Tag: parenting

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Just Forkin’ Around!

I took the R1 to work this morning and immediately realized that I was low on gas. I had plenty to get around for the day, though. Gary asked me to take care of an issue upstairs, which I was able to resolve remotely. Then after a while, he wanted some help throwing out a few pallets worth of Chromebook boxes. We hired a group of guys from Louisiana to wire our certified pre-owned carts, and they were just churning through, loading them all up with the new devices.

Gary and I walked over to the warehouse to get someone to help us with a forklift so we didn’t have to load several truck beds full. Justin came out, and I immediately started asking if he would let me drive it. I’m not sure he thought I was serious at first, but eventually he agreed to let me drive it to the dock once he got it out into the road.

I had the absolute time of my life.

It took me four trips for four pallets, while Gary basically spent the entire time just throwing armfuls of boxes into the recycle dumpster. I got pretty fast once I was confident with the controls, and made quick work of it all. My only regret was that I forgot to beep the horn, but I’m betting I’ll get to do the same tomorrow with the last of the pallets.

On the way to put the forklift back in the warehouse, I accidentally got it stuck on the curb, but managed to wiggle it off after Gary threatened to use our work truck to bump me off. That got us a few minutes into lunch, so I just drank a Soylent while Zach and Gary ate their food in the kitchen.

The afternoon was relatively quiet, except for another conference call outside my door. I kept pretty busy checking in on Brody’s tickets since he was out at an auction all day. A bit before school let out, Autumn texted and said she had to get her paycheck, and wanted to know if I would get Eaddie home. Me, being an alpha parent, told her that there was no rush to get her paycheck, and that it was her responsibility to get Eaddie home and to karate.

About an hour and a half later, I got a call from Eaddie that Autumn was being a “b-word” about picking her up. Just as I was about to hang up and call her, Autumn rang beeped in and I level-set her expectations. She seemed to be receptive, and at least calmed herself down while I was talking to her. Eaddie beeped back in, and I told her to take the ride home, and that we would all talk about it when we got home.

I got gas after work, then waited at home for Summer to get back into town. Then I met her at Lowe’s to look at the LG refrigerator we were considering. They had my returned fridge marked down again to $850, which was an incredible deal that made me consider re-purchasing it. If they had told me they would just give me that much of a refund to keep it, I would have gladly done so, and been perfectly satisfied with my backlit food and slow water dispenser.

Summer was tired of my indecisiveness, so we left and went to Walmart so she could pick up ingredients for banana pudding. Then she went home while I checked out clearance before meeting her at the house. We ate leftover pasta until Autumn got home from hanging out at Denny’s, and then we had a chat to try and set some more family expectations. Eaddie has been making an effort to communicate better, but Autumn is continuing her rebellious tendencies.

No matter what we say or do now, she’s going to pursue some kind of relationship with this older kid she works with. She’s also encouraged that someone told her she could be a salaried manager in a few years if she keeps up the good work, but she conveniently forgets that she still works at a goddamn Denny’s. I’ll take Unsuccess Stories for 1000, Alex. I’ve been exactly there.

I eventually made it home to find my charger had errored out on the Grom battery, but it started successfully and strongly. I got a little air in the tires, and it’ll be three for three on getting all of the bikes out this spring. Maintenance needs to happen early this year though, on account of how far behind I’ve gotten.

Slummers gonna slum.

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We Got to Move These Refrigerators

I made it in a couple minutes early today, and relatively quickly got called to build some tech tubs with some Chromebooks to take upstairs to the stage for the virtual kids’ testing. It took us a couple hours at least to get everything together and then for me to help with some updates upstairs, so lunch time was there before I knew it. It was Zach’s birthday, but he brought leftovers, so I ended up picking Summer up to go to Arby’s.

When I got back, I had to work on an updated deployment for Brody, which took up the rest of the afternoon. We’re having to juggle between “safety and security” and being able to test students, and at the end of the day, the job is only difficult because there are no stakes. There is no punishment for bad behavior. We’re forced to use technology to babysit instead of educate.

