Tag: parenting

Uncategorised

Fancypants Fundraiser

I caught up on sleep last night, but we had plans all weekend. Eaddie had her fundraiser event at Co-Create in the evening, so the girls were up and around to take care of some last-minute errands for that. I got up and out with the dogs for a good run since I knew we wouldn’t have time later in the evening. As soon as I got home, we had to start getting ready to go set up.

When we got to the venue, the whole crew was standing outside the front doors because they evidently didn’t unlock as intended. Dan had contacted the owner, but I glanced at the maglock sensor, borrowed Eaddie’s music folder, and bing, bang, boom.

I hadn’t seen the inside, and was disappointed that it wasn’t a maker space, but it did seem like a hip new co-working space. We got things started, rearranged some tables, and then Summer wanted to go print some stuff off at the wash. I thought we had decided against it, and were just going to set out some instrument cases for donations, as though the kids were busking.

After that unnecessary trip, we decided to stop at Panda Express for dinner. I ordered on the app, but the long line churned quickly and it would have been quicker to just order in person. I recognized a couple people as they came through, and talked to Alicia briefly before we got our food. I thought the rice was dry, and Summer almost died from something spicy. I thought it was a good spice level, but she must have gotten some seeds or something.

We got back to Co-Create just after things had started, and we walked around a little bit before finding a place to sit permanently. It was a neat, uncrowded event. Dad showed up and joined us, and we rode it out to the end. There was a little bit of cleanup, but I think it went faster than the setup. Then we snuck out the back door and headed home.

Eaddie went out with her friends, Summer went to bed, and I took a long bath. My Vine evaluation period passed, though it says it will take up to four days for my account to be updated. I guess now I need to slow down on ordering, because my item value will probably go up from here.

Just some light B and E on a Saturday evening.

Uncategorised

Don’t Be Salty

I was super tired this morning, and got a slow start because of it. I switched things up a little so I could get out of the house earlier, and got to work a couple minutes early, right behind Randy. He hung around the office for a while today. Maggie was out, so otherwise it was super quiet. Charles was the only one that stopped in at all, and he talked to me for a little while.

I met Randy and Jim at Skinny J’s for lunch, and they had a $6 turkey sandwich that was pretty good. I hate paying for a lunch meat sandwich in a restaurant, but I felt like the price was okay, and all of the food I’ve ever had there has been pretty good. I did my best to avoid any extra salt because my blood pressure had been high all morning. I ended up taking a clonidine to try and get it down a bit.

Randy got fighting mad with some of the other admin, so we worked on the Technology Handbook some more, then had a pretty easy afternoon until we left. Even though we were out a little earlier than usual, I still ran into stupidly slow traffic on the way home. Cars were driving under the speed limit for absolutely no reason, and not allowing people to pass.

I got home in a rush just before Summer got there, and took the dogs out for a run. It was pretty cold, and still wet in places, but they did a good job. We skipped the basin trail in favor of some more neighborhood blocks, stopped to see Dad, then made it home for some hot dogs.

It was only Tuesday and I was already running a pretty bad deficit on sleep, so I did my best to crash early. Eaddie came home and wanted more help ordering for Christmas, and then it was off to bed.

Review all the things!

Uncategorised

Back to Black

Today was pretty rainy and warm. I got to work, and Kyle was oddly the only one there. He hung out for a little while, but then left for his office the rest of the day. Charles brought in a bunch of leftover pizza and cookies from a party that he had over the weekend, so nobody got out for lunch. Otherwise I was with Maggie and Randy all day, except Randy kept having to run to central office to help with random things.

I got a call from a message from Tesla that they would have to change my delivery from Tulsa to Kansas City if I wanted to finance through them, since Oklahoma wouldn’t allow them to sell me the car because laws. Then I got a call from Kyle in Kansas City to say they wouldn’t be able to get a red Model 3 with the white interior before the end of the year, thus disqualifying me from the incentive. He had a red with the black interior, or other paint colors I could choose from, but I told him it had to be red. I decided to think on it a bit and then call him back.

I looked up some more comparison pictures and reviews, then called back to accept the black interior, but he said someone just bought it, so they didn’t have a red car for me at all. I told him to cancel the order, and that there were no hard feelings. Just as I was closing everything down and shaking off the excitement, he called back to say that he felt bad about the other car being sold out from under me that he did some legwork and got approved to transfer a red with black from Texas to Kansas City so I would still qualify. I took the offer, then had to redo my loan application because I was dumb and included our entire mortgage amount in what I reported. For some reason I went lawful-good and thought I had to tell the absolute truth, but Kyle said to just change the amount I pay and see if I get a better offer.

