Recursive

I left Muad’Dib home for Dad again today, hit up Hardee’s for breakfast, and made it to work where I fought to understand our network’s relationship with the server I’ve been building. I ask to leave early so I could relieve Dad from babysitting the work crew, so I worked through lunch a bit and then headed back home.

We tried to trace the doorbell wire using a tone generator, and it really seemed like it went under the house, so that will be a new adventure. It started raining earlier in the day and kind of drizzled all evening, which cooled things down nicely. Hopefully it’s not wet under the house now.

Kevin also called earlier in the day and asked for crutches, so I dropped them off before Dad left. Summer got home before the crew left, so she spent some time on the porch with Muad’Dib while I put together a raised dog bowl. Then I had an anxiety attack while I was cleaning the bowl before filling it with water. The workers were done by then, so I shook it off and we headed to Cici’s for dinner. Muad’Dib wanted to come along, but he had to stay in the car.

After dinner Summer wound down for bed while I dawdled for far too long with a window open and the radio up.

Tomorrow is for Remoteception

I See Blue All Around

I was up pretty late last night, but woke up just before Summer. I was pretty hungry, so I had a chicken salad sandwich, which by this time was pretty bad. Summer wanted to go to the gym and then mow the lawn, so I worked on some reviews in the quiet. Dad came over a little later and we tried to trace back the doorbell wires. I thought I had seen a wire going back from the garage, so we started there. We gave up after just a short period though, because I didn’t want to make another huge mess before the guys got back to work on the ceiling in the morning.

After Summer finished the lawn, she said that Eaddie and Autumn wanted to go out to dinner with her. That meant I was on my own, so I hung out with Muad’Dib and took a long, late shower. Summer picked up some Hardee’s for me on her way back, I repaired the end of the water hose the dogs chewed up months ago, and I eventually took Muad’Dib out for a run as it got dark.

It looked like the family at the end of the street was getting rid of a big dog crate, so we continued on our route and visited my parents, and then I made a few trips back and forth to bring it home. Then I wrapped up for bed.

I want easy, easy living.

Downed

I was up late moving some more stuff, and I finally got a call early this morning from Adam, who asked for our address because he had put my parents’ address on our quote. He and two younger guys showed up, I handed over $3,500, and then Adam left the other two to it. They had to drop off a trailer and then go get supplies, so I took Muad’Dib for a quick run around the block. Then they came back to move some furniture and hang plastic around the room.

I tried to get some work done, but I still had so much other stuff to clean and move around that I actually couldn’t concentrate on anything. Coupled with a stomach ache for much of the morning, I just wasn’t productive. Eaddie came home from her first day of college, I scolded her for the state of her bathroom and had her clean it up so the guys could use it, and they eventually finished up pretty early in the afternoon.

The whole house was hot and dusty – moreso after more of the ceiling was missing. The plastic sheet slowly fell throughout the evening. I felt gross, and a shower didn’t help a great deal. Summer had to work late, so when I asked what she wanted for dinner, she immediately responded with Brangus. I mistook the message and drove to Check-H, then realized my mistake and drove the extra few blocks.

Summer enjoyed her meal, but just about ever aspect of our visit was middling-to-poor for me. It started with stale peanuts and a burned tumbleweed, then followed through with an old, dried up baked potato, and rounded out with a cold steak.

We got back to the house and I took Muad’Dib out for a run because the quick spurt of rain we had just before dinner had dried up on the ground. It felt quite a bit nicer, but got dark quick. I had more cleaning to do before bed.

out

No Fix

I got out of bed not knowing when the crew would show up to start repairs on our ceiling. I waited and waited, and eventually got an email from Adam that said he meant to respond yesterday that they would be a day behind because his father went to the emergency room. I considered going in to work, but just carried on at home instead.

When Summer got back to town, Eaddie, Muad’Dib, and I went to meet her at Cicis, though he had to wait in the car while we ate. Afterward we went back so I could continue working from home. Later in the afternoon and evening I cleaned up around the dining room and tried to move more smaller stuff out of the living room. We’re running out of room elsewhere because things have been moved and packed inefficiently.

Summer got back from work late and basically went straight to bed. Eaddie had left for a while butu came back while I was cleaning up.

No fix at all.

You’re All Inhale and No Exhale

We shared some Burger King hash browns on the way to work, but then I had to leave Muad’Dib in my office while I went to meet with a vendor and the operations guys about the sensors they want to install. I thought he’d never forgive me after how long it took us to walk to the two PLC cabinets. I started to get a little bit pushy because it seemed like Matt was talking in circles a bit, but hopefully we’ll have something in place by Friday.

We picked up a Subway sandwich for lunch and ate in the office because I thought it was supposed to be super hot outside, but it actually didn’t feel too bad for the couple minutes we were outside. The afternoon dragged on a bit, and then we ran to the house to start moving smaller things out of the living room, hoping that R&R Unlimited would actually show up to start repairs on the ceiling.

