Tag: holiday

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Escape Trap Room House

We slept in fairly late today before I got around to some leftovers. I made some tea that turned out to be super weak, but at least I’ll burn through it faster if I actually drink it. I was pretty cold all morning, so I think I’m just more of a seasonal tea drinker. Hot coffee is fine in the summer, but hot tea seems less appealing then.

The girls went to Denny’s with their father, but came back home not feeling so great. Autumn came home fussing that he had gotten rid of a dog he had. After a little while, she left for Adam’s while Summer started on some potatoes and deviled eggs for our late Christmas lunch.

I thought it was a pretty good Christmas day, but I’m sure Dad was probably still tired from three days of travel after a vacation with Julie. She had work to do, and couldn’t make it to lunch on time. Autumn actually did a good job with time and beat us there. Bác Vân and Doug came along after we got there, and eventually Julie showed up after everyone else had already eaten.

Julie brought a package of Oreo houses for the kids to build, but Summer and Eaddie were really the only two that could be talked into participating. Eventually Julie and Dad built a couple. Eaddie and I ate most of hers. I think I would have rather just eaten some regular Oreos.

After we all finished eating, Summer broke out The Scandal, a Puzzle Post escape room game in an envelope. The puzzles were pretty straightforward, and I think just about everyone contributed something. Eaddie’s solutions were probably some of the most impressive, but it took everyone. Overall we didn’t really have to damage anything, so we could easily pass the game along to someone else to play, but it wouldn’t be repeatable for any of us.

We eventually headed home, and the girls pretty much went straight to bed. They were all tired from the belly aches they got from Denny’s, or from staying up too late the night before. Autumn came out of her room at one point and wanted consolation for the anxiety she was feeling over growing up. I genuinely tried to listen and help, but who knows if it’ll make a lasting, useful impression on her.

Last holiday we all played Phaaaeeeese 10!

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Rebut

I couldn’t quite sleep in this morning, and got around to some leftovers. Autumn actually wanted to go to the gym with Summer, so they left and I went home to get some errands started. While I was there, Clint messaged me looking for some old video games to collect. I wasn’t prepared for that, but I offered to meet him at my office so we could catch up a bit.

As soon as I got to the office, I realized I forgot my keys. Clint hopped in and we ran back to my house to get them, and then we went to my office so I could finally submit my disciplinary rebuttal. I hate it, but I tend to agree that I should probably seriously look for new work.

When that was done, we went by Ben’s old house and I rang the doorbell to see if they had a package he had accidentally had delivered there. The wife of the guy that answered the door said she dropped it back off at the post office this morning, but they were closed, so I wasn’t sure if she just dropped it into a box or something.

I dropped Clint off back at his car, and then went home to grab a couple presents before heading back up to Summer’s. She had icing colored and ready for me to help load into bags, and then the kids came out to decorate cookies.

We probably only did about half of the cookies she baked before we got tired of it. I think it was partly because of their age, but also partly because everyone was just feeling super lethargic all day. We got everyone back to the table to play a partial game of Phase 10, and then everyone went to bed when Noah left for the evening.

The computer’s a lot faster at this than you.

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Parkour Parking

Kayla called me to the Transportation office pretty early this morning, but this time they had questions about the CPPC minutes. I stayed and chatted with them for quite a while before making it back to the office. Then I ended up at Support Services for a quick ticket before lunch.

Brody said he was required to do volunteer work, but that there was no paperwork to fill out, or requirements about what he had to do, so he asked if he could come to the school to hang out. He wanted to go to Ridgewood for lunch, but after a quick stop there it was immediately obvious that we wouldn’t make it through the line in an hour. Instead, the guys wanted to drive out to London for Fat Daddy’s, which didn’t at all appeal to me, but I took Thomas anyway. My hot dog was fine, but ten dollars just felt stupid.

The afternoon was slow, but I finished up one old ticket with some help from Gary and Thomas. Then I went to Dwight to pick up a Chromebook that had some keys ripped off of it. Replacing the keyboard was really more like moving all of the components out of one chassis into another.

We had our department Christmas party at Nonna Bella’s in the evening, so I went home to change. Then Summer picked me up and we went to the restaurant. We arrived right in the middle of the whole group, and settled right in. Our server seemed a little slow, or at least, seemed not to be fully engaging her thought muscles. Thomas had to prompt her to get some food started so we wouldn’t be there all night just waiting for everyone. Travis was the last to show up, but I was glad he showed up. It was a good dinner, my pizza was delicious, and I had the giggles for most of it. I always enjoy holiday parties with the crew.