Apart from that, there wasn’t any excitement until quitting time. I left a little early so I could pick up some flowers for Summer, and somewhere after Conway I ran into a torrential downpour. There were a dozen cars pulled over, and at least one Miata-sized car spun out in the median. I got to town safely, picked up some flowers from Walmart, then picked Summer up at the lube and took her to Brangus for our anniversary.

After we finished our undercooked steaks, we ran home to clean up before Eaddie’s Christmas concert. We picked up Dad along the way, then sat through two bands worth of music. My heart was racing the entire time, and I couldn’t ever get it to calm down. On the way out, the cranky old grandparents snubbed Summer while they were visiting with Eaddie. We got out pretty quickly after that because it upset Summer. We had a near-successful summon for the Model Y, dropped Dad off at their house, then went home to wind down and get to bed.

Runaway rollercoaster!

Uncategorised

Who’s the Boss

I got out super late today, yet still somehow showed up first. Summer wanted to take the Tesla, so I arrived white-knuckled after manually driving in. Jay came in and out while I was getting water, so he didn’t see me. Maggie predictably came in about half an hour late, and I don’t know if that’s just what she’s arranged, or if that needs adjusting. Randy and Kyle were at the Arkansas Conference of Technology, so I was “running the show.”

The morning was super quiet. I had a late coffee and helped Johnny with some more Google Cloud Directory Sync stuff. Lunch time came around and I just ran to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal to get the Mario Kart toy. I wasn’t super happy with the “pink gold” Peach I got, but what do you do? Someone went through the drive-through with a U-Haul trailer, and didn’t look jackknifed, but the truck was tilted up on its side somehow.

I got back to the office and had a long afternoon. I talked to Johnny some more, and eventually dug around in SCCM some more before taking off a few minutes early so I could get home to run the dogs before our parent meeting for Eaddie’s band trip.

The dogs took off full-tilt to my parents’ house to see Dad, and then we went around the basin trail to take a dip in the creek. We got back home and they got some hot dogs, and I ate some of the lasagna that Summer made yesterday. Then Summer and I headed to the high school band room to meet up with Eaddie and the other students and parents that were going on the trip.

Dan seemed to be the one running the show, so he talked to us about the trip and some expectations. Summer and I were really just along for the ride on account of our flexibility. That went on for a while, and then the three of us came home and went to bed.

Shopfree!

Uncategorised

I’ve Got No Strings

Eaddie left early this morning for her orchestra rehearsal and concert. Summer and I got up pretty early as well, and headed to Conway early for a movie, shopping, and food before the concert. We ended up barely getting there in time for Venom: The Last Dance, so I missed a few previews waiting in line for popcorn. I thought the plot was pretty contrived, and they tried to pack a lot into it, but overall it was fun. It was definitely the weakest of the three. We ran to the lube to drop off someone’s jacket, then came back to Bargain Hunt to see what they had. It wasn’t much, so all I got were some dog treats.

We made it across town and ended up at Skinny J’s for lunch. I thought Randy said they were closing down the Conway location, but maybe I was confused. Or maybe I wasn’t, because we were basically the only people in the restaurant. It was a late lunch though. We ate quickly and then made it to the Conway High School to see Eaddie’s concert.

The kids did great, but then Eaddie wanted to race over to UCA to see Eli play in a low brass concert. Summer had to check her out with the teacher though, so I ran Eaddie a few blocks away and then came back for Summer. We eventually got back over to UCA for a charge, and watched the tail end of that concert, which was much less formal anyway.

After all the concerts were over, Eli came with us and we went to Old Navy for some more shopping. The kids wanted ice cream after that, so I took everyone to MarketPlace Grill. They said it would be a 20 minute wait, but it didn’t take nearly that long to get a seat. Our server was super talkative and kept asking the kids questions about stuff, and then talking about her family life.

The food was probably more miss than hit, with super stale chips and cold food. I remembered having the same problem with the chips last time, so it’s probably time for a review. We ate and then headed home in the rain, stopping first in Morrilton for some beer and to plant a promo sign in front of that carwash. Then we dropped the kids off at Eaddie’s car at the high school and headed home. The girls were super pooped and crashed immediately while I played with the dogs a bit and then tried to minimize distractions before bed.

All run and no stop.

