Tag: parenting

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You’ve Gotta Be Shirtin Me

I woke up to a call from Thomas this morning, and apparently the robotics tournament was completely offline with a lot of cranky people. I got around and headed home in case he needed a hand, but he said he got things going, so I started some laundry.

I finished all of six loads for a total of 75 shirts washed before I made it back up to Summer’s. I got a few other things cleaned up as well, and then Summer made spring rolls for dinner. They turned out pretty good for her first time, and Eaddie enjoyed them as well. Autumn was gone to a school dance for most of the evening.

As bedtime grew near, Eaddie and I decided to start Breaking Bad as we waited for Autumn to get home. She tried to stay out later after leaving the dance early, and claimed to make it home half an hour late because she fell asleep at Adam’s house. I had no interest in listening to her excuses, but our second episode was nearly done anyway. Then it was off to bed.

Absolute Parasite

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Post Snow

The office was really quiet today, but the building techs seemed to be working in their buildings. Greg and I chatted for a little bit throughout the day, which was more than usual. I was pretty busy all day, just from working on random things that kept coming to me. When lunch time came around, it was just Thomas and me and I convinced him to try Ridgewood in the hour we had.

We made it through the line in a little under 40 minutes, which meant we made it back to work right on time. Considering we’ve been late for worse food, I thought it was a fair deal. When we got back to the shop, I went across the street to install some RAM for Joseph, and then spent the rest of the afternoon downstairs.

Summer stayed home sick, so after work I went to Linh’s to get her some soup and spring rolls. Eaddie shared a recording of a ridiculous argument she had with Autumn in the morning, and we collectively rolled our eyes in solidarity. Then Summer and I watched some Modern Family until bedtime.

But our princess is in another castle!

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Region 9

I woke up in the middle of the night, unable to get back to sleep for a couple of hours. I sat up on the couch for a little while, which helped a bit. When I finally got back to sleep, I slept through Summer going in to work and then the girls going to All-Region clinic. I finally got around just before Summer got home, and then we started prepping for dinner. I made coleslaw, and she made potato salad. The slaw was way easier. Finally, we got the ribs into the oven and I headed home.

Summer eventually picked me up, and we went to the arts center where my dad and her parents were already waiting. Eaddie had made first band, first chair, and Autumn beat the only other bass clarinet that tried out, but didn’t make all-region at all. Both bands were pretty good, but Eaddie was bored with the whole event on account of easy music. A couple of the songs were repeats from band camp.

After the concert, we headed home for dinner. Autumn brought her boyfriend over, who said he had never eaten ribs before. He didn’t even try any of the sides we made, so it was a bit weird. Eaddie spent the rest of the evening in her room while Summer and I hung out in the living room for a bit before retiring to the bedroom and making Autumn and Adam come out of her bedroom. Once his father picked him up, everyone was off to sleep.

A good sniff.

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Should I Stay or Should I Go

I did not expect today to go the way that it did.

Shortly after I got to work, I had Zach pick me up from Clear View Auto Glass and Tint, where I dropped my Model 3 off to get the windows tinted. I took the opportunity to try out valet mode, which seemed straightforward enough. It was neat getting notifications when my car was unlocked while I was at work.

After that, I was stuck in the office without a vehicle, so I spent most of the day helping others. I finally fixed something for Jeff, for real this time. Unfortunately I didn’t have the same luck with Adobe for Jacob. That was when things got weird.

Brody called, acting all cloak-and-dagger, and wanted to know if I was serious about wanting to go to Clarksville. I’d been interested, at the very least, but I had never put much serious thought into it. Evidently Ryan is coming back to fill Josh’s slot, and I hadn’t even considered how that would shift the teams around.

I went to lunch with the Big Three, and Gary asked if I had talked to Brody lately. I figured the gig was up, but everyone was acting like nothing was going on, so I just played it off. After lunch was a different story. Gary came into my office, shut the door, and asked me again. Then he shared that Ryan would be coming back, obviously onto the Engineering team, and that Thomas required that only two people could remain on that team. I couldn’t really tell what any of their thoughts were on how the dynamic of that team might improve or worsen, based on what Gary would tell me. He just indicated that there were very differing opinions.

About that time, I got a call that my car was done, so Zach took me back to get it. We chatted a bit on the way, and when we got back I quickly did some math, and wasn’t immediately thrust into comfort with the idea of leaving. Things have been rocky with the latest regime, but I hadn’t taken any serious measures to leave. A raise would be nice, but to be at the cost of drive time and vehicle wear made it less appealing. It also wasn’t particularly clear why I would have to report an answer back, other than to make them feel better about who they would send back to the Operations team.