Summer got to the house shortly after we did, but wasn’t expecting the work. She took a long bath, then came out and helped to move and vacuum things as I pulled them out of the living room. It was hot and dirty, and no kind of fun. It got dark, but I took Muad’Dib out for a run, hoping that it had cooled down a bit. It actually felt worse without any wind.

We visited my parents, then made it back to put the dog to bed whiel I spiraled down myself.

False Hope 🌎☄️

Play Sassafras Chicken in D, and Make It Extra Lumpy!

I didn’t really sleep in, but had a slow start this morning. Summer went outside for a bit, and I cleaned up some leftovers to make breakfast. We had one small baked potato that I sliced and fried with some leftover onion, and then i scrambled some eggs in with some dried up flour tortilla crumbs. It actually turned out pretty good.

Jon said Alex would be here at noon, but he was over half an hour late to come look at our ceiling. He seemed to think they could just replace a couple panels of drywall and then scrape the rest of the ceiling. Hopefully we get a quote back soon, and it’d be even better if it came in under five grand.

Summer and I had a couple of “arguments” throughout the morning that just left us both feeling defeated. She went to the gym and I tried to start some laundry, but had to clean up a mess that they had left first. Eaddie left to hang out with friends, and Summer and I decided to go to the movies for a late matinée to see The Naked Gun.

I didn’t really enjoy the movie at all. It just seemed really dumb with a couple cheap giggles, but absolutely no rolling, laugh-outloud moments for me. I was hungry when we got home, so we took Muad’Dib to Chipotle for a late dinner. They had a little outdoor seating area, and it felt great outside.

After dinner, we went for a quick run in the dark to see my parents before winding down for bed.

Weird Al is waiting for us!

One Step Two Step Red Step Blue Step

Kevin checked in to see if I contacted Diamond Ridge, and ended up calling Jon to get things moving for me. I wanted to be respectful of his time and work/life balance, but Kevin gave me Jon’s personal cell to work things out.

Rhonda got a little fussy about the automation I created for shipment documentation, but without invoking more human involvement, there wasn’t much I could do to improve the automation. It seemed simple enough to sort files by date, but after our conversation about phone storage the other day, I don’t guess I was surprised to hear she felt it was impossible to find what she needed.

Muad’Dib and I went to Sonic for lunch again since it was still nice out. We shared a toaster, but he couldn’t have any onion rings. I did risk giving him some of the breading though. Later in the afternoon, I was invited downstairs for some leftover ice cream with the team.

Jon called on my way back home, and said he would have someone visit us tomorrow. I stopped at AT&T to see Kevin, and brought Muad’Dib inside. He was busy with a customer, but Hope came out and found me. We chatted for a while, and Kevin would come over periodically while his customer was, presumably, transferring stuff between devices.

I left there and stopped to see Summer at the wash, and tried to vacuum Muad’Dib’s seat protector. That went fairly poorly, so I’ll just need to remove it and shake it out. It wouldn’t hurt to hose it off either. As soon as I got to the house, Muad’Dib and I rode over to my parents’ house for fish soup.

After that, the girls were home and I sat down to talk with Summer for a while. Then we tried to find something to watch on the bedroom TV, but she fell asleep almost immediately.

A Leash Called “Obedience”

Out of Tune

I had a slow start and got to work a little later today. Muad’Dib seemed to be having a little trouble himself, and kept licking himself as smells happened. He eventually perked up, and didn’t appear to make a mess anywhere, but I was a little concerned. I tried to dig through some more 365 documentation, but I just kind of hate it so far. I had an anxiety attack at some point, but rolled on as usual.

Summer was supposed to come have lunch with me, but she ran a couple hours late without saying a word about it. I finally texted to find out what was going on, and she said she wasn’t going to make it. Then I suggested I could pick up pizza so she could just stop in to eat at the office, and she was in for that.

Pizza Hut had a strange drive-through orientation, but it worked surprisingly well. I got in and out of there, and then stopped by Casey’s for a deal on some wings since I was still waiting on Summer anyway. I let Muad’Dib out to walk around for a bit in the heat, and then tried to leave him outside while I ran in to get the food. It took almost no time for him to take off and find a family at one of the gas pumps. Luckily he didn’t get far, and he ran right back to me. I put him in the car after that, since the wings weren’t anywhere near done.

Summer just barely beat me to the office, and I was reminded that they had ice cream and Italian ice as a gesture of employee appreciation. Most everyone was in the break room and introduced themselves to her in a flurry. Muad’Dib was getting nosey, so we went upstairs to eat. I walked Summer back to her car and then had some Italian ice myself with Rhonda in the breakroom. I don’t know why, but I got chattier than I usually do. I guess I’ve just spent more time talking to her than most anyone else at the office so far.

