Tag: holiday

Uncategorised

Hey You Guize!

It was just above freezing this morning, but fortunately a clear drive home. I had to take extra care getting ready, to layer my costumes well. I was to dress up as Amanda, but I wanted a less niche and more casual outfit underneath, so I had my usual Dracula t-shirt on. Then I donned some skinny jeans, cow socks, house shoes, a blue zip-up hoodie, wet hair parted on the right, hole-punched red dot stickers for gauged ears, Red Bull, and a flask of lighter fluid to complete the look. When I got to work, I got a few chuckles, but I don’t think most of them truly appreciated how much effort I put into the ensemble.

We didn’t actually have a meeting other than to see each others costumes, so I headed on to the high school for real work. There, I ran into Doug as he was helping Misty bring some things into the greenhouse. Then I immediately changed out of my skinny jeans into some slim ones that felt suddenly very loosey goosey. I fixed a couple other things pretty quickly, and then mulled around the laptops a bit more.

I was going to stop by the shop to see if I could find a lunch partner for something a little lighter than usual. I had gotten stuck by the D&R Railroad when Ben called to see what I was eating, and we decided to meet up at Linhs. We had a really good chat over some really good food as we usually do, and then it was back to work. I decided to end the school day by blaring Thriller as the final bell rang and kids flooded into the hallways. Again, I felt like not many truly appreciated what I was doing there. The workday ended on a higher note as I was able to recover my bricked touch panel by installing the correct firmware.

When I got home, I shed all the extra clothes and tried to make sense of my evening. The girls had gone out to eat for dinner and weren’t doing anything for Halloween. Summer was working out and would have to start prepping some chili for work tomorrow. Suzanne was going to come visit and meet the family, but wasn’t certain of the time or whether she’d be able to join us for an actual meal that was up to me to produce. I ended up picking up some Taco Villa on the way up to Summer’s, and we ate as she ran around the kitchen all evening.

Suzanne eventually showed up with a gift of some fresh sourdough bread that she had labored over all afternoon, and we sat and chatted for quite a while. I do miss the days of being able to stay up and do that for longer, but hopefully this time of year will allow for more of that.

This hammock itches inconveniently.

Uncategorised

Let’s Get Weird

We got up a little early this morning so we could get out of town for lunch. Our first stop was Home Depot to pick up some work lights I bought, and then we went to a little diner called Taylors’ Made on the other side of Conway. Summer had breakfast food, and I got the reuben. It was all pretty good, but I didn’t care for the super thin onion rings. I wish we had tried some of the appetizers.

As we got into Little Rock, I decided to go down to the Park Plaza Mall rather than the usual McCain. I figured it would be closer to the hotel, and we could kill enough time there until check-in time at the hotel. Summer was happy to look around but was reluctant to pick up anything. I got an armful of clothing from Dillard’s, which reminded me of how much I hated shopping there with my parents as a child. It was just always so boring, but now I get it. We covered most of the mall by about 3 in the afternoon, and then headed to the Wyndham Riverfront to get our room.

Eventually Amanda messaged me back, and we met her at the Red Lobster for dinner. Sarah decide she didn’t want to go to the concert, so she brought her father along instead. Summer and I got our fix of endless shrimp, and then we headed back for the concert.

We both parked at the hotel and walked the quarter mile or so to the arena. We were early, so we had to stand out in the heat for a little while before we could go in. Once the line started moving, I had trouble getting the TicketMaster app to load the tickets, but fortunately I saved them to Google Pay and that worked to get us in.

The concert was incredible, but I was surprised they didn’t have the upper bowl open. We were in a lower section of removable seating right by the stage, so we could see everything really well. It was awesome having the orchestra there, especially seeing a McLovin lookalike on the French horn. They started off with some Indiana Jones, and we loved the Superman theme song. They took a 20 minute break after the warm up routine, and then Weird Al came out with his crew and performed a huge mix of songs I expected, as well as some I’d never even heard before. Afterward, Summer and I made our way through the merch line to get a couple shirts, and then walked back to the hotel for the evening.

And protect them from the evils of the world, like trigonometry and prime numbers!

Uncategorised

It’s Fryday, Fryday!

I would have expected to be put on Chromebook enrollment this morning, but instead everyone was sent off to do their own things. I’m sure a few work orders were probably completed, but the two pallets of Chromebooks aren’t going to enroll themselves, and it won’t be long before we have a bunch of desktops to image for various buildings. I went to the high school after a while, but even then I really wasn’t overworking myself.

