Tag: health

Uncategorised

No One Artificially Increases Local Demand for, and Subsequently the Median Price of Eggs Like Gaston

I spoke up on our HubSpot call this morning, but for nothing other than to show I’ve been paying attention. I got another product line imported, or re-imported so that it would be better searchable.

Lunch time could have been anything without the dog, and I considered trying the local Chinese place, but ended up at Arby’s for a French Dip instead. Later, I had an anxiety attack in my office.

Dad had to spend his birthday babysitting our house because Summer couldn’t stay home as we had planned. They were done for the day by the time I got there though, so he was gone. It started to sprinkle a bit, so I took Muad’Dib for a run in case it would get any wetter.

Fortunately there wasn’t enough water on the ground to kick up onto my leg, so we had a good run while it felt really nice out. Then it was minimal cleanup while the girls caught up, and finally sleep.

Uncategorised

Unbirthdays

We caught another, much larger rat overnight. Then, in a change of pace, Summer and I swapped roles this morning. She went to the gym while I did some work from home. I wanted to tinker with the server some more, and finally got everything wiped and the proper version of Windows Server installed. I also wanted to get Hyper-V running by the end of the day. Eaddie had a recital and some other stuff to do for school, so she was gone for the early afternoon.

Dad wanted to get pizza to celebrate his birthday early since just a few of us would be going to Hot Springs next weekend for Maxwell Blade’s final shows. We ran a little bit late, but I eventually rode Muad’Dib over on the Onewheel while the girls followed behind in the car. Julie and Kevin stayed home because they weren’t hungry and Kevin took a nap.

We ate, and then planned to go see Julie and Kevin. The girls had other things to do, so they went back to the house. I sent them off prematurely with my Onewheel though, because Julie wanted some time to take a shower first. I had Eaddie come back for me on her way out for the evening, and I took the time to dispose of the rat.

I took it back by my parents’ house first just to show off. Then I took it up to Washburn Park where I relelased the other one last night. This one was larger and seemed less afraid of me, because it would look around through the trap at me as my hands moved all around. It scurried off into the woods, and I continued across town to Julie’s house.

I just barely beat my parents there, and we sat and visited for a while. Kevin was mostly immobile, but seemed to be doing really well. Julie was doing well, but was exhausted from having to entertain others that wanted to check in on the both of them. I could relate, because for all the nice deeds, seldom does she have time to actually do the very basic household chores that need to be done. Sometimes some peace and quiet is gift enough.

We eventually left, and I made it to the house just before Eaddie got back. I cleaned up a bit, then tinkered with my server some more before having an anxiety attack and finally getting to bed.

Remoteception

Uncategorised

Soda Pressed

I accidentally slept in much later than I wanted today, while Summer went to a 5k in Danville. I woke up just as she was almost home, and had to race to get ready for lunch at Ben’s. She got home and went to get stuff for guacamole, and made that while I gave Muad’Dib a bath. We finally got out of the house and headed to Conway, completely forgetting to bring any boxes, or even empty my trunk for what I would be bringing home.

We got there and it looked like the kids were mostly done eating. They had grilled chicken and zucchini with some chips, and we brought the guacamole and more chips, and some drinks. Lunch was pretty light and quick because we were panicked after Muad’Dib tried to mark his territory in the house after playing with their tiny dog, Maple.

After we ate, we headed upstairs to try and disassemble the soda gun, along with everything in the supply closet. It ended up being quite a bit more than I expected, between a water filter, a mini fridge with a hole cut in the side for cooling the lines, and just a bunch of syrup that basically went everywhere. We only had to cut a couple of lines by the end of it all, and syrup only got a little bit of everywhere. We borrowed a plastic tub to hold all of that stuff, and somehow managed to fit most all of it in the trunk. The mini fridge had to ride in the back seat with Muad’Dib.

We unloaded all of that stuff in the storage unit since we have almost no room at the house right now. Then I ended up ordering some Little Casesar’s after a while for dinner. The kids went to the Cyclone Extravaganza to hang out with some younger friends, and Summer went to bed. I piddled around for quite a while and eventually got there myself after having a brief anxiety attack.

What a sticky situation.

