Tag: parenting

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Shitty Universe

I only slept from about three in the morning until about seven, because Autumn was talking loudly to Summer right outside the bedroom door. I felt incapable of sleeping by the time everyone left for school and work, so I got up and eventually made myself a burrito. I looked for some jobs and chatted with several people. Travis was the only person from work to text me, since we didn’t have each others’ phone numbers already, and it was really nice to hear from him.

I would have liked to be more productive, but I just felt sleepy and groggy all day long. I was definitely too hazy to do anything too cognitive, and my emotions cycled through confidence, frustration, anger, depression, anxiety, and doubt. As the clock ticked on, I finally made it home to shower before having to get the girls from school.

It seemed clear outside, so I took the car for a wash before going to pick up Eaddie at hour-early dismissal. She responded that she had stuff to do for robotics while Autumn was at basketball practice. That nearly messed up Summer’s plan to start teacher conferences as soon as the doors opened.

I ended up getting Summer from Superfast, and then coming right back to the high school to try for conferences. As we pulled through the parking lot, I saw Travis and Sarah walking into the building, so I circled the lot and we happened to see Eaddie. I wasn’t in the mood to fight the stars and their twisted plot, so we took Eaddie to a friend’s house to work on their National History Day project. Then we went to Staples to get her a flip chart before going back to the high school to get Autumn from basketball.

We went back to get Eaddie and took the girls home, and then went to Las Palmas for dinner before going to conferences much later than we originally planned. Those went well, and I shared my news with lots of old coworkers, to a surprising variety of responses. The kids are lined up, but I’ve got more work to do tomorrow. I took Summer back to the Murano at Superfast, went home to trade vehicles myself, and then made it up to their house for the night. I thought I’d crash earlier than I did, but at that point I wouldn’t turn my nose up at going to sleep “on time.”

Collect the facts.

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Parenting 401: Teenager Wrangling

Thomas had a meeting with some of our guys right outside my door this morning, so they shut me in. It didn’t seem like anything too serious, so I didn’t really get the whole shutout thing, but it was fine. Afterward I went to Crawford to take care of a couple things before lunch.

I tried to get Dale to come to Taco Tuesday with us, but he said he couldn’t make it. Allen happened to find us there though, and he had a lot to say. The food was pretty good today, which was an improvement over last night.

When we got back, I spent some time with Special Services, but couldn’t actually get their signature pad working for their application. Apparently the documentation specifically calls out that they do not support signature pads, so we had to take the “L.”

The rest of the afternoon was pretty quiet, but relatively steady. I cleaned up some old tickets, but I’ve got some more important ones that I really need to wrap up. Most everyone left right at quitting time, so I rushed Tammy out, and then went to my parents’ house to help Dad put the gate back together.

We chatted for a while, and then I finally made it home to swap cars before heading up to Summer’s. She made salmon and Brussel sprouts for dinner, and then Eaddie started on some homework. Autumn was supposed to be at a basketball game, but I caught her driving around to the back side of the high school again and finally convinced Summer to catch her and Adam in the act.

We loaded up, and I dropped Summer off at Autumn’s car. Autumn immediately freaked out, but Adam calmly got out of her car and into the Murano with me so I could take him home. The drive wasn’t too awkwardly quiet, and the conversation with his father was probably a little too easy. At least we didn’t catch them actively doing anything too bad. I told them I understood just wanting to hang out with some peace and quiet to talk, but that if they say they’ll be in a public place for an event, they had better be there.

The girls met us back at home, and we talked to Autumn some more. Who knows if it will do any good, but at least there wasn’t any screaming by the time we got back. All things considered, she seemed to be in fair spirits. By that time, it was off to bed for everyone.

It’s clobberin’ time!

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Band State of Mind

I woke up around four in the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. I dozed off a couple times for just a couple minutes, but nothing substantial. It was a wonder I didn’t drag harder throughout the day than I did. I ran home to clean up, and then Summer came down for our trip to Hot Springs. We stopped at Hardee’s for breakfast first, and then we were on our way in the Model 3.

I felt confident enough in our ability to find a charger that I didn’t even bother changing my charge limit. We left with 90% and got to the convention center with right around 60%. I started off testing autopilot on the curves, but quickly gave up because it made me nervous, and I enjoy driving through the curves anyway. Once we got to The Hotel Hot Springs, the parking garage had a few Tesla destination chargers available. I parked next to an older red Model 3 Performance, which was kind of cool. Unfortunately the Sentry Mode never caught them leaving, so I never got to see who was driving it.

Eaddie was evidently staying at the Embassy Suites on the opposite end of the convention center, but we didn’t learn that until we had waited a few minutes in the wrong lobby. We finally found her, stowed her belongings in the bus, and then made our way inside to watch the concerts. We ran into Reece and Christina inside, and chatted with them for a bit. Summer wanted to watch some of the choirs, but they went on the same time as the other bands, so we had to switch auditoriums and spent the rest of the day in the arena.

The orchestra was actually pretty awful. Eaddie figured it was mostly the acoustics, but I was pretty sure it was the average skill level. The non-string instruments simply didn’t know how to play when they weren’t the majority. There was an immediately noticeable improvement with the concert band, but the one to beat was the smaller wind symphony, in which Eaddie played. They did a fantastic job, and I hated that we had to fight the cold and the harsh lighting fatigue just to watch them.