At one point, I took a break to Duo call Mitch for his birthday. He seemed to be doing well, and was excited to get to chat with Gary and me. I ended up calling him again later in the evening as well, just to catch up some more.

Immediately after work, I met Summer at my house to move my old refrigerator outside. Then her workmate Justin came over to help us lift it into the truck. I had to run to CrossFit to borrow it from Brody for about an hour, and we managed to get the refrigerator delivered to Summer’s house. She and Justin had to go to an after-hours meeting for work, so I went back home to clean up all of the refrigerator parts.

While I was cleaning, I called Mitch, and then managed to get Discord working well enough to talk to both him and Blake for a while. Blake just got his CCNA recently, so I was super proud of him for that. I was surprised how good the audio quality was over the phone app, and it was awesome getting to surprise both of them with the call.

As soon as Summer was done with her meeting, I met her at Lowe’s to try and lay hands on one of the two models of refrigerator that I wanted in exchange for the Whirlpool that I hate. It took forever to get any help, but eventually we did from a guy that Summer actually knew from another old coworker. We didn’t actually get an order placed, but hopefully I’ll get a call tomorrow along with an opportunity to see one of these things in person.

We headed back up to their house to put the shelving back into the refrigerator, and I had a chat to try and reach through to Autumn about her attitude. I tried giving my position some context to see if I could get her attention long enough to accept a lesson in good faith. Parents just want their kids to grow up healthy, wise, and strong.

Now look at them yo-yos. That’s the way you do it.

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A Little Strange

Gary called me just as I was walking out the door this morning to ask for a ride to work. Evidently Zach had his new truck in the shop for an issue with his backup camera, so I was the next best thing. We skated in a few minutes late because of it, and evidently the storms had some things down when we got there. It wasn’t too long before they had it figured out and we were all up and running, but then Brody had some trouble with testing that almost needed assistance. I ended up being able to do some remote updates that I think helped, because he called us off the case.

I spent a large part of the day working on CPPC stuff, but also made time to create a software deployment. Lunch time came around quicker than I realized, and Gary, Thomas and I started for Linhs. Zach pulled back into the parking lot as we were leaving, so I circled around to get him.

After lunch, Linda wanted to come chat with me, so I had her meet me in my office. She was upset, as many are, about some of the perceived hiring practices in the district. I tried to ease her mind the best I could, but ultimately I told her that every job has a leader that can ultimately make whatever call they want. There’s no law about fairness, and it’s not uncommon for employees to develop a feeling of entitlement over a long period of time with a company.

Even quitting time arrived quicker than I expected. Amber texted me that Eaddie didn’t have her phone but needed a ride home. Then Eaddie emailed me and said she thought she left it on the bus. I called over to the Transportation office and found it, then picked her up. Autumn had to work right after school, so Eaddie and I went to Burger King at her request. We had a really good conversation that went all over the place, and then we went up the hill so she could change and shower for the evening.

We headed back to my house with the expectation that we would start the second season of Stranger Things, but she ended up in her room studying all night. I watched a recap of the whole first season that got me stoked enough to rewatch the last episode of the first season. Then Autumn called and wanted to stay home, so I had her pick up Eaddie and we all went to bed.

So you think superficially going through the motions would make you feel better?

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Mid-to-Late

I woke up at a pretty normal time this morning, having slept on my left hand in some way that my middle finger was completely numb. It took a few hours for it to feel normal again, which was worrisome. I assumed I was just falling apart. I got a few well wishes from friends throughout the day, but my favorite was catching up with my old friend Tasha. We always wish each other happy birthdays, but this year we actually carried on a full conversation, and it was really nice to be able to just catch up after so long, even if that was mostly just fussing about parenting problems.