Getting out was a chore, because parking was so narrow. Travis ended up taking his giant truck offroading over the parking bumper just so the rest of us could get out. When Summer dropped me back off at home, I finally watched The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which I thought was great. It was much more sentimental than I expected, but it was a great end to the evening.

That sounds like sentiment, son!

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Ring Ting Tingling, Too

I had a rough start this morning and wandered into work a bit late. Fortunately there wasn’t a whole lot going on, but I did have to get Dina a computer to get back to work. As it turned out, she had typed in her email and password into a phishing site, which promptly nabbed her information. I thought she was mostly safe, but it wasn’t long before we realized she had saved all kinds of banking and personal account passwords to her work Chrome profile. I just felt incredibly bad for her after that.

I kept pretty busy the rest of the day with seemingly random things. Zach came to tell me that he and Greg were going to lunch with some Hector buddies, so I just skipped altogether. I did leave to get a freebie Monster from Casey’s, but then made it back to the shop wanting something warm, so I made some oatmeal and a bagel.

As the day wound down, Thomas ended up kicking everyone out a little early. I wasn’t really sure what for, but I wasn’t going to argue. I had to get home and change for the band’s Christmas concert anyway. Summer picked me up on the way, and we met her parents and my dad in the back of the theater.

The concert band was godawful. There was no way around it. They surely hit some of the notes. Eventually. The symphonic band was much better, but was still not quite as good as I remember them being in the past. Overall it was a fine show though, and the girls all awkwardly waddled around taking pictures in front of a Christmas tree afterward.

After Summer dropped me off at home, I decided to just stay in for the night since it was already pretty late, and I hardly ever stay home anymore. I decided to try some praline Bird Dog on one of my fancy new craft ice balls, and it was great. I wish the balls were a bit bigger, and didn’t have a little divot on one side, but after some melting they actually look pretty cool.

Little ice comet.

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Grand

I took a half day this afternoon so I could go to Summer’s company Christmas party in Little Rock. I didn’t get into a whole lot in the morning, but nearly finished my CPPC minutes. It turns out something I had brought up during our meeting that kind of spun everyone into a frenzy might have been a non-issue, but that’s what I get for letting Zach see the proposed changes first.

I had pretty much already made up my mind to go to Ridgewood Brothers for their grand opening lunch, just to show my support. What really solidified it for me was hearing the Eagles sing about brisket though. Gary didn’t want to brave the crowd, and he was right. They had the exact same bottleneck, even with a crowd of other, mostly available employees. Robert was running his ass off while all the girls were mostly just standing around with RBF. Hopefully they can optimize and churn out food faster after some time in the new building.

I couldn’t get Summer to come by to eat with me, even though I ordered double food just in case. Luckily I ran into Keith and his work crew and convinced him to come sit with me so I wouldn’t be alone. The silliest part of the visit after an hour in line was that well over half the seats were completely empty. More space was taken up by people standing in line than anything else.

After I ate, I went home for a bit, and then left again to wash my car. I had it charged up to nearly 100% when Summer came by to get me. We stuck the Murano in the garage, and headed to the Chenal Country Club for the evening.

The drive was uneventful, and I was thankful not to have to mind much while the car did all the hard bits. I’m still not happy with the way it navigates through lane changes, but all I can do is just not use it, I suppose. I’m just afraid it makes me look like an idiot, or a jerk the way it flashes random turn signals to merge at exactly the wrong times.

We arrived at the country club a little over half an hour early, and had to wait for everyone to show up. It would have been better if there were other folks from the main office there for Summer to mingle with, but it really was just a ghost town until right after six. The food was middling heavy hors d’oeuvres, and offered my second take on grits for the day. I think the Brothers beat them, but nobody would have expected otherwise.

The whole event was much shorter than last time, which was probably the best part. The games were less bad, though the prizes were still very limited and mostly sucked for a company that appears to be doing so well. I guess it’s true that you don’t get rich by giving it away. I was glad that Justin and Chelsey made it out, so I had an awkward partner throughout the event. Overall it was a fair time, and I was happy to support Summer with her crew. Justin and Summer actually went up to compete in a game together, where they had to use spoons in their mouths to move cotton balls from one bowl to another. Evidently Summer accidentally bumped Justin enough that he took a big chip out of one of his front teeth.