Uncategorised

All Symptoms Nominal

I decided to fast before my afternoon appointment, just in case they failed to ask me to do so. I made it with a single cup of black coffee, barely over half full. As the afternoon approached, we had a conference call with the folks working on the new website, so I got in the car and hopped on the Google Meet. It lasted for almost exactly the entire length of my commute home, where I changed clothes and left Muad’Dib at the house for Summer, who had left work and made it through the gym early.

The clinic must have been overbooked, because my total visit was about two hours. I waited several minutes to get called back, had my blood pressure taken, waited forever and had it taken again because it was so high the first time, and then waited some more until Crystal came back to chat with me. I got renewed on my meds, which was the primary goal, and then she had the nurse come back in to do an EKG as a part of troubleshooting the ongoing anxiety/panic/spaceout attacks.

Summer hadn’t really eaten either, so I picked them up and we went to Ridgewood Brothers to see Grant for his birthday and to get some dinner. We got a full order of nachos, which were a full tray of chips, some grainy cheese dip, and an ultimately disappointing amount of brisket. They tasted great, but the ratios just seemed way off and I couldn’t tell if they were made incorrectly, or if the recipe just needed some work. For the size of the gray we got, I wouldn’t mind paying more to get more meat on them. They were just so chip-heavy. Muad’Dib got a bone out of a pork butt, but we had to take it away from him as he started to tear it up.

We started watching Bee Movie to cool down when we got back to the house, but I got up in the middle of it to take Muad’Dib on a run to Walgreens to pick up my prescription. I should have brought his water, because the heat was unrelenting, and it got him just barely walking. I thought he might have to stop to cool down for a while, but he powered through. We got to the house and cooled down, and finished our movie before bed.

We are go for lunch.

Uncategorised

VLAN PLAN

I caught a rat last night in our small trap. It was a small rat, but I was glad to finally have it. I planned to drop it off on the way out of town, but just as I was driving through the fields at Tech, a huge mob of college girls ran by and were in my way to turn. I ended up driving the rat all the way to Morrilton, and let him go in the wooded area just up the road from work.

I jumped right in after that, onto a call with Bret from Ashton, to try and figure out what the heck is going on with my network configurations. That led to more camera nonsense, and eventually to restarting a switch downstream from a point-to-point to get maintenance online again. I was supposed to call Bret back after all of that, but I ended up just continuing to document everything I found, and tried to trace back all of the camera lines to their endpoints.

We took a break to pick up some McDonald’s fries, and then sat outside Taco Bell where I fed them to Muad’Dib while I ate my burritos. He kept refusing to stay put, but mostly stood outside the door waiting for me. On my last trip in, he got brave and completely disappeared. That sent me into a bit of a panic and I started screaming for him. I just knew I had lost him or somebody saw and grabbed him, just because we were away from home. He eventually came around the corner of the building and got into the car, so at least the panic was short-lived.

The afternoon was more documentation until quitting time. Dad said they would have pork chops and ribs, so once Summer got home, she followed me over while I ran with Muad’Dib. I had to run to Walgreens just before dinner, because my prescription was ready and my blood pressure has been really high again. We ate, and then Muad’Dib and I finished his run. A couple little girls in the new neighborhood asked to pet him, so we stopped on the corner for a bit before making our way through the basin.

It was a pretty slow walk after that, because a ton of people were out walking dogs, and Muad’Dib wanted to smell where every single one of them had peed. Once we got back to the house, I gave him a bath with some new conditioner, and then tried to quickly wind down for bed.

Just get on the level.

Uncategorised

Wooden Do It

Summer had to work this morning, so I got up and took Muad’Dib for a run while it was still a little cooler outside. Dad and I moved a couple big logs over to their driveway from nextdoor so I could get some firewood before the tree service hauled it all off. Summer had plans to take Eaddie to the Clarksville water park in the afternoon, but it felt really clammy and gross out, and I just didn’t want to go. Eaddie got up and mowed the lawn, so I was in and out some to get her started, and then was trying to organize some of the chaos inside since the ceiling collapse.