Bác Vân called to tell me happy birthday, and to offer some eggrolls she was warming up. I went next door, and she had me look at her sewing machine to see if I could find a replacement gear for the one that had crumbled with age. Then as soon as I got back home, Eaddie called and wanted to know if I was picking her and Maristella up from their all-region band event. I rushed through a shower and brushed off a couple more fussy phone calls rushing me along to get there. Then I took them through Wendy’s for some lunch before taking them to Summer’s to eat and change clothes.

I sat in the quiet dark until they were ready for me to take them back. As we made our way back to the Center, Eaddie asked me to record the entire concert. It would have been really nice to know ahead of time so I could find a tripod or something. I dropped them off and went home to change and try in vein to find another solution. Then I met up with Summer for the concert after she left her quiz bowl tournament.

The concert was okay until they went to play Africa by Toto, and the conductor basically stood up there with her hands by her sides just sort of wiggling around like she was dancing. I hoped that Eaddie would get a flute solo for the part I had encouraged her to play years ago, but instead the song was slow and relatively awful. She could have done the entire song better by herself.

Summer took the girls back to their respective homes and then came over so we could go to Lowe’s. I didn’t recognize who he was at first, but Kelsea’s husband, Manuel was there and tried to help us find a fridge. I was already cranky after a pretty annoying day, and then I felt like I basically lost Summer to a sales guy, so I got hyper annoyed and kept wandering off to look at things I had already researched online. At the end of it all I felt really shitty and apologized, and we just left so I could continue shopping online.

We went by Superfast so Summer could retrieve the gift she had gotten me, and then went back to my house for a little bit. I had a moment, or several, and then she went on home to the girls. I wrapped up and eventually followed after her for the night.

Eaddie was up watching TV with her when I got there, and just kept wanting to eat my food. I was still having a rough go and just went to the bedroom to listen to music and play on my phone. Then Eaddie wanted to watch Stranger Things with me, but I was just too tired. Summer came to bed and put on a documentary about mushrooms. Mom and Dad called to wish me happy birthday, and eventually we all went to sleep.

Does 39 feel cranky?

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Not Rushin’

It was another pretty relaxed day at the shop all day. The Trifecta were holed up in the office for most of the morning. I worked on some CPPC stuff and tinkered a bit. At one point, Kevin brought someone down for a badge and made it back to see my office. Greg and I went across the street to try and move some computers, but ended up not getting to talk to anyone for instructions.

Five of us went to Taco John’s, and I had the fish tacos. They were pretty good, but the crispy tacos were stale, and I left hungry. Shane brought some cupcakes by, courtesy of Howard, so that helped at the end of the day.

I went home for a little bit after work, until Summer picked me up for Eaddie’s concert. They had three bands, so the concert started half an hour earlier. She thought it started a whole hour earlier though, so we ended up waiting in the lobby for a while before the doors opened.

I had some trouble peeling the camera protector off of the back of my phone, so I didn’t get the pictures or video that I wanted at the concert. I finally got it all off once I got home, but then I spent way too much time tinkering on the computer, and didn’t get ready for bed until late. At least I had my RGB working better than before.

Gotta travel casually while all of this is going on.

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Bee Team

I had forgotten about my ice scraper being broken, and had to try and use the bristles of the brush side to sweep away the heavy frost this morning. It went about as well as you would expect. Fortunately I didn’t really lose too much time waiting for it to defrost.

I had forgotten about testing at Oakland this morning, so as soon as I got settled, I packed up to babysit them for about an hour. Of course nothing happened that was even remotely related to us, but everyone felt better for my being there, and it helped me split up my day.

There wasn’t much going on at the shop when I got back. I killed some time until lunch, when Zach, Gary, Thomas, and I went to Morelos. Evidently Greg is the sole reason we haven’t gone there, which is unfortunate, because they’re far superior to La Chiquita.