After the show, I got the car and picked up the girls. We were hungry for something uniquely out-of-town, but Eaddie just wanted a hamburger. That was when I remembered seeing an A&W on Google maps, so we made our way across town only to be disappointed to learn it was built into a gas station. In spite of the location and the completely over-it staff, the food was actually really good. The burgers tasted fresh and held together well. The sriracha cheese curds were a nice surprise. The root beer was phenomenal as always. It just made me want to sell everything and open one myself.

By the time we finished, Eaddie was ready to head home. We made it downtown, and the girls needed a restroom, so I stopped to get water while they took care of that down the block. Then we made it home in a flash. Eaddie apparently outgrew getting car sick, so I probably lost more money due to rubber on the road than what I saved by only having to pay for fuel to drive one way.

It was a quick run for beds once everyone got back home. I fought sleep long enough to get my own chores done, and then I was down for the night.

I got the powah!

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Caught Between Two Cranks

It was rainy again for most of today, but I spent most of it in my office working on some Adobe troubles. It seemed really quiet otherwise, aside from a couple walks to the Support Services building. We had our usual Taco Tuesday, where a couple of the maintenance guys had beat us there. Then we saw Melinda and Matt come in as we were leaving.

I wasn’t much more successful in the afternoon, and it dragged on a little bit until quitting time. Summer said she should be out of work by five, so I thought we could visit with Mom and possibly take them to dinner. When I got to Superfast, she said she still had some work to do and that Eaddie changed her mind about going to a basketball game.

By the time I made it to Eaddie, she had changed her mind about three times, and then wanted us to take her to New China with Gavin. We were alright with that plan, but then the restaurant was closed and we wound up at Stoby’s.

We eventually made it to my parents’ house, but Mom was dozing on the couch, not feeling well. We made it to my house to trade vehicles, and then up to Summer’s where everyone wound down super fast. Autumn was out late with her boyfriend, and I called her out for parking on the opposite side of the campus during the game. I didn’t want to be up when she made it home, so I wrapped up quickly and hit the hay.

The problem is, we’re much smarter than you.

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Get Grounded

I got up this morning and grilled little burritos for everyone. Autumn of course only ate half of hers, since it had more than beans and cheese in it. Afterward, Summer made it to the gym. I should have left right away, because then I could have avoided Autumn asking permission to go out to eat dinner with their father. I felt like she was scheming as usual, so I left it up to Summer.

When I got home, I started pulling switches apart and climbing up into the attic to trace wires. There was only one line of Romex coming into the garage light switch, and it went straight up to the light, which then went to either western outlet. This confused me, because I couldn’t find where it went back to the breaker box. After some poking around, I figured the northwest outlet went to the outside light and then up to the breaker.

Summer showed up for a bit, and I showed her what I was working on. Then she left and Dad came over to help. We continued poking around the outlets and eventually pulled three unconnected ground wires out of the north outside light switch. With them disconnected, I have absolutely no idea how the outlet ever worked at all for charging my car. If it was never ever grounded, then it should have always failed.

Once we had that all patched up and at least reporting correct, we moved inward. Most of the outlets inside the house reported some kind of issue, either with an open ground, or voltage where there should be none. We did a bit of trial and error, but never actually got anything fixed. It did make me feel quite a bit better about doing the work ourselves, though. It shouldn’t be terribly difficult to fix it all ourselves. The trick is to not wait until it’s hot.

Eventually Dad headed home and I went back to Summer’s for the evening. The girls went out for dinner, so Summer warmed up some leftovers for us. When the girls got back, we had to get on to Autumn for talking back and sneaking around with Adam, who she took to dinner with their father. It’s clear she’s still manipulating information, but that entire side of the family is TA.

Summer and I watched a bit of YouTube comedy for a bit, and then I took a shower to get some of the grime off of me before bed. I’d love to get a good night of sleep for once.

Srsly, YTA, literally, no cap.

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Not Grounded

Both of the girls had school stuff today, so Summer and I had the day to ourselves. Autumn left to help at an away robotics tournament, and Summer had to get Eaddie to the high school for all-state band in Conway. She wanted to go to the movies, and we couldn’t decide whether to go here or in Conway. Eaddie thought she might finish super early and be bored all day, so we leaned toward Conway, then to go here, and ultimately not go to the movies at all.

I went home and climbed up into the attic to investigate wiring. It looked like both of my wall outlets in question went straight up to the outlet above the garage door opener. It showed to be an open ground as well, and I could trace it back to right around the light switch. It may be a super easy repair after all.

By the time I got cleaned up and ready to go out, Summer just wanted to stay in. I pressed her, and we met at Shell for gas before going to Colton’s for an early dinner. I didn’t think I overstuffed myself, but I felt super full the rest of the evening. We came home and she watched TV on the couch and then in bed until she fell asleep.

Eaddie ended up making sixth chair in the first band, so we were pretty pleased with her. Once they got home, we wound down pretty quickly. Eaddie had a bit to chat about, and then it was off to bed.

It’s like it has its own field of McGravity.

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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!