Tag: music

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Technically, It Was Great

I got up and made eggs on toast again for breakfast, and it turned out a little better than last time, though we were short on eggs. The day went by quickly, and we had to get to Witherspoon for Eaddie’s concert. I didn’t want to leave Muad’Dib in the house, nor did I want to put him back outside after his bath, so we took him along to get Dad and then went to the concert. Summer wouldn’t let me dress him up in a trench coat to sneak him in, so he had to sit in the car for nearly two hours. He hated it, but was well behaved when he came out.

We dropped Dad off and then I took him for a quick run while it was still light out. Summer baked a frozen pizza for dinner, and then we took Muad’Dib to the other house to try and fetch my other slow cooker. Unfortunately we couldn’t get in because the internet was out and I couldn’t open the garage.

From there, we went to Walmart to do some quick shopping. Summer got a bunch of stuff to make chili for work and home, but we had to stop at the Neighborhood Market to get some missing ingredients. I waited outside and ran around with Muad’Dib while she ran in, and then we got back home where I tried to pound out some reviews before bed.

Definitely not snoozeworthy though.

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60% of Postmodern Jukebox

Summer left for a race in Vilonia this morning. I tried to sleep in a little bit since I would be driving late, but still had to get up and clean my car for the trip. First, I made some eggs over sourdough, and then made some for Summer as she came in. Then I stripped the seat cover out of the back of my car and did a deep clean with a vacuum and a blower, washed the windows, and wiped down all of the surfaces to try and keep Mom from having an allergic reaction.

I finally had a chance to take my shower, then took Muad’Dib for a quick and early run before we went to pick up my parents. We barely made it to Ozark before Summer had to stop. I went ahead and charged partway so we could get up to Viet Buffet in Rogers and then back down. I was worried there would be a wait, but we actually got right in. Everyone really enjoyed it, and though it wasn’t all just like Mom made, it was probably the most authentic I had seen anywhere, and they had all the greats.

From there, we made it to the Ozark Music Hall and actually got to park right outside. The concert was far from sold out, but the seats I got us on the balcony were right behind a speaker on stage-right. About a third, to a half of the stage was covered up, and I was livid. We probably could have gone down to the floor, but Mom didn’t want to move. Summer and I ended up moving to the empty reserved section right next to us at the end of the stage. Nobody said a word to us, and we could finally see the show.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy it, and since we were able to charge while we were at the show, we were able to make it all the way home without stopping. We dropped my parents off at home, then Summer dove straight into bed. Eaddie had given Muad’Dib a bath, but he seemed to be shedding some dandruff or crumbs of some kind, so I wanted to give him another one. I ended up getting frustrated at a bunch of little things that were left undone, and gave up for the night.

What a bunch of geezers.

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Show and a Dinner

I made a half-successful French omelette for Summer this morning, and just had some messed up eggs for myself. I thought we might go under the house to investigate the bad fiber again, but ultimately I figured TCW would have to come back out and perform the actual repair anyway. I’m surprised they don’t install rodent-proof fiber in situations like this, because our crawl space is just so open. Surely by starting their business in the most rural areas, they’ve had to deal with rats before. While I was outside investigating what I could reach, I decided to whack a log to see if it would be any easier to split. To my surprise, it actually was.

Alexa, add “chop firewood” to my to-do list.

Eaddie had her first concert in the afternoon, so Summer had to alter her dress a bit. I would have liked to vacuum some more, but I had a pretty slow start. We eventually got cleaned up and headed to Witherspoon early to find seats. Eaddie was sitting with her grandmother in the back corner when we got there, so Summer stopped to talk to her, and then invited her and Autumn to come sit with us. The show was long, with an assortment of exciting, and not-so, music. They changed the band around every time, so Eaddie wasn’t playing in like half of the show.

When we finally left, we decided to go to Check-H for an early dinner. I started out with a really great salad, but I should have quit there. We both came home with belly aches, so we stayed in rather than walk Muad’Dib.

Pick a project. Just one.

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SoundCloud

I didn’t sleep long. Muad’Dib was on my arm most of the night, so I awoke in some discomfort, but it was imperative that my boy be comfortable. We eventually got around and I cooked bacon, sausage, eggs, and RO*TEL for the girls. Summer had to get more RO*TEL from the store, but we had a good, late breakfast.

Summer took Eaddie to the bank and then went to the gym. I wrote a bunch more reviews. Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for Brass in the Clouds on Nebo. Eaddie brought Jenny over and I went with Muad’Dib to pick up Dad. The three of us met the girls at Bocadillos where we were met by another one of Eaddie’s friends.

We had some ice cream, and then Dad and I stopped to pick up some Taco Bell for the girls and met them on the mountain. There were cars everywhere up there, but Muad’Dib and I had a chance to ride the Onewheel down the road a bit before we settled in with everyone else.