Eaddie and I cleaned up some charcuterie stuff in the fridge, and I had an anxiety attack in the pantry. I eventually took a shower and made it back over to my parents’ house where Dad had sawed up a bunch of manageable logs that we could load into the Pathfinder. I brought them a little solar-powered pool skimming robot that we watched mostly fail, and then I ate bún bò Huế with them before getting the wood back to the house just as the girls got there. They helped me unload into the front yard, and then took a bit of a break. Dad came over with a little more wood and a plastic sheet for the hole in the ceiling. Unfortunately the staples ripped right through, and I didn’t want to fight it, so he took that back home.

Summer and I eventually made it over to their house to swim after sundown. My parents were out watering the garden, and Muad’Dib got the zoomies and ran circles around the yard. Summer got cold pretty quickly, so we headed back to the house for the evening.

I had originally planned to go to Little Rock to see Mitch in the evening, but time got away from me and we just had too much stuff going on. We decided to reschedule for later next week.

rattle ’round

Uncategorised

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

Uncategorised

Strangers Again

Muad’Dib didn’t want me to leave without him this morning. He followed me out and laid down behind my car, so I backed out slowly and tried to drive away. He ran after me, so I backed up to the driveway and Summer had to come get him. He laid down in the street, so she picked him up and carried him back home.

I had an anxiety attack sometime in the morning, and just sat at my desk as it passed. I sat in that room all day, staring at the screens in front of me. I had brought a bologna sandwich for lunch, and then had a conference call with our HubSpot rep at the end of the day.

It kind of seemed like Shane was a little slow to answer the rep’s questions, possibly because they hadn’t really had a sales strategy before, or at least not a formal process. This felt a little odd to basically be told that the business was doing really well without even trying. Obviously I’m still new to that world and lack any context, but it seemed to me that building an efficient and effective marketing and sales strategy could make things explode. I just hope I do a good job for them.

When I got back to town, I stopped to check on Summer at Superfast. She expected to be home after closing, but ended up right behind me when I got to the house. I waited until Mom was home from work and then headed over for dinner. Muad’Dib wanted to go out, so I let him run beside the car. He listened really well as I called out directions to him, and we got a couple stares from people we passed. I ended up stopping to pick up some poop, then drove him the last block.

My parents had left for the grocery store when we got there, so I dipped my toes in the pool while we waited. Once they got back home, Dad and I ate the chow mein while Mom did some more cooking. Then we headed back to the house so I could give Muad’Dib a bath.

It was a quiet night after that, though I would have liked to go to bed a bit earlier. The days feel like they’re getting longer.

left for dead

Uncategorised

Breaker Breaker 1-8

I got out early enough to stop at Hardee’s for a Frisco breakfast sandwich on the drive in to work. After driving all the way to North Little Rock yesterday, today felt like a breeze. Teisha wasn’t there yet, so Joel gave me a quick tour upstairs and showed me to my office. It took a little work to get into my laptop due to two-factor and unfamiliarity with their setup, but we eventually got it. I rearranged very lightly until Teisha came to get me and start my paperwork downstairs.

We worked on that for a bit, and then she gave me a tour of the downstairs. It will take me quite a while to familiarize myself with everyone there. When we got to the customer service office, they had a tiny, fluffy dog hanging out in there. I tried not to get too excited, but it would be neat to be able to bring Muad’Dib on occasion.

I finished the morning reading through training documentation, which mostly didn’t really apply to my role, but had to be done. Then I left around lunch time so I could get back to town for my hematologist follow-up. I stopped at Taco Bell in Morrilton to get something to eat on the drive, and ran into Francis as they drove through the drive-through. He stopped to chat, and then I got my order and hit the road.

I was worried about being late, but when I got to Genesis and started to check in, I noticed the clock said I was an hour early. My guess was that the laptop was in the wrong time zone, so I left an hour earlier than I needed to. Fortunately they were able to squeeze me in, and the doctor tried to get me on a lower regimen of iron and a return visit in six months. I suggested instead that I should just call it good and walk away. He seemed surprised, but then agreed that a follow up with my PCP would be good enough to monitor my status before deciding to proceed with any specialist treatment.

When I had just gotten into town, I passed Suzanne and called to see if she wanted to get together. After my appointment, I met her, Dawn, and her dog Elvis at Point Remove for beer and pizza. We chatted for a long while in a mostly empty taproom, and I avoided fussing about stolen valor with their fake service dog.