The afternoon was really slow. I ran home to get a package, thinking it was Summer’s new phone. To my surprise, it was a Mariah Carey beanie from a McDonald’s promotion before Christmas. I had forgotten all about it, and was pretty disappointed. If I had just waited until the end of the day, I would have been much happier about finally receiving it.

Zach, Gary, and eventually Thomas all came back to the shop at the end of the day and just chilled until quitting time. I went home and started some laundry until Summer and Eaddie came to pick me up for Autumn’s band concert. The auditorium was mostly empty, and super cold. It really felt like they were just barely keeping the lights on. It reminded me a lot of the theater experience at the movies right after they re-opened from COVID.

I finished laundry when I got back home. Then I tinkered a bit more on the computer before going to sleep.

Stalled

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Cap Conference

I didn’t sleep the best last night, but I made it work. I took some sweet rice and a banana for breakfast, but then blended cultures with a cup of Earl Grey with milk. I felt pretty useful when I helped Gary sort a PaperCut issue, and then continued to take Brody’s calls the rest of the day. Thomas came into my office and asked some questions about the last lease pickup that we did, but I felt less good about that conversation. Things lightened up in the afternoon though.

Zach took Gary, Thomas, and me to CJ’s for lunch after not getting to eat there the last time he tried. The food was fine, but the service was slow and I wasn’t really all that hungry. I could have easily skipped, but as soon as I decided that would be what determined when I went out to lunch, the guys started remembering to invite me every single day.

I went by Oakland in the middle of the afternoon, fully forgetting that school would be out an hour early. Fortunately it wasn’t too much of an ordeal getting around, and I eventually made my way back to the shop to end the day. I put Gary’s dual monitor stand together, and discussed the proposed change to the policies regarding job descriptions and how they would be changed in the future.

As soon as I left for work, I had to run home and change so I could meet Summer at the high school for parent-teacher conferences. I didn’t realize that she would have both of the girls there with her, otherwise I would have warned her against it. We needed the opportunity to be frank with their teachers without pressuring any of them to mince their words. Autumn became upset as we spoke to her science teacher, and ended up storming away from the conversation, which I think ultimately benefited us in the long run. Next time we’ll know better than to let her tag along.

I got dragged away a couple of times – once when Charlie wanted to talk about all the people he knew, and again when Ethan wanted to chat CPPC. That got me thinking some more, and I think I’ll have some good things to say during our meeting next week. I caught up with the last conference for Autumn, and then the girls went home so Summer and I could go to the junior high by ourselves.

Eaddie’s conferences went much faster, but she didn’t get out unscathed. Missing work is missing work, and though having the grades helps, there’s no reason to be missing the types of things that she’s missing. Once I took Summer back to her car and we each made it home, we had a video call to chat with the girls about our conversations and expectations. They vocalized an idea to set aside time at home to do homework together, which I think was a great idea, if they could commit to actually doing it every night.

I spent the rest of the evening tinkering with the new bedroom setup. I’m relatively certain the HDMI output on my parents’ old home theater receiver is just outright dead, but I should be able to use it as a dumb analog audio amplifier. I’ll make do.

Sounds good.

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Aparent

The girls let me sleep in a bit today while they did chores. I eventually got up and warmed up some tacos for a really early lunch. Summer brought Eaddie back home after going to the gym. I just hung out at their house all day, not getting into anything much. Autumn decided that she wanted to go to her father’s house, which caused a bit of commotion since we had dinner plans with my parents. She continually pushed us with attitude until she finally finished her chores enough so that she could go.

Noah showed up after a while, and let us know that he lost his job at Walmart. We talked a bit, and I had him start on an application for the school district. Summer made a lime pie, and we headed to my parents’ house to grill some steaks for Mom.

Autumn showed up with plenty of time while I got things cooking. Mom didn’t have any of her usual teriyaki seasoning, so she winged it with some soy sauce and ginger. The food was good, and we all had a little bit of time to visit, but the girls had homework to finish up, so we headed back home before it got too late.