The band seemed not well rehearsed for all their mistakes, but it was a beautiful evening out. Muad’Dib made lots of friends as he paced around my chair. Then when it was all over, I dropped Dad off at his house and then took Summer to Stoby’s for dinner.

I wasn’t thrilled with the choice. The food was fine, but I rarely crave Stoby’s. Their prices are just too high for what you get. Eaddie left with Eli when we got back to the house, and Summer went to bed. I followed shortly after.

I don’t.

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Burn It Up

I picked up a couple biscuits from Hardee’s on the way in, which held me over to a pretty late lunch. Muad’Dib and I went to Casey’s for a slush, and then Sonic just for a snack. We shared some pickle tots, and I burned my entire mouth on some Ched ‘R’ Peppers. The afternoon went by incredibly slowly in spite of how late I took my lunch break.

Eaddie had her first ATU band event at the train depot in the evening, so I picked up another slush on the way home, met Summer at the lube just briefly, and continued to the house to wait for her. The kids were there for a moment before leaving to get ready.

Summer got there and we stopped by Casey’s for a couple more slushes before going to the depot. The block was absolutely packed with people, and the band was huge, so there really wasn’t a good place to see everything. Summer sat with Eli’s parents briefly, but I had to walk around with Muad’Dib because he got too hot, and the band was too loud to be that close.

We wandered around for a while until they started, and then stood in the heat for most of the music. Muad’Dib and I left a little early to get the car going, and then we all went back to the house for the evening. Summer and I cleaned up the ribs because the kids finished the whole hog I had left. The night seemed to drag on, so I managed to get to bed a little earlier than I had expected.

incongruous

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Everything You Know Is Wrong

We had to wait for Eaddie to get home from church before we could leave for Rogers this afternoon. Summer got a bit of yard work done, and I finished laundry. We finally hit the road about an hour later than I intended, stopped in Ozark to charge, and finally made it to KPOT for dinner. I was fairly hangry by then, and it didn’t help that our estimated 30-minute wait was closer to the hour mark.

Fortunately our server, Daniel, was very respectful of our time when I told him we were trying to get to a concert. The food experience was a bit better than last time, but then we were shocked to hear that Daniel had never heard of Weird Al before.

We made it to our usual parking spot, which was surprisingly still available. This was doubly convenient because the end of the line was right there, and we were able to walk leisurely to the amphitheater. We got in, the merch line was short, and Summer and I both got shirts. We found a seat with plenty of time before Puddles Pity Party took the stage. Autumn was on the other side of the lawn with Adam’s family, and came over to talk to the girls for a bit. Puddles had a fairly short set, which ultimately I appreciated, because I don’t know how long I could have sat through that energy.

When Weird Al finally came on, it was pretty much non-stop high energy from everyone. They put on an incredible show, and I was excited that Eaddie got to experience it with us. I think we surprised her with how excited we, and particularly Summer, got for some of his songs.

The drive home was fairly quick, and I had a good chat with Eaddie while Summer tried to sleep in the back seat.

And everything you thought was just so important doesn’t matter.

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Horn Corps

Summer had brunch planned with Trent and his new gal pal, so we met them at Stoby’s. It was a relatively short meal with them and her little girl. When we got home, we packed for a night in Little Rock to watch the Drum Corps International competition. Eli came over and we got out of town a little bit later than I expected, but we were still ahead.

We checked in to the Embassy Suites and had time to sit in on the Manager’s Reception for a couple drinks and some snacks. Then we went to dinner at Cheddar’s just a short distance from the War Memorial Stadium. It wasn’t terribly hot after the sun went down, but it was super humid with an hours-long event sitting on stadium bleachers. The bands definitely got better as the night went on, and I was surprised to learn that the Carolina Crowns were there. I was only familiar with them through one incredible YouTube video I saw nearly a decade ago. This was a much larger ensemble, but they were great.

Traffic wasn’t terrible getting out, but I may have inadvertently cut somebody off. It was a short drive back to the room, and we had a mix of people crashing and cleaning up before bed.

I expected more drums.

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HSTIBBQ

I didn’t think we were getting lunch today because there wasn’t a break in the schedule, so I skipped the keynote and went to Sonic for a breakfast burrito before going to the conference. Being able to eat while the car drives me is really the killer app. I walked into a session and saw Jason, so we caught up briefly before things got started.

After the first session, I saw that they had barbecue for lunch, so I circled the vendor area, found Ben, and then we sat down to eat instead of going to another session. Craig was there as well, so I had him sign my badge as a local celebrity. After lunch, Randy, Dustin, and I sat in on Ben’s presentation about APSRC data projects, and then I had one more session on cyber forensics before the end of the day.