I rode back to the shop for lunch and came across Gary walking to Smackin’ Wings and Things, so I decided to join him for a Fryday. I had the Curious George off of their specials menu, which was a heap of fries, macaroni and cheese, bacon, boneless buffalo wings, cheese, sour cream, and probably something else that I’ve missed. Gary had something like chili cheese fries with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos on top. They both looked amazing, and I know that at least mine tasted really awesome as well. We both only made it about halfway through before giving up.

The majority of my day was spent trying to image a Dell 2-in-1 device. I was excited to get to mess with the task sequence with Gary to try and get it working, but unfortunately I won’t know until next week whether the new image will work.

After work, I stopped by Superfast to give Summer my leftovers. Then I went home to change and clean up a bit before heading to my parents’ house for their anniversary. Dad rode the Grom around the block and came back grinning. Then we went and picked up a bucket of chicken because Mom didn’t feel like getting out. Summer and Eaddie met us there to eat, and then Eaddie swam for a bit by herself before we left.

Summer had to crash early in order to get up tomorrow for Autumn’s explorers competition, so I went to pick Noah up from work. Then the three of us stayed up late watching Jessica Jones until I just had to sleep.

Gotta get down on Fryday!

Uncategorised

70s Pizza Party

We got up and around this morning to some leftover chicken tacos. They were so much better with the crunchy greens this time, and frying the cheese in the pan onto the tortillas made them that much better, and even a little more durable. Eaddie and I watched a little Daredevil while Summer went out with Autumn to get some things. Then I went home to clean up for our trip to Cabot.

I got frustrated when my brand new air conditioner only dropped about six degrees in three hours, but I didn’t have the temperature probes I needed to check how much it’s actually cooling. I left my still-warm house to pick up Dad, and then to get the girls for our trip to Cabot for Uncle Rick’s birthday party.

We met up at U.S. Pizza Company and greeted a few of the mostly strangers-level family. It was pretty uneventful for us, but Dad had a good time and it was nice to get together to celebrate. The pizza wasn’t bad, but the toppings seemed cheap. I got pretty frustrated as usual with Autumn’s refusal to eat anything other than a plain pepperoni pizza. It only got worse when she ate our pizza after she finished hers. I swear next time I’m just not asking what they want at all.

On the way back we stopped at PetSmart and then PetCo looking for some shrimp. The first stop was a complete bust. PetCo had some, but they were mostly pretty tiny. I went ahead and picked up three anyway just to grow them, but I’m thinking I may have better luck just getting some from a random stranger on the internet.

Once we got back to town, I dropped the girls off at their house, then the shrimp at my house, and took my parents’ receiver with us back to their house. Dad and I tried hooking it back up, but it still didn’t pass any video along to the TV. I guess it really is only good as an audio amplifier now.

Back at Summer’s house, Eaddie and I finished the evening with a couple more episodes of Daredevil while everyone else was in bed. We made it most of the way through the first season pretty quickly, and I’m excited to finally watch more for the first time.

01000110

Uncategorised

Bánh Mì on the Rooftop

We all slept in quite a bit today. Summer got up and ready to hit the gym while I ate leftover Mexican. I cut up some potatoes and made some really skinny fries to go with some chicken strips for everyone else when Summer got back from the gym and from picking up Autumn. Immediately after she ate, she started super-cleaning the house while I more or less wandered around uselessly. I should have gone home to clean up, but I didn’t.

In the late afternoon, we got the girls loaded up to go swim at my parents’ house. I remembered that I had a pickup order ready at Lowe’s, so I ran in there first, then to my house for what was supposed to be a quick stop. My portable A/C unit had stopped because it was full of water, so I had to empty it out and clean the air filter before we left. Autumn had a couple hot dogs at my parents’ house before joining the rest of us to swim for a while. When we got out, I pulled out some super old fireworks to explode, and the girls didn’t seem to want any part of it. None of them really wanted to be around it. Summer at least got into some sparklers.

It seemed to get late pretty fast, and Amanda beat us to the junior high, so we left to get my keys I had forgotten at my house, then went to meet her there. The fireworks show had been moved to the aquatic center, and I estimated we would have a pretty good view from the roof. Mom and Dad brought some bánh mì for us to eat on the roof, and they watched from down below. Amanda’s crew had to split before the main show, but I think the better part was seeing the surrounding fireworks from around the city and even out of town.

