Elec Man

I took Eaddie to school this morning and made it home to have a bowl of cereal before the electrician showed up. John and two of his henchmen showed up and got right to work, running some conduit up the side of the house and into the attic. I was a little worried about how it might all turn out, but overall I was quite pleased. I did have to climb into the attic once to pass along some tape, but outside of that, we didn’t spot any termite damage, and the Wall Connector powered right up. Dad showed up near the end to check things out, and once the guys were done, he wanted to take me to the airport to see the plane that he and Julie just bought.

I let him drive the Model 3, and we made it about halfway there before he realized he had forgotten the trash bag he needed to clean out the plane. We finally made it to the airport though, and drove past a really fancy jet to get to the hanger.

We stopped in to talk to the guy in the hanger next door, and he came around to chat with us some more while we cleaned just a little bit of trash out of the plane. I got Julie to come out, but she wasn’t in any condition to socialize. As she ran us off, she introduced us to her new boyfriend, Kevin, who would be joining us for Mom’s birthday dinner.

I got back home and put the garage back together, possibly better than it was before. By then I was pretty hungry, so I ran to Taco John’s for a snack and went by Superfast to visit with Summer. She was busy though, and put me to work filling her washer fluid drums. After that I went home and showered so we could go to Pasta Grill for dinner.

Summer had to work right up to dinner time, so I met her at Superfast and she drove us to the restaurant. Julie and Kevin were already there, and of course Mom and Dad were several minutes late. It was a fair time visiting, and most of the food was okay. I ordered the Grill Pasta, which was incredibly heavy. I was disappointed in the portion size, and then it was so saucy that it felt like eating forks of butter. I ended up taking well over half of it home.

When the girls got home from hanging out with their friends, Autumn came into the bedroom to tell us all of Eaddie’s drama, which had me rolling my eyes. Summer called Eaddie into the room so she could tell us herself, and we talked for a little bit. Then after Eaddie cooled off in her room for a while and I watched some TV with Summer, Eaddie came out to the kitchen table and chatted with me for quite a while longer. She felt good about how she responded to her classmates, and laughed at how accurately I described her friendships.

Now if only I could be as successful.

The Trouble with Shower Arguments

I slept pretty hard this morning, but fortunately I didn’t sleep as late as I thought I did. I got around and picked at a few leftovers, mostly to clean up some old, rotting fruit that Summer bought. I put Fat Lizzy outside, halfway in the sun, and he actually got a bit active. I think it ate one of the crane flies I put in the cage, and appeared to have pooped on top of the moss, so that made me feel better.

Eventually I packed up and headed out, stopping by to see Dad as he was working out in the yard. He stopped to try and hunt some worms for the lizard, but didn’t find any, so I headed on home to release it. After that, I spent a bit of time just trying to organize myself some more. After cleaning up some more food for lunch, I took a shower, and my afternoon just buzzed by.

Eaddie wanted to come over after school and ride her bike, and I had to get ready for Autumn’s basketball banquet. Summer brought her over and parked the Model Y in the garage to charge for a couple days, and then we went to the high school.

We were super early, which made me feel even more like a fraud. Once people started coming in, I kept finding people I knew. I spotted Cecil, who I don’t think I’d actually spoken to since high school. Then I saw Leslie there for her son. Jeremy actually came up and shook my hand, which wasn’t too awkward after they decided to fire me last week. Ben and his wife came in and sat next to us in the very back, but I could never figure out who they were there to support. It was neat to chat with him again, since we hadn’t kept up after Asurion.

Dinner was pretty good, and we wrapped things up about an hour earlier than we expected, so we headed back to my house where I waited for Eaddie to return on her bike while the girls went home. Eaddie asked if we could pick her up with the bike rack, but I declined.

Several hours later, Eaddie still hadn’t shown up. Evidently she was dragged around town by Maristella’s mother, and they just never brought her and the bike back to me. Eaddie finally called again and asked me to pick her up, so I had to figure out how to remove the hitch cover from the Model Y. That was a pain in the ass until I remembered that I had some trim removal tools. That helped a bit, but it was still more difficult than it should have been.

As I got ready to leave the house, I remembered that the actual straps to hold the bike to the rack were all in the Murano, which Summer drove home. I grabbed some Velcro, and just hoped it wouldn’t tear anything up. I loaded Eaddie’s bike up before she even came outside, and then she sat in the car while I tried to fasten everything in place. We made it home to disassemble everything again, and then we took the Model 3 up to her house.