The other Craig and Dustin had to get to The Blitzed Pig early enough that Craig could get set up for karaoke in the evening, so we planned to have lunch super early at Fisherman’s Wharf. I got another car wash before going to the room to clean up. Then I met Randy and Kyle at the restaurant. When Dustin, Craig, Ben, and then David showed up, we realized that we really needed a bigger table and moved to the back corner. David ended up covering us, which was unexpected. We had a great time though, and I got way more full than I expected on my filet Oscar.

I went back to the hotel to clean some of the humidity off of myself, and then called Summer to spend some time catching up. I eventually made my way to The Blitzed Pig for karaoke and drinks on IK’s dime. It was not at all my type of shindig, and it was still super humid outside, but we stuck around through the good, the bad, and the ugly. By the end of it, We had a ton of drink tickets left, so I gave the wheel of them to a waitress when she finally came back around, and asked for as much Fireball as she would bring us.

A little while later, a guy came out with a tray of individual shots, so I poured as many of them into a big plastic cup as I could before he picked up the tray and walked off. He didn’t seem keen on me drinking it all, but my goal was to walk out anyway. They eventually did door prizes, and Randy and I both won. He traded me his Tosy glowing disc for my SSD enclosure, and then we left. I made it back to the room to dump my cup into an old bottle, and I’ll have Fireball for another day.

But you’re still alive.

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Rawdoggin’

We had a mid-morning meeting that would last through lunch, so Randy wanted to swing through McDonald’s for some pre-breakfast. I rode with him and grabbed an iced coffee, and not long after we got back to the office, we headed upstairs to meet with a couple of Acer Premier Support representatives. Maggie brought Chick-fil-A breakfast for everyone, and then we sat through a bunch of training that could have probably been an email with the YouTube tutorial link. It wasn’t really required knowledge for me, so I was fairly disconnected and possibly a bit jittery from all the coffee.

I skipped lunch again, and the afternoon was for unearthing broken things. I couldn’t tell if we had actual replication issues with our domain controllers, or if there was something else preventing communication, but we definitely had issues communicating with the domain controllers. Randy ended up taking over, but that wasn’t what I intended. That sort of left me hanging for the day.

I had a pretty big anxiety attack on the drive home, but I made it. Eaddie and I chatted briefly while Summer was in the shower. They had spent the day together after Eaddie’s signing day and made Oreo balls while I ate some leftover shepherd’s pie. I was still a little bit hungry and got to craving some Taco Villa, so I ran across town to get an assortment to share with the girls. Eaddie had to leave for her appreciation concert as soon as I got back though, so Summer and I ate and then I quickly ran Muad’Dib before we met my dad at the Center.

We got there between songs by the concert band, and then moved to sit next to Dad for Eaddie’s symphonic band. I thought they did pretty great even if Eaddie thought they were awful. Eaddie and Eli both had surprise speaking parts, so of course Summer was stunned. She recorded their speaking parts, but quit when it came to the music. Moss composed one of their songs, called Grawlix, which was awesome. Then Summer had me record The Stars and Stripes Forever since Eaddie would be first in the piccolo line.

The kids went out to celebrate afterward, so Summer and I headed home and shut down pretty quickly.

Weep not for roads untraveled.

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Day Drunk Productivity Suite

We got up for breakfast this morning, but Eaddie left for church and it was just the two of us. I thought Summer was making pancakes, but she had actually planned to make biscuits. We ended up scratching the bread altogether and cleaned up some hash browns with eggs and sausage links instead. Then we had a couple Jumex Hard Nectars to get the party started. I was determined to drown out the heartbreak with productivity, so I cranked some tunes, started some laundry, and cleaned up a whole bunch of random stuff that had been sitting around for ages. Summer went to the gym, then came home and wanted to mow the yard while it was nice out.

I replaced Eaddie’s shower head with a dual rain head and handheld sprayer. Summer went to the store to get some salmon, Brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes for dinner. I had a minor meltdown over a spice cabinet in complete disarray while I was trying to prep the salmon, so I had to reorganize everything before I could get the fish on the grill. My silver lining was that I was able to clean up at least three different seasoning mixes that we’ve had for ages. Summer whipped up some awesome sides, Eaddie had Eli over, and the four of us had a really great sit-down meal. Everything turned out super good in the end.

Muad’Dib and I went out for a run after dinner, but he was really only up for a casual jog. The first leg of our ride was eerily quiet, but we eventually saw some people and a couple of cars in the road. For a moment it felt a little too Twilight Zone. We got through the basin for a quick dip, then stopped to see my parents. Dad has had some leftover meat that Muad’Dib has been loving, so he didn’t get any extra treats when we got home. We sat on the porch with Summer, who was sitting back in quiet contemplation.

So much has been up in the air over the past year, and the past couple of months really brought out a lot of pain points that we’d just been kicking down the road. On top of all of that, she finally has her MRI tomorrow and she’s been super nervous. We’ll just have to attack each day as it presents itself.

You and I stargazing