I let Tres drive home as well, and just relaxed for the drive. I let it be stupid and change lanes for no reason, and only interrupted a couple of times when other cars were too close to be doing stupid merges. We dropped my car off to charge, and then I met Summer at her house just in time for bed.

Give me another slice of that barbecued brisket!

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Magic Hippies

It was a bit of a struggle to get up today, but I had to get home to shower before meeting my parents to go to the magic club’s annual potluck and Christmas show. We knew Autumn didn’t want to go, but Eaddie changed her mind after originally saying she would go with us. Summer picked me up, and then my parents drove. Phone games kept me occupied for the trip, but then we arrived at a mostly abandoned looking facility.

Larry invited a bunch of his church crew, which was a rather odd looking group of folks. Most of them arrived before anybody I recognized, and then the potluck appeared a bit sparse for that many people. The Walmart chicken was pretty awful, but at least there was plenty of it. At least I don’t think anyone went hungry.

The show was very typical, and then the cleanup went relatively quickly. We didn’t stick around, and loaded up to leave pretty quickly. We stopped very briefly at the Midland market so Mom could look for some stuff, but it was probably the shortest visit I’ve ever seen her make. I picked up a bag of rambutans and some lychee gummies, and then we headed home.

For feeling so tired, we actually got home pretty early. Summer dropped me off at home so I could bring the car back up to her house. Eaddie had Summer quiz her for a test, and Autumn had some laundry going that she left in the machine after I called at her to take them out. Otherwise it was a really quiet, early night to bed.

Fraking gnats, everywhere.

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The Host that Smokes

Summer spent all morning getting ready for everyone to come over for Thanksgiving dinner. We struggled to get Autumn to help as usual, and we’re just counting the days until we show her, imperically, that she’s not pulling her weight around the house. In fact, she’s completely delusional, as is often the case.

Summer really wanted to get a table and chairs set up early, so I took out some trash and dumped it at Dwight on the way, and brought back a big and little table, as well as chairs. Then I quickly made the butter and seasoning concoction that I would be injecting into the bird. I made it about a block down the road before I realized I forgot to actually take the turkey with me, so I had to turn back.

The smoker started reliably well, but I kind of forgot how foolproof it was and unnecessarily started it twice. It got up to temperature much more quickly than I prepped the bird. I wished I had done all of that at Summer’s where I had more room to work. I was in and out of gloves to get the grill set up, and then had trouble getting the drip pan in under the grates. I just needed to think my process through better before starting. My syringe clogged during my very first attempt to inject the first breast, but I was eventually able to clean that out and made it work.

The turkey seemed to be rising in temperature pretty steadily, but it was pretty clear it wasn’t going to be done by 4 when we told everyone we would be eating. I eventually had to crank the heat up from the already-high 295 all the way up to about 350 to finish it off, because I wasn’t sure of the accuracy of the temperature probe, and I didn’t think to use my wireless Meater probe alongside the one integrated into the smoker. Ultimately I lost the apparently cool part that I was measuring, and every other part I probed tested over 160.

Just before it finished, I glazed it with some of the leftover butter and seasoning from the injection, and mixed in some honey and bourbon. The skin was super crispy, and I think the glaze softened it up a little bit, but it could have also been the covered ride back over to Summer’s.

Mom, Dad, Bác Vân, and Doug were all there with the girls. Julie was somehow last after I told her not to rush on account of the turkey. Fortunately we didn’t have to wait any longer than it took me to carve the turkey, and we all dug in.

All of the food was great. Summer made a bunch of sides and a ham, and the turkey was at least done, and I thought it presented well. I thought it was a little bit salty, could have used some more smoke, and ended up not being as moist as I expected. I assumed that was all because of my cook time and temperature, so next time I’ll take much more care to start earlier. Hopefully we can pick up some more turkey on clearance in the coming days.

After we ate, Julie wanted to play a game, so the girls brought out Phase 10. She had to teach Mom how to play, and the game wasn’t entirely without drama, but I think most everyone had a good time while Dad, Bác Vân, and Doug watched from the couch. We played through more phases than I expected, and then everyone filed out relatively quickly. Summer was proud of how quickly everything broke down and cleaned up, and then she was off to bed while the girls started on another jigsaw puzzle before bed.

Less heat; more smoke!

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Pumped

I came in and out of sleep pretty early this morning, but kept making myself go back to sleep until Summer got out of bed. As everyone else roused, she made a small batch of pancakes for breakfast. I played Into the Breach for quite a while between poking around on the computer. I got my first call from an actual human being at Tesla to confirm my delivery appointment.

