panorama out of the deal.

I was absolutely beat by the time we got everything wrapped up, but I had to go to my parents’ to clean up their fryer, and then to the shop to drop off the borrowed extension cords. Somehow Summer had the energy for some gym time. I went home to clean up just a little bit, then made my way to her place to pick her up for the Magic: The Gathering open house. Travis met us there, but John and Melissa had something else going on. We ended up wishing we had brought the kids, but they were tired and moody anyway.

We played a couple games, first for Summer to watch and learn, and then again with all three of us in a free-for-all. Summer won that game, and seemed to really enjoy it, so I’m sure we’ll be back for the next open house. One of the esports kids that didn’t show up to the car show today was there learning how to DM a game of D&D, which I thought was pretty neat. They really did a lot with a small amount of space.

Once Travis had had enough, we headed home and I fried up some rice and egg for dinner. We watched a couple episodes of Parks and Rec, and then crashed.

Oh, oh, it’s Magic!

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It’s Snot What You Think

Heather was supposed to come work with me at the junior high this morning, but she ended up being pretty busy back at the office. I just kind of piddled around until testing was over, and then went back to the shop to meet up for lunch. Jason wanted wings and suggested Zaxby’s, so he, Ben, Zach, and Heather all loaded up with me to go. I had a salad that was really pretty good, but it still made me sad. It wasn’t even a healthy salad, but I just get so much joy out of their chicken strips that it made me sad not to eat them.

After lunch, I chatted with Gary for a while before going to Oakland to clean up a virus our firewall detected was being synced by OneDrive. Then I went back to the shop until the end of the day.

On the way home, I felt a mass inside my right nostril that I thought I could extract. It took some back and forth, but eventually I blew it out. It was so big that my curiosity had me weigh it at just over five grams. I felt like I had never breathed clean air before in my life, but that only lasted a few minutes before I felt the congestion start to move back in.

The Dumbo betta’s fins seemed to have gotten worse since separating her, so I spent some time getting her into some medicated water. Then Summer came over to help clean up the leftover pizza and some dill soup Ronda gave me. Ronda didn’t care for it from Stoby’s, but Summer and I both liked it. Then I spent the rest of the evening on the computer haphazardly researching things I keep putting on the backburner. Clint and Aaron got on for a bit, so I ended the light with a couple rounds of Overwatch before retiring to bed.

Is that my brain?!?

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Self Promoting

Gary and I chatted for a while this morning, reminiscing about the days of olde. I missed not getting to see Mitch when he came to town. He said they all went to Robert and Grant’s barbecue truck to see what they had, and that it was the best barbecue he had ever had. It got me thinking and wondering, and even made me a little sad to think back to that earlier time.

Dad texted Mom and me asking for a ride home from St. Mary’s after they had doped him up and told him not to drive. I got him home and then went to the junior high for a bit before lunch. Allen was really craving chicken, so we went to KFC for lunch, and then I went back to the shop to talk with Gary some more about how to block the kids from accessing porn on the school devices. Those kids are so crafty about it, and some of the things they do are pretty creative. I guess I just can’t imagine them living in today’s world without access to that kind of thing everywhere else, and it makes me wonder why they’d do it at school.

Eventually I made it back to the junior high for esports. Rachel and Josh came by to get a few quote from some kids and take some more pictures. Josh even staged a little artistic photo as well with a mix of someone’s Razer headphones, a VicTsing mouse, and my Monoprice mechanical keyboard. At the end of the day, I accidentally remotely restarted three computers that were being used to play a winning game, and I felt really bad for causing the team to lose an otherwise winning match. They gave me some grief over it, but they seemed to brush it all off in the end since it was really time to go anyway.

I went home for a bit to clean up, and then went to Summer’s for the evening. She prepped some more veggies and I made another awesome pizza since the girls went out with their dad. Then I spent the rest of the night playing some Overwatch with Johnny, Jack, Aaron, and Clint. It was nice to have so many people on, and I was surprised at how late they all stayed on. Must’ve been kismet.

