Tag: holiday

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Chicken Potato Bowls

Today was a long day of picking up the house. Summer went to work. Eaddie came out eventually and took a shower while I was running all around the house. I thought Summer would be home around lunch time, but that wasn’t so. At some point, Eaddie asked if she could go to her father’s house for the night since I guess one of her half sisters had a kid with a birthday. These people propagate like mint.

I warmed up some leftover mashed potatoes and frozen chicken strips for lunch, then continued picking up and organizing randomly until Summer finally got home. She started on some deviled eggs and then took a bath, and I took the dogs out for an early run. We did nearly five miles after stopping to see Dad. He was worried about the new fiber internet provider after they cut their existing cable line trying to run fiber to the house. I just told him to find a place to leave a negative review, and someone would probably reach out rather than have him fight with incompetent customer service trying to direct him to an insurance company.

The dogs did really well, and Stilgar didn’t seem to care about how cold it was. He still wanted to be an alligator in the creek. I ran them all around the neighborhood and then brought them home for hot dogs. I had several more packages at the door, which brought the total to four separate deliveries for the day. I brought them inside and Summer started opening them. I wasn’t double checking what she was doing, and evidently she threw out a bag that still had a watch band in it. That wouldn’t have been bad, except I had just taken the recycling out to the curb just seconds before the truck picked up the dumpster.

I was furious at her negligence. I picked up a bit more before leaving to get some McNuggets for dinner. I didn’t want to go home, and considered that I might want something more to eat, so I ended up stopping in the Wendy’s parking lot. I ate the nuggets, and then remembered a deal for half price Famous Bowls from KFC, so I drove across the street and ate one of those in the lobby. I dawdled there for a while and then got back in the car and had Full Self Driving take me across town. It didn’t get adventurous, so I pointed it up the mountain before having it drive me back home.

Summer went to bed and I stayed up late picking up the ceiling-high stack of boxes she had shoved into the corner. There was a lot of junk there that she had just shoveled out of the way instead of letting me handle it. I sulked some more before eventually taking a shower and going to bed.

Let me remember the ways.

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Newly Guests

Summer went to Conway for a run this morning, so I got up to take a shower before she got back home. When she did get home, she said she decided to subscribe to the monthly Full Self Driving for me for Christmas. I felt like that was a fair compromise for her wanting to get me something, and me not wanting to receive anything. Even if I don’t commute in the long term, we can always cancel the subscription.

Eaddie got home a little after that, and we all got ready to go to Chris’s house for Thanksgiving. I loaded up the drinks and Summer brought her broccoli salad and some deviled eggs, and we headed up the hill. We arrived at a full house just behind my parents, and I think Julie and Kevin were the last to arrive. The only other people I knew there besides Lelan and Steven were Seth and Danielle.

The inebriated Chris gave a little speech and then we all got to eating. We found the proper dining room table and crowded around that with some other strangers. Julie got into a fight over Disney Adults with the one small, loud-mouthed child that showed up. It was a fine time.

After we ate, Lelan was making rounds and stopped by to talk. I ended up taking her and Kevin for a ride with FSD. Kevin babysat in the driver’s seat, and we rode to the Neighborhood Market and back. As we made our final turn, the car took a left in front of a blind hill and then stopped in the middle of the lane when an oncoming car appeared. Kevin gunned it and we all got out to kiss the ground.

We stayed for a little longer, and then the girls had to get home. I took the dogs for a run before it got dark, and we caught my parents just as they got home. Then I spent the evening sending texts and submitting Vine reviews. My bedtime shifted way too much, so this weekend will be a treat trying to get it turned back around.

Like Thanksgiving in a hotel lobby.

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KPOT

Randy had been talking about going to KPOT for lunch for the past couple days, so we looked forward to that today. I got in pretty early again, but didn’t get into anything. Javier hung out in the dark with me for a while after Randy left for the high school. Then Jay left me to run an errand until nearly lunchtime. Kyle and Randy showed up and we all chatted for a little bit, and then we all met at KPOT.