Gary and I chatted a bit more after work, and then I went home briefly before having to pick up Eaddie from robotics. Ben called shortly after I arrived at home, and we talked for quite a while as I retrieved Eaddie. That conversation kind of served to reassure me that the ball was in my court, but I’ve never been good at taking advantages I’d been given.

I took Eaddie on home and helped her with homework while texting Brody to get a better idea of the environment. The hours would be shorter in spite of what the contracts read. I’d like to hear what Ryan has to say about the place, but an equal part of me would simply enjoy working with him again. I feel like I could learn a lot more just by being around him. In contrast, I would be at the top of the ladder with Brody, without peers. I’d have more control, but also no structure or guidance, or even anyone useful to bounce ideas off of. I would be diving in, head-first, hoping to swim.

More math is required, but I think I have a magic number. Even then, there are still too many other variables I need to understand. Time doesn’t seem to be on my side.

If I go, there will be trouble, and if I stay it could be double!

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LGBTQIAPSATNMSQT

Gary sent me to the junior high first thing today to help Jacob with some pre-test-testing. I hadn’t realized that this was one of the testing platforms that would be affected by GoGuardian, so I had to push a Group Policy update at the last minute, and then of course we had loads of students that didn’t have software installed, or hadn’t received the policy update yet. It was nice to get to chill out in the library, but it also reminded me of all the things I didn’t like about being over there.

I made it back to the shop just in time to pick up half of the crew that was going to La Chiquita for lunch. I parked next to a Plaid Model X, which is a car that always surprises me by how small and short it is for an SUV. After lunch, I made it over to Dwight for a bit, and then took Ian for a ride around the block. Then I mostly hid out for the rest of the afternoon.

Karen sent out the CPPC Minutes, and I received a few comments about how boring they were in comparison. Maybe next month’s superintendent will appreciate having a personality, but for now I guess I’ll either lay low or move along.

I had to get Eaddie from her private lessons after work. She also had a meeting in the evening about her PSAT score, so I took her home to eat before we picked up Summer at Superfast to go to the high school. They’re offering multiple opportunities for tutoring so she will have the best chance of earning a National Merit Scholarship.

Once the meeting was over and I dropped the girls off at their car, I went to the car wash to clean mine. Then I took the long way home to dry it off before parking and taking the Montego up to the girls. They were mostly wound down, and I never once saw Autumn out of her room. I just did my best to get to bed on time.

I seriously cannot possibly care any more.

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Long Con

Autumn showed up at home just as I was walking out, and said that Eaddie was supposed to ask us for permission to go to the Garage Arcade for Autumn’s four-month anniversary. I didn’t immediately recognize how ridiculous that sounded, but I did call her out on the fact that she rattled off a list of people she invited before she had permission to go. We didn’t have anything else planned though, so I told her to work it out with Summer, and headed home for a nice shower.

My stomach was pretty rumbly all morning, so I didn’t get out until later. Summer made it back into town early, so I met her and Eaddie at La Huerta for lunch. After that, I ran to the DMV to submit my loan paperwork that they should have already had, so I could get my title. I was in and out of there within about five minutes, which was incredible. Then I stopped by River Valley Tinting and Glass to get a price on tinting the Model 3. I’d have to make an appointment, and ceramic tint would be around $375, which seemed high after I paid under $300 for two windows to be tinted and a brand new windshield for the Murano.

I took a card to possibly schedule an appointment later, and then headed to the car wash to get Eaddie. Summer got caught up at Superfast for a bit, so I ended up waiting awkwardly in the office until she showed up. Then I took Eaddie back to my house for a minute so I could help Bác Vân with her iPad. Autumn was going to come pick her up to go to the arcade, but Maristela wasn’t going, so Eaddie decided she didn’t want to go either. We laughed at how stupid Autumn was for trying to manipulate us over something so stupid, and I took her home.

Eaddie wanted to start on her new paint-by-numbers, but had to finish her last one first. I ran across Con Man on YouTube, and we plowed through both seasons while she painted. Summer came home in the middle of it and watched with us for a while, but then went to bed. I stayed up quite a bit later than I intended, but I’ll get up earlier to make up for it.

I’ll see yooouuuu iiinnnn heeeeellllllllllll!