Uncategorised

Sliced

I got out really early today, and it seemed to make a huge difference in traffic. The guys were outside talking, but I went in because it was chilly out. Most of my day was pretty scattered, but quiet. I started with a cup of oatmeal, and the morning went by reasonably quickly. We took a late lunch, and I went to BJ’s Market Cafe with Jim and Maggie, where they had us in and out within minutes. They were like Old South, but bigger, and possibly even more packed. I had the “beef tips” which mostly reminded me of rice and roast beef that had been in the slow cooker too long.

The afternoon dragged on a bit, and Johnny called right at the end of the day to gripe about Lamar. I finally got out of there and made my way home after coming to a dead stop right out of Little Rock. Summer was in bed with a bad back, so I took the dogs out for another record-breaking run. They did 2.3 miles at a 9.5mph pace with a top speed of 21.2mph. We stopped at a house along the way home because it looked like they had a water hose running into their yard and all down the neighbor’s yard. They didn’t answer the door, so I went to find their neighbor, who had already texted the lady but hadn’t gotten a response. Hopefully they were just draining their pool, because the back gate was padlocked so I couldn’t get back there to turn a faucet off. The dogs and I finally got home and I gave them treats before making myself a burrito for dinner.

Kevin came over with Mathai to get his laptop. Then after they left, I ended up slicing a huge gash on the right side of my right hand as I tried to swat a fly off of an open can of refried beans. Blood gushed everywhere for a moment, and I called Eaddie for some help as I leaked life fluid into the sink. She brought alcohol, bandages, and even helped clean up the blood splatter all over the floor.

Once I got my hand cleaned up and bandaged, we sat in the dining room and talked for quite a while about growing up and her future plans. It was a great moment, and eventually I had to make a mad dash to get to bed late.

I’m pretty sure I’ve learned this lesson before.

Uncategorised

Computah Man

I woke up around the same time today, trying not to sleep in too late, and came out to find Summer having coffee with the dogs. I went out and played with them a bit before deciding to take them out on an early run, since it was going to rain the rest of the afternoon. Summer didn’t want to ride her bike with me, so I woke Eaddie up to see if she would. By the time she got out of bed to tell me she didn’t have time, I got rained out of going.

She had to get ready for a Tech Symphonic Youth Wind Ensemble concert in the afternoon, and then Mom texted that she would have bún bò Huế for lunch. Eaddie left to get ready, and Summer and I cleaned up and went to my parents’ house to eat. After we ate, we took Dad along to the concert. I like the Tech concerts because they’re just better, and they’re a whole lot shorter with way less sucking up to the administration.

It was raining again by the time we left, so I tried to summon the car to us. It drove out of range, so I had to walk closer. Then it drove out of range again, so we walked even closer. Then it parked itself and refused to get onto the “public road” in front of Witherspoon. I was so mad, and people were having to drive around it to get out of the parking lot.

We took Summer home and then took our carved pumpkins to drop Dad off. I got back home and Summer had been cleaning up a bit more around the house. I spent a bunch of time with the dogs because they were stuck on the porch to stay dry.

Later in the evening, my buddy Kevin brought over an old laptop for me to wipe. He was here way longer than he expected, and ended up just leaving the laptop here so I could finish backing up all of his files. File transfers are always slow on old machines like that. We chatted, I gave him some old vitamins that Summer wasn’t taking, and I baked some pumpkin seeds a bit longer after they got soggy in the fridge.

Eaddie came home really late, and I used up all of my extra hour I had for sleeping. We’ll see how tomorrow goes with different daylight hours. Yippee.

Dark Thirty

Uncategorised

It’s A’parent

We had a more relaxing drive to work today. I got in relatively early and things were pretty quiet all day. Randy came to work at Kyle’s desk again, and he, Maggie, and I chatted back and forth for much of the morning until he left for the admin building. I had some coffee a little late, and I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m just brewing too long. I was excited to finally see a scale on Amazon Vine, which also has a built-in timer. Maybe this will let me fine-tune my brew.

Lunch time came around, and Randy met Maggie and me at Skinny J’s. Randy even called Jim, who came to eat with us on his day off. I had the “Heart Attack” burger, which came on Texas toast with an egg on it. I thought it was pretty good, but the homemade chips were a little bland. Maggie doesn’t like it when I use FSD, so I had to drive to and from lunch, which was so jarring after how little I’ve been driving lately.