The weather was nice, and there weren’t much in the way of bugs where we were. Once the show got started, I don’t think it even lasted 15 minutes. Most of the low stuff was hidden, but we could see bits of it peeking out over the trees. I assume you couldn’t see much of that from the ground. It was a great time though, and the girls really enjoyed it after begrudgingly climbing a pair of vertical ladders.

Once the show was over and the heavy traffic had left the parking lot, we headed back to Summer’s for the evening. Eaddie and I watched the first episode of Daredevil while everyone else went to sleep, and then we followed suit.

Is it sacrilege to celebrate the birth of America with a picnic of Vietnamese sandwiches?

Uncategorised

But It’s Hot

We got up this morning and Summer took the girls out to run Father’s Day errands. I cleaned up some leftovers before heading back to my house to take care of things there. I got two loads of laundry done, messed with the fish, took a shower, and parsed through my air conditioner quotes.

Dad wanted Western Sizzlin’ for dinner, so we all met back up there to eat. Autumn ate lunch meat and Eaddie tried to eat a huge plate full of desserts. It really made me want to put them on an original Soylent diet as punishment. After we ate, Summer took Autumn to stay with her parents while I went home and went over the air conditioner quotes with Dad. Then Mom came in and escalated things the way that she does.

Back at Summer’s, the three of us settled in for a couple episodes of Parks and Rec before bed.

Steps are for climbing.

Uncategorised

The Long Way Home

We got up this morning and packed to leave. Summer took most of the stuff down to load onto the bus while I got ready, and by the time I got out, I didn’t really have time for breakfast. We took the junior high and the losers from the high school back to the Riverwalk to shop and eat, but this time we got to actually ride the bus there, which made it much more pleasant.

The high schoolers were pretty much jerks all day, and their chaperones didn’t seem very worried about it. Summer, Hannah, Dylan, and I all walked all the way to the end of the Riverwalk, stopping at the bi-level area so Dylan could get an electric massage, and then again so Summer and Autumn could go on a VR “ride.” Then we made it back to the food court just in time to gather everyone to eat. Johnny had kept the district credit card, so it was up to me to pay up front again. Disappointingly, all three of my cards got declined for fraud prevention, even though I specifically called Discover to make sure that it wouldn’t. We made it through eventually though, and I came back with two foot long sandwiches from South Philly Steaks & Fries. Summer really liked her chicken, and I really enjoyed my Philly, so I considered that a pretty big win.

The varsity team showed up right around that time as well, so they ate, and then we all loaded up onto the bus to say, “goodbye” to New Orleans. Aimee was worried about flooding along the way, so she played it super cautious by going through West Memphis, which probably ultimately added an hour to our trip. We never really stopped for food, and even told the students not to buy anything when we had to stop for fuel, but of course they didn’t listen. Everyone was really beat and anxious to get home, but I wasn’t quite ready to pass out. While the others slept, I unpacked and tried to put most of the stuff away before bed.

Fix it.

Uncategorised

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!

Uncategorised

People That Do Things

I sort of halfway got to sleep in just a little bit today, but it wasn’t much. The girls went home while I showered and got the bike rack mounted. I had forgotten how heavy and cumbersome that thing is, and it makes me wish I had a better way to store it than boxing it back up in the retail package. It really is the most secure, uniform shape that way though.

Noah and Eaddie stayed behind, so it was just Summer, Autumn, and myself again heading to Little Rock. We went straight to Dick’s and met with Ryan, who I had spoken to over the phone. He threw the bike up and checked the breaks and a couple things, but evidently didn’t tighten the handlebars or air up the tires, and one of the valve stem caps was missing. Of course we didn’t notice any of this until we got home and tried to ride them.

While in Little Rock, we tried to find somewhere to go for lunch and ended up at Hooter’s right around the corner. The girls kept being super apologetic about how slow they were and how behind the kitchen was, but I honestly didn’t really even notice it at all, especially for a Mother’s Day crowd. Autumn thought she could handle the heat of the wings, but she ended up struggling to eat. Summer lucked out and got a free salad for Mother’s Day.

We stopped in Conway on the way home to get the last bike. As we walked into Dick’s, we found they had lost power, so they let us shop around under the emergency lighting. Taylor met up with us and tried to talk me into biting the bullet on a new bike for myself with his n+1=x where n is the number of bikes I have, and x is the number of bikes I need. I passed, deciding instead to hoard my money for another day.