Summer went straight to bed. Autumn went straight to her room. Eaddie came out and did homework next to me, randomly asking for my opinions on her choices or wording. I dug into the wide world of aftermarket MagSafe charging, but never solidly landed on any products in particular. I’m anxious to find something semi-universal that we can implement though.

SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS

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Mission: Success

It was pretty cold out this morning, but it turned into a beautiful day for a few hours in the afternoon. Work was pretty uneventful for the most part. Zach was out of the office all day. Greg was in his office making a bunch of racket when he spilled coffee everywhere and decided to mount a TV to the wall as his monitor instead. It really looks like a grandpa setup now.

I was talked into Brangus for lunch, where I tried their grilled chicken sandwich. The chicken didn’t look like much, but basically came with an entire salad’s worth of fixings, and it tasted alright. I think I ate too many peanuts though, and I felt pretty stuffed the rest of the day.

The afternoon was equally quiet, if not moreso. I did go by Oakland for a few minutes, but only to drop off a badge holder. Somehow quitting time still snuck up on me, and I was the last one out.

I went home to change, and then met the girls at the high school to talk to their advisors about their student success plans. Autumn didn’t want me there on account of her hatred toward anything remotely challenging, but warmed up to me later in the evening. Summer wasn’t super impressed with our first visit, but I knew what to expect. Eaddie’s went much better, but then I had to take her to the junior high to look for her lost phone.

The junior high had their own evening plans, though it was basically a ghost town with teachers sitting around bored in the cafeteria. Hope helped us look in the office for Eaddie’s phone, but it wasn’t anywhere to be found. I ran through Taco Bell on the way up to Summer’s, but that took an incredible amount of time for no apparent reason.

Once we got to the house, Eaddie found her phone in her backpack. Autumn had brought a very trying friend home, but they stayed in her room until Autumn had to take her home. Summer had brought Popeye’s home for everyone, but had a ton left over.

When Autumn got back home, we had a short heart-to-heart before she went to do homework. Then Eaddie came and looked through some old photos with me until I went to bed.

Life is just a series of choices, one after the next.

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Don’t Forg* So Easily

I slept in for a while today, to the point that by the time I got up and around, the girls wanted to go out to eat. Summer thought Noah and Eaddie wanted to go to New China, but Noah had gone to work. Evidently the rest of them still wanted to go, so that was our plan for the whole day.

As I was getting ready to run home to get clothes, Autumn decided to pitch a fit and say she didn’t want to go if I was going, and that she didn’t like the way I talked to her mother. As someone who frequently has to listen to her scream at her mother, it was difficult for me not to burst into hysterical laughter, but I managed.

I went home and decided to shower before changing, and then made my way back up to their house. As I pulled up, they were all getting into Summer’s car. I didn’t vocalize it, but in hindsight I would have been very angry if they weren’t there when I got back. Summer said Autumn calmed down and apologized, but her apologies mean less than nothing to me. It’s all just more manipulation to get whatever she wants at any given moment. The reason she doesn’t like me is because I can see through her bullshit and I’m not afraid to call her out on it.

As though nothing had ever happened, the three of them climbed into my car and we went to New China. I really didn’t want to take Autumn with us, but I wasn’t going to stir that pot again. We went, ate, and then went straight back home where we sat around for most of the afternoon. Summer had Autumn come out and try and talk to me about her issues, but we didn’t resolve anything. She tried blaming us for her issues as usual, and then just spaced out any time we responded to anything she had to say.

As the evening drew near, Summer went to the gym. Without asking, and instead fussing at me because I was inconveniencing her, Autumn nagged at me to take her to the high school so she could get her car. She wanted to go to her grandparents’ house for some reason, and tried working around doing her chores or homework. Summer called her out on it when she got into my car without the homework.

I dropped her off and continued home to start some laundry and clean out some more old laptops. I spent the rest of the night getting pretty heated in my head.

I’m cleanin’ out my closet.