Later in the afternoon, I finally cracked what I was missing in our KMS server, and I got the Office 2024 license working. Randy left a little early, and then I finally got out of there. Traffic was wild on the way home, and speeding triggered another FSD failure, so I had to pull off at an exit to park and reset so I didn’t have to drive the rest of the way home.

I stopped in Morrilton for some beer and then made it home, where Summer was eating some food truck hibachi. She ate half, and then I finished. Then I took the dogs for a run while she went out to Eaddie’s football game. Jesica thought she would be coming through, but we ended up not seeing her.

The dogs did really well, and then I cleaned up to go to the halftime show. It was senior night, so Summer and I walked onto the field along with Nick to celebrate Eaddie in the band. It was really cool to be right in the middle of everyone when she played the fight song. We left immediately after that, and I tinkered a while before bed.

Easy Peasy

Uncategorised

Final Test

Full Self Driving took me all the way from the onramp to the office this morning, with only one intervention when it wanted to move into the passing lane in front of a car, but wouldn’t take the shot when the person coming up behind me in that lane flashed their lights to let me merge over. Apart from that, it was hands in my lap the whole way, with only a few directed lane changes by signaling.

I really just tinkered all day again, since I was waiting for Randy to get me some instructions on how to reach our servers that had been migrated to Hyper-V. There were a couple techs in and out of the office pretty much all day, so things were always relatively fresh, though I was still just stuck in my corner doing my own thing.

Summer was in town for a meeting of her own, so she came to the office and then we drove separately to Red Lobster for lunch. I tried their unlimited salad and chowder, but only had time for one salad and two chowders. Our server was kind, but acted like the chowder was somehow being “prepared” in a way that took more time than ladling it out of a crock pot. There is no possible way that endless shrimp is what caused them to go bankrupt, because I don’t think I’ve ever managed to get more than two refills in a visit. They were always so incredibly slow, no matter which restaurant we visited.

The afternoon was mostly dull as I spent my time pausing sensors in PRTG in preparation for our trial license to expire. I didn’t want to be forced to pause 100 free sensors at a time until I managed to find the 100 I was most interested in seeing. Randy, still fresh off of his vacation, was fairly over being at work, so he shooed us out a couple minutes early.

Summer made it home early for Eaddie’s marching assessment, so I stopped by McDonald’s and Arby’s for a couple of deals for dinner. Then I ran the dogs quickly before dark, and Dad came over to get me to go see the band.

Autumn had found Summer and sat next to her, and immediately moved over to talk to me once I was seated. She made a big show about how she wanted to apologize in a blanket statement for “everything” she had done to me, and expressed how it had been weighing on her all this time since we kicked her out of the house. I just told her I wanted her to work hard to be successful, but she was content being an absolute parasite and claiming success in the way of “all As in nursing classes.”

Eye-roll.

No lessons have been learned, and she’s still only apologizing for selfish reasons to make herself feel better. I’ll believe it when she’s not trying to weasel her way out of caring for her two elderly “roommates” that are paying her nearly half of my salary just to carry on existing.

The bands did great, and we squeaked out as soon as UCA finished their set at the end. I could have done without, but Dad drove. I went home with Summer since she drove herself, and then we went to bed as quickly as we could make it.

It’s always Green Hill Zone.

Uncategorised

Not My Band

I was the first one up this morning, but Summer was right behind me. I made some coffee for us, and then we cleaned up a bit more while Eaddie left for church with Eli. She wanted us to go to a Tech Symphonic Wind Ensemble concert in the afternoon, and we had some other errands to run as well, so Summer and I got ready to go by the time she got back.

Our first stop was Diana’s for the open house. We met her realtor, who knew us by name, and we got to show Eaddie the house. There wasn’t anyone else around, and we weren’t sure it was going to be very popular based on the location. Diana saw us on camera and made a comment about my Eagles shirt, and then we were off to Tech for the concert.

It was a long, but good show. I enjoyed the songs more than I typically do, but at this point I hate going to high school band concerts. It’s always way better going to the competitive ones that Eaddie is a part of. She had to stay for practice in the youth ensemble afterward, so Summer and I left her to go get dinner at Mulan’s. Then we went to Walmart for a few more things, Zaxby’s to get some food for Eaddie, and finally Casey’s for free coffee day before making it back home.

The sun was going down quickly, so I left the girls to go get gas while I ran the dogs. We went a bit backwards from our usual route, ending up at my parents’ house to visit with Dad briefly before coming back home. We settled in quickly, and it’s back to working sleep deprivation for me.

Imagine complaining about communism at a Chinese buffet.