I’d tried the hot pot at Linh’s before, but this was a whole different experience. Jim met Jay, Randy, Kyle, and me, and we got an iPad to order food, and there was one shared grill in the middle of the table. Then we each had our own cooktop sitting right in front of us for soup pots. They had a bar for making your own sauces, but many things weren’t labeled, and I didn’t really think it needed any of it anyway. Randy did most of the ordering and cooking at first, but then I started ordering things. My soup base was pretty spicy, but it was good. I wished we had started by just dumping all of the meat on the grill to cook, because I was left without meat for a large portion of the meal. I made up for it by the end, but then everyone got up to leave while I was finishing my last bowl.

I gave up shortly after that since I had to get home to launder my newly stained shirt. Pulling noodles out of the hot pot was unnecessarily difficult. Traffic was pretty rough, but I made it through Morrilton for some more drinks to take to Thanksgiving, and then I wasn’t home long before Summer showed up with some groceries. I thought we’d go together, but she picked everything up on her way home.

We got a couple new watch bands in, and I immediately messed one up because I tried to push a pin out the wrong direction. I broke a couple tips on the extraction tool, and was eventually able to pull it out far enough to grab the pin with pliers. The band looks and fits great now though.

Summer started making food for Thanksgiving, and I took the dogs out for a long run in a completely new path. We circled the block, then went up the hill and down the sidewalk. It was a pretty decent run, but they seemed mostly deaf to my direction callouts. We got to my parents’ house and Mom fed them a couple little tomatoes she pulled off the vine. Then we went around to the pond before eventually making it home before dark.

Eaddie spent the evening with her father, Summer spent most of the evening in the kitchen, and I ended up taking a long bath to warm up. Summer started watching Loki when she went to bed, so I finished up and headed to bed myself.

Cook more efficiently!

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Chasing Goblins

I woke up to a rainstorm and practically had to push the car through the rain to get to work because Full Self Driving didn’t want to go over about 60. Traffic after Conway slowed down to the 40s, so I showed up plenty late. Randy was the only one there, and he only walked in just before me. A few others trickled in, but most didn’t stick around long.

I ended up sitting in on a quick call with Kyle and Maggie, but that was mostly just receiving a proposal from a vendor that Randy didn’t want to attend. I was just happy my microphone worked this time. Then I sat in with Maggie and Randy when the Acer rep came to talk to us in person. He tried name dropping Russellville as a client, but I confirmed with Gary that they hadn’t bought any Acer stuff. I don’t know if he was just lying or mistaken.

We didn’t get out for lunch because Robin cooked pork chops and baked potatoes for us. You really couldn’t beat it for five bucks. We’ve been eating great every couple of weeks out there. Then I poked around with the KMS server a bit more in the afternoon. I left work early so I could go home and vote, but I had to stop at the old house first. Then went and stood in line at the election headquarters. They were churning people through there pretty quickly, so I was in and out in no time. Then I headed straight home to see Summer before the trick-or-treaters started coming around.

We had some leftover burritos, and then as soon as we got our first group of kids, I took the dogs out for a run on the Onewheel. They must have smelled it in the air, because they took off running like crazy. There were people all down the road, and we flew by without too much trouble. They did want to sniff at people at first, but overall they did pretty great. We stopped by to see Dad, but their street was dark.

From there, we went around the block to Promenade Circle, and that place was packed. There were cars parked on both sides of the road around the whole block, and you couldn’t get farther than about ten feet away from people in any direction. We rolled on through and went around the main circle once before going out to the basin trail. There was nobody out there, so we continued around Vancouver and then came back up by my parents’ house for some water before taking the long way home.

Summer kept handing out candy for a little longer, but then we put everything away and got ready for bed. Eaddie was out all night with Eli at a Tech band concert. I saw her come in, and then went to bed.

It’s like a candy festival of light!