When we got home, I ordered some Domino’s for dinner and picked it up on the way to my parents’ house. Summer took the kids to her mother’s to visit for a bit on the way, and eventually we all made it to dinner with my parents. Julie got her own broccoli crust pizza from Brick Oven. I mostly ate salad, but had a slice of Hawaiian and a slice of Julie’s chicken bacon ranch that wasn’t bad. After we finished eating, we went outside and let everyone try riding the new bikes in the street a bit. That’s when we found Summer’s had not been put together completely, or at least not tightly enough.

They headed home, and I took the bikes home to try and clean out the garage enough to store them. I managed, but only because of how much junk I had that I could rearrange. Trying to store them with another vehicle in the garage will prove to be more difficult unless one of those vehicles is a Miata. Time will tell, I suppose.

Kleer the mind.

Uncategorised

Sweet Home Alabama

We got up early this morning for breakfast in the lobby, and then Summer was off to The Great Inflatable Race. I went back up to the room to shower and get things packed up before she got back. Her race ran a little behind, but she still made it back in time to get showered and primped before our late checkout time. I even tucked my shirt in and wore a tie for a few minutes.

Our first stop was at Shoe Carnival in the shopping center by the hotel. She wanted some new shoes for her dress, and I walked around holding some shoes for a while that I ultimately returned before checking out. Then she wanted to go to the McCain Mall right up the block. We made a loop through the whole place, really only stopping at Dillard’s, GameStop, Victoria’s Secret, and finally Spencer’s where I picked up some Rap Snacks for Dale. We were out just long enough to work up a bit of an appetite, so we made our way back over to Red Lobster.

There was only a really short wait for our Lobsterfest to start. Summer got a lighthouse glass without having to steal it, and I begrudgingly ate a sirloin because it was smothered in lobstery things. The lobster pizza appetizer was good, and Summer had a margarita that was unexpectedly the size of her head. I helped her on it just a bit as we took turns getting brain freezes. Then it was off to the Verizon Arena.

We paid for pretty decent parking, though in hindsight I think the block further for half the price may have been a better deal, and ultimately gotten us out of traffic faster. We got to the arena just in time to walk right on in and find our seats, which were also right by the entrance. Summer had a really great time while I fought with my Eargasm High Fidelity Earplugs. I think my ear canals turn up sharply, which causes the earplugs to seal shut. At least I got to learn that now before going to a concert that interests me personally. I kept them in to save my hearing, but the audio was clearly muffled unless I used my fingers to tweak them slightly in my ear canals.

Nice screensaver!I only recognized one song all night, which was by the opening Charlie Daniels Band. The Devil Went Down to Georgia was a staple for my Diamond Rio MP3 player in high school. Summer only knew it and maybe one more of their songs. The real treat for her was when Alabama came onto the stage. She got excited at several of their songs, none of which I could recall ever hearing in my lifetime. I was surprised to hear them go on and on about how many awards they had won and how many chart topping singles they had, partly because I’m only used to hearing rappers do that, and partly because I had never even heard of them. I spent the rest of the evening more in a state of discomfort than anything else. It was hot and cramped, and the band kept doing what I can only describe as a pop quiz after nearly every song, where they had the band start playing the song they just finished and tried to coax the crowd into singing the chorus a couple more times. Of course a country concert wouldn’t be complete without a pickup truck brand roll call, which was just a huge circle jerk of more things that I hate. Even the encore was lazy and uncoerced, as the band had barely left the stage long enough to take another shot of that Tennessee whiskey before coming back out. It just felt like they were pandering to the meme of assumed encores.

Fortunately we got out more quickly than we had come in, until we got into the traffic. It started to sprinkle as we walked to the car, but it wasn’t too bad. There was a questionable guy outside selling shirts at a significant discount from their inside asking price, so we grabbed one of those on our way out. I should have planned the escape route more before taking off, but I was so concerned about beating traffic that I ended up looping through a few more blocks of it than necessary. There was quite a bit of traffic on the interstate as well, almost all the way to Conway. The rain cleared up enough that it didn’t feel so dangerous to be cruising down the highway though, and we made it home just after midnight. Summer crashed pretty much right away, still high on her birthday vibes. I’d say today was a success.

I done told you once, you REDACTED