My parents called for some help with Bác Vân’s iPad, but I couldn’t do much remotely. Summer ended up taking a nap, so I went home to clean up. My parents were still next door, so I walked over to see what I could do. The iPad wouldn’t support an iOS version compatible with the YouTube app, so that was a bust.

Once my parents got home from running around town, I ordered some pizzas from Little Caesar’s and went to get the girls. We loaded up the pumpkins, stopped to get the food, and then made it to my parents’ house to eat and carve. I was surprised by how little food was left, so I was glad I actually ordered enough.

After we ate, Autumn said she was too tired to carve a pumpkin. Dad preferred to wait until closer to Halloween, but Eaddie didn’t want to come back to do it after school. She and Summer just carved theirs together, and we left the other three for later. They turned out really good, so once my carving kit comes in on Monday, I’ll have to really think of something good to carve.

We loaded everyone up to go home, and brought the two pumpkins worth of seeds along for roasting. Summer cleaned them up and simmered them in some water for a few minutes before we had to dry them out. We ended up drying them in the oven on its lowest temperature setting, since leaving them on the counter would have taken days. She seasoned them with some olive oil, salt, and cayenne pepper, and they turned out great.

Everyone settled into their rooms after that, but Noah was supposed to come over after work. I didn’t stay up for that, since we had a full day of driving in the morning.

36 hours!

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Birthday Bucket

I went home for a little while this morning while the girls went to see a gospel quartet with Dad at church. After a while, Summer asked me to get Eaddie from her father’s house in Clarksville since she had to finish up the desserts while Autumn mowed her parents’ lawn. It was a really pretty drive out in the country, and I enjoyed how quiet it was out there.

I got gas on the way back since it was significantly cheaper in Clarksville. Then we picked up Summer and the desserts to head to my parents’ house for Dad’s birthday dinner. Eaddie had been eaten up by chiggers, so I had her take a dip in the pool until Julie showed up with a bucket of KFC. As soon as Autumn showed up, we came in to eat.

We didn’t stick around very long because the girls had homework. We had Eaddie drive me home in the Matrix since she needed the practice before her next attempt at the driving test on Tuesday. She was super nervous at times, but she did great once she shook out her nerves. From then on, it was a really quiet night. I don’t know how many hours I played Into the Breach today, but it was probably a shameful amount.

At least I have chicken.

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Is It Bussin? Is It…?

I spent the entire day working on that stupid computer for the bus shop, and I still didn’t finish the job. Dale didn’t have backups of any of the installation media, and of course none of the manufacturers supported any of that stuff any longer. I was actually surprised at how much help I did receive. I received a call back within minutes from one of them, but I suppose we actually pay them for fuel. The other tried to be helpful, but I could never figure out how to import the old data into the new installation.

Zach and Greg were busy pulling cable out there, so I never heard anything about lunch. Both Tammy and Kelsea made noises about going out to eat, but Kelsea didn’t have her debit card and Tammy said she would eat there. I had just started on a Soylent when she came around the corner beckoning me to go to Brangus with them. Evidently Tammy folded and decided she was going to pay for Kelsea.

When we got to Brangus, they noticed Thomas’s truck in the parking lot. We sat right by them just as they got up to leave. I let peer pressure get to me, and we all three ordered the hamburger, which didn’t impress me much. The burger patty was small, but thick, and it was overall messy and just barely adequate. Tammy was going to have all of us rung up together, so I jumped up to pay first because chivalry isn’t dead.

The afternoon went by pretty quickly after taking a late lunch, but I still never had a chance to get out much. I talked to Thomas about it a bit on my way out, and I think he’s going to investigate whether we need to bite the bullet and upgrade some of their equipment.

I went home just briefly to package up an Echo to trade in to Amazon, and then dropped it off at UPS on the way to New China. Noah wanted to have his birthday dinner a day early, so everyone met there separately. I thought after a disappointing lunch I would be hungry, but I still felt slightly ill from Western Sizzlin the other day. I ate anyway, but mixed it up from my usual routine a bit. Afterward, I had to get some gas in the Murano since Summer had been driving it to Conway and Little Rock all week.

Noah came back to the house to spend some time with the girls, but Autumn just immediately started watching YouTube, and Eaddie had homework. I felt a little bad for him in the same way that I feel bad for myself when I’m here. He hung out for a bit longer while Summer took a shower, and then I wound down pretty quickly after he left.

Too tired for games. Depressing.