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Let’s Carve a Smile on that Face

It was a quiet, slow drive in today. I had a little note from Randy in my chair, thanking me for being a part of the team. I figure he was required to write it, but it was nice all the same, and the words felt genuine because they mirrored the comments he’s made to me ever since I started.

The guys came and went, but mostly went, leaving me alone for lunch. I went to Rally’s and had a pretty disappointing burger because they were out of bacon without any recourse for my prepaid online order. I ate it at my desk and waited for others to come around.

Randy texted and asked me to take care of a printer issue upstairs, so I rebuilt that from scratch. The HP printer has an incredibly annoying requirement to read a PIN from a hidden label inside the machine in order to get to the remote settings. It was clear that the initial deployment wasn’t done correctly, or at least not completely. She shouldn’t have any more issues now though.

The afternoon went by pretty quickly as we tackled various puzzles. I left a little bit late, and traffic was relatively light but unnecessarily slow. I got stuck under the speed limit for a few miles, and then got behind a gravel truck that was spewing pebbles through Conway.

Eaddie and Eli were practicing their instruments when I got home. I immediately took the dogs out for their run, ran through my parents’ yard, around the basin, and back home. They did pretty well and got their hot dogs afterward. Then I jumped right into making burritos for dinner.

I got pretty heated at Summer and the kids after I called to them several times. Evidently it’s my fault for not explaining to them that I won’t call them unless I want them to come to me. Nobody offered to help; nobody said they were on the way; nobody said thanks; nobody told me to pound sand.

I ate and excused myself to try and wrap up the rest of my evening. Dad eventually showed up to eat, and then we got to carving pumpkins. The mallet and “cookie cutters” I got from Amazon Vine were ridiculed at first, but ended up being a “hit” once they started using them. They were difficult to extract, but with some care, they worked really well. We got everyone cleaned up and shuffled off, and I made a speed run for bed.

Burrito Stuff

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This Grill Is on Fire

For some reason, Summer set alarms on the Google Home speakers last night, so I woke up to two extremely loud alarms this morning. I got back to sleep for a little while, but still woke up at a decent time to an empty house. I started cleaning up right away so we could have the family over in the evening for Dad’s birthday.

I got sidetracked for a bit when Dad said the restoration people were coming to paint the old house. I tried watching the cameras, but the Wyze app broke and quit showing any of my cameras at all. I ended up going over there and contacting support, but it wasn’t until I eventually got back home that they started working again.

On the way home, I picked up some tacos and quickly ate before getting back to cleaning. Then I went to the Neighborhood Market for everything we needed for hamburgers. Julie came over first and was a huge help prepping everything. I got the grill going, but promptly caught two whole packages of bacon on fire and basically ruined it all, and nearly burned the house down in the process.

By then, Summer had made it home, and my parents weren’t far behind. Overall, I think Dad’s birthday dinner was a relative success, but I still need more experience grilling on my gravity grill. It’s awesome for smoking, but grilling on it is almost like an entirely new skill. Maybe I’ve just gotten bad at it because of our reliance on propane, since that’s what Summer always had at her house.

I took the dogs for a quick walk around the block after everyone left, and I saw the neighbor on a recumbent bicycle. We chatted for just a brief moment about it, and then I made the loop back home. Eaddie got home from her after-school activities a little after I got home, and everyone went to bed pretty quickly.

It’s all about branding.

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Playbreak

I slept fairly hard last night, and woke up to the girls talking about the escaped dogs again. I took the Onewheel, but found Stilgar two houses down, coming out of a storm drain. He came over, and then walked off into the neighbor’s yard and laid down in their inflatable kiddie pool. I didn’t notice at first, but Muad’dib was inside their fence playing with two of their big dogs. After I took Stilgar home, he got out on his own and followed me home as well. They just wanted to get out and play and explore.

I got back in and made a couple bagels for Eaddie and myself, and then I hooked up an old printer and started messing with it. It would confidently print blank pages all day long, so I figure the print heads were just completely clogged. We had to get Eaddie to band camp though, so we drove separately and printed a form at Superfast before meeting with Eaddie at Tech to check her in.