The Executive Director of Esports, Game Master, and Emperor Supreme does not 1v1 a bruh!
The Executive Director of Esports, Game Master, and Emperor Supreme sends his Legions to dispatch his opponents!

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Grey Skies

It was cloudy and a bit rainy all morning. The girls got up and we had leftover smoked pork sandwiches that Ben made for the potluck. Then they went home to clean up and go about their day while I readied to say goodbye to my friend.

Grey seemed to go downhill just over the course of the day, so I felt like I made the right call. I scooped her up off the top of the couch by the window and set her in the carrier. She sort of half stood up, and at one point even got out a little bit of a meow, but that was it. I took her to Tanner Veterinary Clinic for one last time. They had me do the paperwork up front so I could just walk out at the end. I did alright until I looked over at their little LED candle they light for when someone’s saying goodbye to a pet.

They got her weight, and she stood up a bit for that, and then we went to a room in the back. It was all pretty quick from there. I put her up on the table and she walked around a little bit. They gave her a sedative that knocked her out in just a few minutes, but left me in there for 15 to make sure she was solidly out. I just kept petting her, wondering what a cat might dream about that’s lived indoors all her life. Finally they came back in, shaved a spot on her leg, and for some reason wiped it down with alcohol. It took one shot to stop the breathing, and then another just to be sure her heart stopped. She was resilient and stubborn to the end. I didn’t bother to take any more time, having had a few weeks to make my peace.

I headed home and had a couple beers with Split Lip, the last living bit of a life I had so long ago. Things are different now. More convoluted and often difficult. But also simpler and easier. Better. We’ve all grown and changed, or at least our view of the world has expanded. In the end, the best we can do is try to pass on what we’ve learned along our way.

Amanda met me at Ruby Tuesday for a birthday dinner. I got to use my free garden bar birthday coupon. I only ate about half what I normally do since I waited for her to get her food first. We caught each other up on work things mostly. Lots of complaining about working for the government. A little gossip about old work friends. Nothing of any consequence. The true highlight was when our waitress looked at my phone for just a few seconds and memorized my coupon code. It had to be mnemonics. She’s definitely missing a calling somewhere in industrial espionage or something.

From dinner, I headed straight over to get the girls and head up to Zach and Sara’s. Bryan, Daspri, and Gary beat us there and had already chowed down on the burgers and dogs. Hungry for some meat, I had a burger myself hoping the others would follow. Of course they did not, so I ate alone during our game of Sequence. We did that until it was no longer fun, and then switched to Unstable Unicorns. That dragged on a bit as well, just for the number of people we had. We only made it through one game, and then Bryan and Daspri rounded up their girls and headed home. We stuck around to try out a few bombs in Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. It seemed to be a pretty good hit once we got rolling, but I think the game would really shine as a team building game at work. We ended the night with a round of Mario Kart so I could assert my dominance. Zach nearly beat me, but nearly is not enough.

We ran home, stopping for gas, because tomorrow it’s off to take a hike. Somehow we really managed to cram a lot into this spring break.

You’re 5,000 candles in the wind!

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Cards Versus Humanity

Spring break was in the air today. I got up an hour and a half early and made broccoli, rice, and cheese casserole for our potluck, and then had plenty of time to get everything ready for work. We didn’t have anything in the way of group projects, so I just leisurely took care of a few things as they came in.

Ben brought some smoked pork for a potluck, and I think I was the only one that actually made anything myself to contribute, but it was worth it. I haven’t made that stuff in a while, so it was about time. We took a long working lunch, but that didn’t really affect when I was going to leave. I had stuff to do. They got my lift to the junior high so I could replace the band projector bulb. It’s always fun driving heavy machinery around indoors.

After work, I chatted with Ben for a little while before heading home and trying to feed Grey a bit. She managed to get a bit of gravy down along with several treats. Then I went to Walmart to get some stuff for cheese dip before picking Summer up.