Everyone was locked up and in bed, so Summer had to groggily come out to let us in. I was still feeling pretty aggravated over the whole evening, so it was just a bit of catching up online and then off to bed for me.

The other guy’s never as smart as you.

Leaky Rail

I slept like a rock last night, and woke up a little bit late. When I finally got up, I noticed Eaddie’s phone reporting its location south of town, out in the woods. I tried to ask Autumn and Summer if she was leaving on a trip or something, but the longer she was out in the middle of nowhere, the more I suspected her phone was stolen. Summer ended up calling the school to learn that she was, in fact, on a field trip for her outdoors education class, but not before I texted Kevin to see if he thought the cops might help me recover a stolen phone.

After that, I headed home and wanted to try and track down a water leak in the roof of the Murano somewhere. Dad ended up coming by to help, but we couldn’t find anything around the sunroof as was suggested to me. It didn’t look like there were drain holes anywhere near that. After slowly pouring a couple gallons of water on the car, we did finally find where the roof rack was leaking in the back. We couldn’t get the front to leak, but I guess it’s likely to be the same problem. We couldn’t snap the cover off to try and remove the rack though, so I’ll have to get some softer pry tools or end up taking the thing to the dealership.

When we finished messing with that, Dad was hungry for a burger, so he took us to Hardee’s where we chatted for a bit. Then he dropped me back off at the house. I poked around a bit more and was about to take a shower when Eaddie called and wanted to know if she could come over for some help with homework.

Autumn dropped her off, but before we could get into anything, Brody called to hear the story of how they fired me. We chatted for quite a while, and then I found Eaddie to help with her science work. She started getting hungry, and Summer came by to trade vehicles since her battery was low, so Eaddie and I took a break to pick up some Popeye’s.

After we ate, she looked at her homework for a little bit more, and then had me take her home for a little bit before dropping her off at Tech for a trombone concert. She was only there for about an hour and then I picked her up. She finished her homework while everyone else was asleep. I was pretty tired myself, so I didn’t wait around too long to go to bed.

Increase productivity.

Witchy Woman

I slept way better last night, no thanks to the constant snoring that Autumn did all night long. It aggravated all of us to the point that even Eaddie woke up and yelled at her to flip over, which helped for a bit. I wanted to sleep in a bit since we didn’t plan for breakfast, but that didn’t happen. I got up and showered while the girls packed everything up, and then they loaded into the car like we were leaving, but I went to check on Mom to see if they had plans.

We ended up going to the clubhouse to play some more games until Dad finished at the convention. Then we went downtown to try and find a seat at the Local Flavor Cafe. There was very clearly a group of people outside waiting, so we went to La Familia for some Tex-Mex instead.

The food was great as always, but the already-bitchy Autumn just got worse when I called her out for ordering three bean burritos for $20 when most of the rest of us shared fajita platters for a buck less. We made it back for the matinée show, and then we headed straight home after that.

Summer hadn’t been feeling the best over the past day or two, and it just got worse as we drove home without a word, listening to a new playlist maker I tested out on YouTube Music. Once we got there, the girls unloaded and Autumn started some laundry while Eaddie played the flute for literally hours. Summer put on the first Iron Man, and then went to bed. I laid with her for a little while, but still had to finish my evening routine before going to sleep myself.

Who’s got time for that?

Ungrounded

Summer took the girls to school this morning, so I just went home after stopping by Tropical Smoothie for a free birthday smoothie. From there, I didn’t even sit down before breaking right into my power outlets. I started pulling outlets one-by-one to see how the lines ran through the walls and attic. Dad eventually made it over to help, and we ended up drilling out a part of the cabinet in the spare bedroom so we could pull the outlet that had been buried behind it.

The grounding issue appeared to be all the way back at the panel, but after tinkering long enough, we at least got my two bad outlets working again. We just left the cabinet outlet out, and wire-nutted the cables instead. We even got the three-way light switch working correctly after having never worked for as long as they’ve owned the house.

We got things working again just as it was time for me to get Autumn from school. I ran her home after waiting patiently for a train to pass. Then I continued putting outlet covers back together until Eaddie called for a ride home. Dad had left his phone, so I had Mom come to get it on her way home from work. He ended up coming back anyway, so we saw them in passing. Then once the outlets were all back together, Eaddie and I headed up to their house.

Autumn went out to mow the back yard, and Summer made it home shortly after we arrived. I was completely beat from being up and down all day. I made some spaghetti for dinner, and then Summer and I watched a Taylor Tomlinson special on Netflix before she went to bed. Autumn came out in the middle of that and begged for permission to drive again, and we decided her recent good behavior was probably about the best we could get. Once Summer was in bed, I finally took my shower for the day and made it to bed as quickly as I could.