Summer wanted La Huerta for lunch, so we ate and then headed back home so she could do some work. I was absolutely exhausted and kept dozing off on the couch while I waited for her. Then she made a comment about soaking in the tub, which upset me because I had told her we would go to see Dad for Father’s Day when she was done. She said she was waiting on me, but I was the one doing absolutely nothing while waiting on her. I was tired, but it still felt like another day wasted because she couldn’t get her priorities right.

We eventually made it to my parents’ house, and Mom was prepping bánh xèo. Dad was outside finishing some mowing and then took a swim. Summer knew I wanted to swim as well, but hadn’t considered the fact that she lost her swimsuit and has refused to find another one. We ended up just waiting for Mom to finish making dinner, but then Summer had to go to work for an after-hours team meeting just before we started eating.

Dad eventually took me home after dinner, and Stilgar was in the front yard. He ran up to us, but I didn’t see Muad’dib right away. Dad went home and I got on the Onewheel with a leash to try and find him. I should have put Stilgar away first, but I thought he’d stick with me for a short ride. I didn’t figure Muad’dib had gotten far, and then I saw him across the street fussing at that neighbor’s dogs. He came to me and I got the collar and leash on him, but then he freaked out and started choking himself out as he jumped and yelped. He held a grudge against me the rest of the evening. I ended up taking the collar off of him thinking he’d behave better and just follow me home, but after choking himself, he didn’t want anything to do with me. The neighbor ended up coming out with a handful of treats to help me lure him home, and it was still a struggle.

I rode back to my parents’ house just before dark to borrow a staple gun so I could try and seal our gate for good. It was dark when I got home, but Summer pulled in right after me and was able to come out to help. Eaddie came home from band camp since she wasn’t staying on campus, and played with the dogs for a while. Summer was obviously the first to bed, and I eventually made it just before midnight.

The dogs have more friends than we do.

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Runner’s Day

I was up way too late, and ended up sleeping in a little later than I really wanted. Summer and I went to the old house to pick up some things, and then Walmart to get groceries for our big steak dinner for everyone. We made a quick detour to Lowe’s for a couple free Mother’s Day plants, and then it was back home to start prepping.

I had a little trouble with the fire again because I’m always stubborn and don’t go straight to a nice, clean, oil-soaked paper towel. I even spilled a bit of oil on the deck, so that spot may just be water resistant forever. Summer helped prep everything for the twice-baked potatoes, which I decided to cook in the smoker this time. This ended up being a learning experience as well.

We picked up a rosemary plant at Walmart so I could try and make a garlic herb butter for the steak. It was a neat addition, but I don’t think anyone felt particularly strongly one way or the other. The smoker was a super dry heat on the potatoes. I had a water pan with them, but I ended up cooking them way too long for such a high temperature, and the outsides got overly charred. The one plus to this was the fact that the flesh was super easy to scoop out of the hard shells. Once I got the potatoes re-stuffed, I stuck them back on the grill and took a quick shower.

My parents, Julie, and Kevin all showed up pretty close to the same time, just as I was putting steaks on the grill. I got them seared and they cooked quickly, so we all went inside to eat. I really wanted to try the sous vide cooker again, but that would have been too many new variables for one meal. Ultimately dinner was pretty good, and everyone was reasonably chill apart from just forgetting how to sit down and eat.

Summer had to go in to work for a while, which I thought was for a meeting, but she actually did work stuff for a while and got home late. I cleaned up as much as I could, and got to bed late. Hopefully I’ll sleep well, but now I need to get someone out to troubleshoot our air conditioner.

Why is the air so thick in here?

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This Is Just a Tribute

Summer and I got up early for breakfast, which was a lot of “fresh” berries, yogurt, bagels, and some frozen bacon, egg, and cheese bagel bite things. There was also some kind of hashbrown-looking fried meat patty that wasn’t terrible. Eaddie didn’t come down, but we brought some food back to the room for her.