We went to Travis’s to play Cards Against Humanity with John and Melissa. Veronica backed out, but she missed a really good time. Travis and Summer had never played before, so it was a lot of fun. Nearing the end of the game, I kept having to tend to my phone to orchestrate the meeting between the internet fish lady and Clint. Eventually they did make the connection, and he shuttled the lot all the way home for me.

Summer and I stayed to chat with Travis for a while, and then left as Clint got closer to town. We met him nearly exactly on time, and I took an armload of fish off his hands. I didn’t have the time or space for them anywhere, so I just ended up opening the bags at Summer’s so they could get some air. I’ll have to take care of them properly in the morning. The girl even sent me some minimal plant trimmings, which was super awesome of her. Just before bed, I also got an invoice for a collection of plants from someone in California. Hopefully this comes together nicely. I have all spring break, after all.

Meeting people on the internet is completely normal and safe in every way.

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Double Down Loaded

The junior high started testing this morning, so I took that time to start cleaning out my office. I got some white space on my desk, which felt really good. Then I got some tech tubs over to the graveyard for storage, which freed up some floor space. I met Allen at New China for lunch, and he brought along a surprise Gary with him. I had to pregame for my birthday dinner at Brown’s Catfish tomorrow.

After lunch, I ran by Oakland for just a bit, then spent the rest of the afternoon at the junior high working on a few things. I ended the day working late to get Sandy’s lab ready for my first esports expansion. I kind of hope I have even more kids there this time, but a part of me thinks we won’t completely fill up the first lab tomorrow. I’ve done zero advertising for this week, so at this point I’m kind of just finding out whether these kids have this programmed into them automatically for weekly meets. I still need to meet with Al at the high school to see about gauging interest, and hopefully finding some help for coaching.

When I got home, I tried to get Grey to eat a little something, but neither of them really love the new can of food I opened. I did get her to eat a bunch of treats, but as soon as I put them near her wet food, she ignores it all. I should probably just give up on her fattening up, but she’s been so sweet.

The girls had leftovers for dinner, so I came up to join them. I finally got some of the spaghetti Summer made while I was sick. Then I played some Breath of the Wild until the girls went to bed. Summer and I finished the evening with a couple episodes of Parks and Recreation until she wanted to pass out.

We’re taking back HSTI!

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No Spring in This Step

I woke myself up this morning with a cough, and decided to just stay up so I wouldn’t have trouble sleeping tonight. I didn’t feel it until much later, but only having a couple hours of sleep really sapped me.

Autumn beat us all up and was watching Criminal Minds when I got out of bed. Summer got up and around just a little bit later, and then she had to drag Eaddie out of bed in order to get them all home. I had a bit of a stomach ache that kept me from being too active, but I did get my bills paid, and I arranged a meeting for Clint to taxi some fish from Fayetteville for me.

Summer came and got me after she finished at the gym, and we went to Walmart to get dinner. We ran into Bác Vân and Doug there and only stopped for a moment in the busy aisle before we were off. I tried finding some more wet food for Grey, but she’s so picky that I even got a bag of treats to see if she would eat those.

Back at Summer’s, she fried up some veggies that Tammy brought me to go along with some grilled cheese brats and corn. The girls had a bit of trouble getting along, but also suffered from their own negativity or inability to focus. It’s tough to discipline them at this age because they’ve already grown into habits and personalities. Conversations work sometimes, but I feel like I really missed out on the belt phase of the child rearing.

I tried having some fun with New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, which is frankly just a stupid and ridiculous name for anything. I don’t think anyone was prepared for the amount of cooperation that was needed, and the fact that the whole screen froze when someone took damage made it that much more difficult to control things. Eaddie was eventually sent to bed for having an attitude, and after finishing the second level, Autumn left Summer and me to watch a couple episodes of Parks and Recreation.

I started falling asleep in Summer’s lap, and headed home to try and feed Grey one more time. She ate the treats, but not much of the gravy. She doesn’t act sick, but she’s just a fuzzy skeleton at this point. It won’t be much longer.

SUPERHACKER