Let’s get our shit together.

Fired Up

I took the girls to school this morning, and Autumn pitched a fit when I couldn’t explain to her why she wasn’t allowed to have her car back while we were dropping her off at Dwight. I dropped Eaddie off, and then added a couple more details to my work timeline before going outside to try and clean up the back yard.

It was just warm enough for me to be slightly uncomfortable, and the constant bending over to cut down large weeds ended up making me feel a little sick. I’ve been thinking it to myself for a while, but I really need to find the motivation to walk on the treadmill for a bit first thing in the morning. Something just doesn’t feel right any more, and I can’t keep ignoring it.

Bác Vân wasn’t out much, but Doug was outside raking leaves out from the garden they planted around my house. I really didn’t do a whole lot of work, but tried to burn down the whole yard at once. Unfortunately the taller plants weren’t really touched, and the leaves just slowly smoldered across the yard. After a while, he said Bác Vân made lunch, so I changed and went next door for some kind of soup with pasta, rice, pork, shrimp, and at least a dozen different spices. She said she made it every day, but I’d never seen her make it before. In any event, it was pretty good.

By the time we finished eating, I had to get cleaned up to pick Autumn up from school. She said she had to go to the Navy recruiter’s office though, and wanted Robert to take her. I argued against it, but only because I couldn’t trust her motives. I ended up letting her go with him while I mistakenly took a return package to UPS instead of FedEx, then stopped by Walgreens only to learn they couldn’t print a return label. Autumn was still at the high school, so I went to quickly wash my car, and then caught up with them at the recruiter’s office right on time.

I wasn’t expecting a therapy session with a young adult, but that’s what we had. He didn’t strike me as an intellectual so much as a guy that talks to a bunch of shithead kids all day, but I figured he’s the best chance at a career path for Autumn that will more or less keep her out of trouble. As a 27-year-old, his parenting advice seemed to be, “kids are gonna smash.” In the end, I hope I at least gave him some background for the troubles we’ve had with Autumn.

From there, we swapped cars and I took Autumn home. Eaddie went to dinner with Gavin and some friends for his birthday, and then was dropped off at home. Mom called and fussed at me for not coming over to eat fish soup, so I drove across town to eat quickly, and tried to make it back in time to take Eaddie to a Tech jazz band concert. She ended up finding a ride with some friends for that too, so I just tried to wind down.

Summer made it home after opening the Greenbrier wash. Autumn came out for some math homework help, which was actually a nice change. Eventually everyone wandered off to bed, and I just hoped to crash hard after a long day following a night of restlessness.

Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking…

Downhill Climb

I had a few messages for my birthday today, as well as a couple of phone calls. We didn’t have any plans, and I got a pretty slow start to the morning. I think the large dinner last night made things a little worse, but I eventually got around. Eaddie had a recital at the high school, and then wanted to immediately leave for Tech to watch their symphonic wind ensemble perform.

Eaddie wasn’t fully prepared for her recital, which was out of the ordinary for her. Afterward, her instructor announced my birthday and had everyone in the room quickly sing Happy Birthday. It would have been so much more embarrassing at a slower tempo, but she kept it fast.

The Tech concert was really great. There were several solos, with two pieces that showcased the oboe and then the marimba players. The final piece was done in the dark with a video to accompany the music, and it was really incredible. I’m excited to hear Eaddie perform at that level after she leaves high school.

After the concert, we dropped Eaddie off and went to Walmart for dinner. We decided spaghetti would be relatively quick, easy, and delicious. I ran into Janie on our way to check out the clearance section, and I told her all about my suspension. She seemed to have a lot of frustration with a lot of the administration herself.

Summer took me to my house to get the Montego, and we met up back at her house to cook dinner. I wasn’t feeling well after a day without any food or hydration. I took a minute to recover, and then helped with dinner. She baked a chocolate cake, and since Autumn was finally home, we had her run to the store for some frosting and ice cream. She didn’t eat, but Eaddie at least came out for food.

Unconventional, but what did I expect?

“Banquet” Is Just a Fancy Word for ”Dinner”

Summer stayed home today after dropping the girls off at school, which let me stay in bed a bit longer. I couldn’t really sleep though, so I got up and started looking for more jobs. I got a couple rejection emails, but only for two out of the four applications I submitted, so I’m still cautiously hopeful for the other two. I saved a few other listings, but for some reason I’m afraid to apply for too many at once, and in reality that’s probably just making me lose opportunities.