Once we were all ready, I rode the Onewheel back down to the car, and the girls decided to just walk on down as well. We took the car downtown to look for a place to park, but it was busy enough that there weren’t a lot of options. We ended up circling around and going up the mountain a bit, through a part of town I don’t think I’d ever been. We found Grotto Spring, and then drove up around the post office. The girls got out a couple of times while I babysat the car, and then we ended up heading back to the convention center to pick up my dad.

We went to the Pizza Hut Classic, which was a minor blast from the past with their old tablecloths, light fixtures, and posters. It seemed unremarkable to everyone else there, and they still didn’t have a buffet. We had some pizza and then went back for the matinee magic show. The girls enjoyed that, and then we headed back downtown to walk around.

We couldn’t find parking again, so we went back to the top of the hill to charge, and bought trolly tickets to ride to the opposite end of the strip. We leisurely walked down the hill, and Eaddie picked up a couple trinkets. We made it back down to the lower station just in time to get back to the hotel and then meet Dad for dinner.

Dad always likes to go to the Bavarian Inn Czech-German restaurant, and we’d missed it for a year or two. I think the girls liked their food alright. Mine wasn’t bad, but I didn’t realize it was what I had the last time. It gave me a little bit of a stomach ache though. Afterward, we took Dad back to his room, and we went to ours to kill some time before the evening show.

The evening show was entirely a tribute show from Ring 75 to Bill. I was a little worried about some of the laypeople, but the show eventually produced some entertaining tricks with less back story for the inside jokes. The girls enjoyed it, which is my barometer for the quality of the show, since I’ve been behind the curtain for so long.

After the show, I took the girls back to the room, and I ended up going back to the “afterparty” at the suite to let Larry drive the Model 3 around the parking lot. It wasn’t an ideal area, but nowhere in Eureka is. The trip home in the morning will be a different story.

Might as well have been an Unbirthday weekend.

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Body Bonk

Summer woke us up with omelet burritos for breakfast this morning. Then we got ready for our trip to Eureka Springs. We didn’t have any real time table to meet, so we left in the afternoon and fed the fish at the old house, and then aired up tires at Superfast before we left town.

We stopped in Ozark to charge, but we really didn’t need to. We made it with plenty of charge left, and the Osage Creek Lodge was right across the street from the free public charger. It was a slow charger, but I figured I could park there overnight and ride the Onewheel up the block to get back to the room.

I knew there was a dispensary on site, but I didn’t really expect the hotel lobby to smell so much like marijuana. Fortunately the rooms were all smoke-free, and they seemed to be kept up well. Once we got unloaded, we drove up the road to find Dad at the Best Western. We took him for a ride downtown, though we didn’t stop anywhere. He didn’t have long before the first evening show.

We went back to the hotel to research things to do, and I got the Onewheel out to ride around the parking lot. There were some speed bumps I wanted to try and jump, which went fairly well. My foot placement shifted a little, but it wasn’t unmanageable. Unfortunately I jumped a little too high on a smaller bump in the pavement, and I fell pretty hard in front of the girls. I got some pretty gnarly bruises on my hands and left arm, but no major breaks in the skin. The worst damage was some light scratching on the camera bar on my phone. The camera lenses themselves were fine, but I was still upset at the damage.

We eventually made it back to the conference center for the show, and then the four of us went back downtown to eat at The Spring on Main. They were open late, but only a couple other tables were there the entire time we were there. Mitch called me briefly before we got our food, but I’d have to catch up with him later. The food didn’t come out super fast, but it was super good. We paid way too much for slices of breaded avocado, but the burgers were fairly reasonable for being upscale.

After we ate, we dropped Dad back off at the hotel and then I took the girls back to our room. I drove back over to the public charger and got the car charging, and then rode the Onewheel back to the hotel for the night. The girls showered, and then we watched the end of Iron Man 2 and then the first part of Fantastic Beasts before bed.

Grip Affected