I went home after that, and Eaddie was in the shower. I discovered Muad’Dib had chewed up a bunch of stuff he had evidently pulled off of Summer’s dresser. I tried cleaning up a bit, and when Eaddie finally presented herself, I addressed the fact that I had disabled her Discover card after I found she had thrown away a bunch of good stuff, including a metal spoon from our silverware drawer. She walked back to her room, left out the pizza box that she didn’t finish, and then came back out to leave, saying she wished I had brought it up sooner. She was super upset, got choked up, and nearly started to cry, which I didn’t completely understand. My goal was to address it with her in a way that wasn’t demeaning or embarrassing in front of her friends the night before, so I really don’t know how I could have approached it any better.

Summer was home shortly after that, and we talked about it. That went fairly expectedly, and then I walked Muad’Dib around the block while she took a bath. He had been outside all day, so I gave him a bath when we got home. The girls talked at some point, and then we all talked together, and then they talked, and then Eaddie came to talk to me. She just wants us to split up, plain and simple. I don’t feel like I’ve been taken seriously as a disciplinarian, and at this point she’s already on her way to living her own life anyway. I’ve done what I can, and I don’t expect to make any sweeping changes on a weeknight after my first day at a new job. Maybe we’ll figure it out tomorrow.

So you’re just gonna like… trust me?

Uncategorised

Unvaluable

Eaddie accidentally locked Muad’Dib out on the wrong side of the baby gate last night, so at some point I woke up and he met me on the other side of the closed bedroom door. He slept well with me after that, and I was only a little bit disoriented when my alarm went off to get ready for work.

I stopped at McDonald’s in Atkins for a bagel and made it to work a little late, as planned. My desk had already been scavenged for parts, but I still had my docking station and a couple monitors. I got things set up, and then Randy immediately had me start imaging a couple of laptops for him. I had to fix the OS deployment in SCCM after they had changed some things, but I got everything working well enough.

I probably worked more today than I did the rest of the month. Randy also needed the web server fixed to host student photos, which was easy enough to do. My biggest concern was getting what I wanted copied over and brought home.

Kyle really wanted a Chinese buffet for lunch, so Randy drove us all the way up to Jacksonville since there didn’t appear to be a closer one. Maggie and her youngest, who had been hanging out with us in the office all day, met us there. It was called “New China” and looked very similar to the one in Russellville, but I think they had a better variety of foods. I really liked it. The only big disappointments were the thinness of the egg drop soup and the temperature of the fried fish.

I cut the afternoon short because I had to get across the river to have my blood drawn before my follow up appointment tomorrow. When I got to Genesis, they seemed confused that anyone would tell me to just walk in and have blood drawn, but they got it done after a short wait. I continued toward home after that, through a little bit of rain, and decided to stop at Bitec to confirm my start time and whether I needed to bring anything else with me for my first day. Joel appeared to be the only one there, and suggested that I might bring my two forms of ID just in case any paperwork wasn’t completed.

Summer was making cupcakes when I got home, and Eaddie was preparing to have some friends over for an evening of Guitar Hero. They had me order some Domino’s at a near-extortionary price, which I then went to retrieve with Muad’Dib, because he really wanted an adventure.

Eaddie had one or two new faces over, along with a couple other familiars. They stayed in her room to play while Summer finished the cupcakes. Earlier in the day I suggested that she might just make sure to have some free time to spend with me, but it ended up being a really rough night of aggravation and confirmation of misalignment.

I took out some trash and discovered a nearly-full dumpster. Eaddie had thrown away a bunch of stuff when she cleaned out her room, and an unsurprising amount of that stuff was perfectly good to keep, sell, donate, or reuse. Much of it was brand new, and several were types of things we had recently purchased more of because we didn’t know we had any. I pulled out a small box full of stuff before I became frustrated enough with the constant swarm of flies and mosquitos, and came back inside. I cleaned up a couple of messes that were left behind, fixed some things that were done poorly or outright incorrectly, completed some abandoned laundry, and finally sped through my “me time” before going to bed.

Just because they’re intrusive doesn’t mean they’re wrong.