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Like a Teen With a Learner’s Permit

I thought I was onto something with Metro by T-Mobile this morning. Eaddie and I left the house a little early so we could get to Clarksville, which showed to have the only retail store within 75 miles. When we got there, it was an old Radio Shack, run by a singular, super old guy. It was neat to see a store like that again after losing our Radio Shack nearly 20 years ago. Having Eaddie along prevented me from browsing around more, but it looked like a neat place that made me nostalgic for the times that Dad and I used to go for parts.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have any of the iPhones we wanted, so we made our way out of town, where I dropped Eaddie off at Gavin’s. Then I headed back toward home and decided to stop at my parents’ house for some food. They still had lots of ham left over from Christmas, so I ate that in front of them. Mom got eyebrows tattooed on, but they were incongruent and misplaced. I don’t know why she bothered, but I disliked them very much.

I continued home to do some laundry until Summer finished up at work. Then she came to get me, and we went back to my parents’ house for some spaghetti. It wasn’t ready as early as I expected, so by the time we finished, it was about time for me to head back to Clarksville to get Eaddie.

Summer dropped me off and went on home for the night, and I ran by the car wash to get some of the grime off of my car from the ice a few days ago. The trip on Enhanced Auto Pilot was absolutely infuriating. There were cars and trucks on the road, but hardly any traffic to be concerned about, and plenty of room for navigating between the lanes. Still, I ran into places where my car wanted to continuously change lanes, back and forth, back to back. There was no one to pass, or anything to avoid. It just kept changing lanes, and nearly made me miss my exit.

It was a fun drive through the curves through the hills, but I had to watch for deer. Once I secured Eaddie, we ran home to change and then headed home for the night. Autumn stayed the night at Hannah’s to dog-sit, though she spent the entire afternoon at the pet store. Otherwise it was a relatively early night to bed.

Who is also, possibly, very drunk.

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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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Thank You, Tech!

I barely squeezed into work today, but it was quiet enough that it wouldn’t have mattered even if I was late. I handed out rambutans sporadically throughout the day as I thought people might try them. Then after some coffee, I went across the street to check on Kayla, and then went to Dwight for a single work order.

Evidently the teacher had moved to Sequoyah, but the location in Incident IQ never changed, so I had to hand the ticket off to Kyle. I made it back to the shop a bit before lunch, and then I took Zach and Gary to McDonald’s so I could get another one of their Smoky Quarter Pounder BLTs. Several of the maintenance crew were there, and Tyler ended up hanging out with us through the rest of our lunch. It seemed a bit like maybe he needed something to do.

The afternoon wasn’t too dull, because I got a bunch more work orders that I was able to mostly complete from my office. Autumn called after school to ask me to get Eaddie while she went to karate, but then I couldn’t actually find Eaddie when I got to the band room after work. She eventually came out, and I took her to my house to trade vehicles.

While we were at my house, I cleaned out the shrimp tank a bit. Then we stopped by Popeye’s for the girls. I met Summer at my parents’ house for some more egg rolls. We chatted with Dad for a bit, and then we made it home. Eaddie was working on homework, and I helped her with some Python code. Autumn got home late and made a beeline for her room as usual.

I tried not to get to bed too late, because I was pretty tired. Everyone else still beat me to it. I’m already looking toward our next break.

But our teacher is in another building!

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Space Parade

It took me a little bit to get settled into my office today, but once I did, I spent most of my time on the phone with Kayla. There wasn’t much else going on though, and I enjoyed the work I was doing. When we moved all of the bus drivers to hourly pay rates, the district neglected to plan how payroll would be done. As such, Kayla has been processing reams of paper timesheets for every single person that drives a bus.

I got a quick Google Sheet put together with her, and then Zach pulled me away to lunch with Thomas and Greg at Brangus. I had the half chicken salad and remembered how overpriced it was in comparison to the other lunch options. Then I was right back on the phone with Kayla once we got back.

They let us out an hour early to avoid getting stuck by all the people lining up for the parade. I went by Ridgewood and actually got to lend a hand in cleaning things up a bit for the soft open on Saturday. Then I left to swap cars before going up to Summer’s.

We finished up most of the Thanksgiving leftovers and then made our way to the parade. We were early, but not early enough to avoid parking a block off of the main strip. We opted to stand in the middle of a side street once they blocked it off, and that earned us a view from the front row.

The parade itself was super spaced out, with tons of gaps between several of the floats. The high school band was first, so we got to see Eaddie. Then we waited until Autumn passed with the JROTC, and immediately left. The girls actually finished up shortly after that, but didn’t get home until later.

Summer watched the last bit of Weird with me, and then I started UHF before quitting at the first commercial to get ready for bed.

Space mining!