The afternoon was tough because I was exhausted from going to bed so late after last night’s panic. We made it to the end and headed home. Dad had met Brandon from Dream Builders Construction to get a quote, and he came back almost immediately with a total of $5,100 that didn’t appear to include a tax calculation. It also looked like he was less thorough than R&R, who Dad had called. They finally came back with a quote after a week that also considered blowing new insulation for a total of $6,936.47. For a thousand more, it sounded like R&R may be better equipped to do the whole job, but I don’t know.

The evening was pretty quiet. Summer took a bath for a while, Eaddie left for Eli’s, and I shut in to do some long-overdue Vine reviews. Once the sun was nearly down, I took Muad’Dib for a quick run, and then raced to bed.

EXTI

Stretching the Upper Limit

Johnny called just as I got to work this morning, so I talked to him for a while. He actually knew quite a bit about Microsoft 365, so he can probably help me for a change. I had a fair bit of trouble focusing after that.

I went to Wendy’s for a late lunch, and grabbed some McDonald’s fries on the way back to eat in my office. It wasn’t very long after that when Eaddie texted that, “Hey so part of the ceiling may or may not have just fallen.” I don’t know why she would lead like that, but I eventually got some photos from her that showed the drywall leaning up against my irreplaceable 3D OLED TV.

Teisha told me to just go home since Joel was on a call, but I wanted to at least message him about it. He said the same, and I headed to the house. Eaddie and Eli were both there to see when it happened. The entire living room was coated in a thick layer of dust. Our fuzzy couch was completely covered. Everything was covered. My first priority was to get the drywall off of the TV. It was heavy, and I was completely astounded when the TV turned on without a shattered corner. It actually broke the drywall. I got some of that out, and then Dad came over to help the kids and me clean out as much of the insulation as we could.

We moved the most expensive stuff into the sunroom in case of further collapse, and then Dad and I went to his house to find some wood and a floor jack to get the rest of the drywall screwed up to the joists. It went better than I expected, but we still have a lot of work to do.

Summer got home after her doctor appointment for her knee. I was already irritated that I beat her home from my job in Morrilton, and that she couldn’t make our home a priority. Then she had the nerve to ask if I would support her quitting her job before finding new employment because she had a really bad day. I’d been telling her for YEARS to find something else and quit, and she always pushed back. So no. Hard, “NO.”

I was able to move the thermostat sensing to the bedroom so it wouldn’t just keep pumping air into the gaping living room. Then Muad’Dib and I left to run, and I went to my parents’ house to swim. Mom thought this all happened at the old house, but I told her it was at our new house.

We left once I was sufficiently cooled down, and got to the house before dark. Summer was in bed, and Eaddie had gone to Eli’s for dinner.

Shocking. Make lemonade.

How I Met Your Dragon

Summer got called into work super early because someone didn’t work out her two-week notice, so Muad’Dib and I slept in. I eventually got up and had a pretty good bologna sandwich and wrote a bunch of reviews. I asked Summer if she needed anything, and she asked for some soda water. I decided I’d take Muad’Dib along for the ride since I moved the seat cover over to my car.

When we left there, we stopped by the airport to see if we could find Kevin and retrieve one of my smaller rat traps. We haven’t had any luck trapping the one that’s still in the house somewhere. That was another failed mission, so we drove on home past lots of silt and debris that had flooded onto the roads. Muad’Dib wanted to stay outside when we got home, so I let him hang out a while.

Summer came home around noon, after Eaddie and Eli left for Clarksville. We were looking at more rain, so we decided to blow out the gutters quickly to alleviate some of the flooding around the house. Summer went up on the roof with the leaf blower and took care of that easily, then we got her down just as the rain came in. She took a bath and shower, and then I took a shower myself because she wanted to go to UEC to see How to Train Your Dragon.

I had somewhat surprisingly never seen the originals, and for some reason this remake wasn’t high on my list of priorities either, but it was a decent movie. We saw the only showing in 3D, and though the auditorium was mostly empty, the people that were there were mostly inconsiderate assholes. Children screaming, people whose cell phones went off repeatedly without being silenced, and people who were incapable of coughing without engaging their vocal cords.

After the movie, we came home to find Eaddie outside, and Eli sitting on the couch inside. He said he forgot she was outside, and evidently just settled in. Weird kids.

I took Muad’Dib for a run, and he did really well. The basin was incredibly flooded, so we went around, encountered a huge litter of puppies, visited my parents, then made it home before more rain. Summer was prepared to give him a bath, so I helped scrub him down. He seems to enjoy the blow drying now, and of course loves being vacuumed. We watched some YouTube and stayed up too late. Tomorrow will be full of catching up on weekend chores.

You just gestured to all of me.