I steamed some rice and fried up some leftover pork chops for a nice lunch, and eventually made it home to clean up after Summer left the house to get some work done. I picked Autumn up after school and brought her home, but Eaddie stayed for robotics, which had a banquet scheduled for the evening.

Once it was time to go, Summer and I went to Walmart for some desserts and then headed to the high school. The banquet was pretty neat, and they had catered Taco Villa for dinner. While we waited for everyone to show up, I talked to Ethan for a bit about my predicament with the school. Then once they were ready to kick things off, we ate, celebrated the students, and watched them present some awards.

We had to wait for Eaddie to help tear everything down at the end, so I got roped into helping set the cafeteria back up. While we were doing that, one of the older parents noticed my Woot! shirt. It was raining pretty hard by the time we were ready to leave, so I got the car and picked up Summer. Then we drove around the building to get Eaddie and one of her robotics friends from downstairs, and dropped her off on the way home.

Summer stayed up late reading over Quiz Bowl questions while Eaddie and I watched an episode of Breaking Bad. Then it was off to bed while listening to the rain.

I am the one who knocks!

Páusé/Résumé

We dropped Autumn off at Dwight again today, but then went to my house to swap cars before dropping Eaddie off. She had made a comment yesterday about not getting dropped off in the Tesla, so I figured, “why not?”

I tried not to get too comfortable once I got home. I’ve spent too long wallowing and getting distracted. I got to work building a timeline of my career with the school, and felt pretty good about what I had. It may be false confidence. It usually is.

Bác Vân and Doug were outside all day working in the yard, and I wanted to go out to help, but I was afraid of getting too distracted. Instead, I only left the house to get some tacos for a late lunch. Then I got to work translating my résumé from the old Word file. I was worried about how it would look in Google Docs, but they improved the DOCX conversion, and I was able to copy and paste in large chunks instead of having to hand-type everything again. The hardest part by far was making the last, intentionally blank page, though that seemed counterintuitive.

Autumn had asked in the morning to go to the junior high concert after school. I confirmed with Eaddie that she actually wanted to go, but then Autumn wanted me to shuttle her boyfriend around afterward. I just knew she only wanted to go for that reason, so I shut it down. It was such a surprise when she decided she’d rather just go home after basketball practice instead of sticking around. I took her to Taco John’s for a cheap dinner, where Patrick came around the counter to chat for a bit when she went to the restroom. Then we made it back to my house just in time for Summer to pick her up and head home.

I waited the rest of the evening until Eaddie was ready to be picked up from the concert, and then we headed up the hill as well. I warmed up some leftovers for her while she chatted in bed with Summer. Then I had to change some settings on her iPhone to get MMS messages to work. Evidently the phone remembered that the Fi app was installed with my account, and wouldn’t associate with her data. With that, everyone was off to bed, leaving me to dawdle online. It may be time to do something about the attention deficit.

Never quit never quitting.

Low Charge

I had to get up early to get the girls to school this morning. Autumn went to Dwight, and Eaddie went to the high school. Then I went home and stayed up to do a little cleaning and laundry. I also tried to research what would be involved in installing my Tesla wall connector, which didn’t seem too bad, but I really need to find an electrician.

Overall I was pretty disappointed in myself for not being more productive. I could have done more, but I just had trouble keeping focus. It’s too easy to get sidetracked until the next responsibility comes up.

Summer came back to town for work in the afternoon, so I picked up some Taco John’s for us and we ate at Superfast. Then I went back home to wait for her until it was time to go to the girls’ midwinter concert. Both of us had trouble staying awake for the first band, but the Symphonic band was much better.

After the concert, we got frustrated with the girls because they kept running around with their friends instead of seeing their family. Eaddie kept trying to come up with some other plan to avoid going with either us or her father. Autumn of course wanted to take her boyfriend out to eat with him though. We ended up leaving alone, and Summer dropped me off at home.

The Model 3 was taking forever to charge, so I investigated that for a moment and found an error that it slowed charging because it detected the outlet was getting too hot. I unplugged it for a couple minutes and then got it going again, so hopefully my house doesn’t burn down.

I finally made it up to Summer’s for the evening, followed by Autumn, and then Eaddie since she went with Maristella instead of her father. I have a bit of anxiety this week over deciding whether to try and meet the work crew at Taco John’s, and then the CPPC meeting the following day.

Fight depression.