Tag: pets

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Four Outta Five

I woke up surprisingly early this morning. Muad’Dib must have gotten hot or something, because he slept in his own bed all night. Of course he came and laid in my spot as soon as I got up, though. I had several things I wanted to accomplish, and overall I guess I did more than I expected. First up was grilling pork chops at my parents’ house for a noodle lunch. Summer eventually got up and went to the gym, so I started some laundry and got cleaned up and ready to go.

Summer was later getting back than I expected, so I was headed out the door when she finally showed up. Muad’Dib and I went over to get the charcoal started. Dad got home from church, and Summer eventually made it over with some brats to grill, after also receiving some surprise ribs from Autumn and her father. It felt like it took longer to make our bowls and eat than it did to cook.

After lunch, we headed back home and I folded my laundry and took care of a bunch of Vine deliveries before taking my car to the wash. The first stall I tried was awful, so I moved and found a really good one, except for a lack of wax. After that, I went to Splash for a vacuum before heading back home. I considered starting my Onewheel tire replacement, but it was getting later already and Muad’Dib needed a proper run. We did our full course pretty quickly, saw my parents, and then saw Mason and his family out walking and biking. I let him try the Pint X, and then we made it home just before dark.

I started Muad’Dib’s bandanas in the washing machine and then gave him a good vacuum brushing before his bath. He was reasonably accommodating for the really long bath and extra long drying. I should have vacuumed him again before giving him some cologne, because his hair was just damp enough to stick to my hand when I rubbed it in. He felt really soft and fluffy afterward though, and of course he smelled way better.

I wrapped up just about on time for bed, still without a new tire on my GT S, and the plants were looking awfully thirsty, but we’ll give it another try tomorrow.

Everyone’s thirsty.

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The Pawling Station

I slept long and hard today while Summer woke up long before dawn to get to Conway in time for the City of Colleges 10k. She made it home as I was getting through my morning routine. Eaddie had just gotten home from house sitting, and wanted Summer to go vote with her. After some back and forth, they decided they wanted to get lunch before going to go vote, but the kids had a sorority meeting first. Summer and I had a little time to get ready, then met them at Olive Garden.

My biggest problem with Olive Garden has always been the price for the quantity of food, but I think my problem was that I didn’t realize I could get unlimited soup. Unlimited salad is much less appealing, but their soups aren’t bad. I got a couple bowls with my Tour of Italy, and the then I get some salad too, since that’s what the others ordered. I don’t know if I’m technically not supposed to eat any, but the servers never seem to care that I eat both. I was happy enough with my meal, but I still would have liked some more meat to it.

Afterward, we went to the election headquarters. We parked a little ways away, but as soon as I let Muad’Dib out of the car, he ran up to the building, walked down the veranda, and then right in the open door as though he had been voting all his life. Luckily I had his e-collar on, so I buzzed him to come back. He did so reluctantly, but I don’t blame him for wanting to be heard.

The kids came along, and Summer took them in to vote. While we waited outside, one of the guys working asked about Muad’Dib and suggested that he might somehow have one of his sisters. He said they had the exact same eyes, were about the same age, and had the same build. Then he pulled out his phone and showed me a very light brown-colored dog that, to me, looked nothing like Muad’Dib. The pictures were pretty bad, to be fair, and didn’t show her eyes at all. After that, we all went across to Block City to check out the flea market. I was surprised at how many of them were just selling Amazon junk, and it seemed like a good way to get rid of some of my stuff, but I also didn’t want to pay rent on something like that.

We didn’t stay very long, because I hit a brick wall and felt a gurgle and a wave of exhaustion that lasted all afternoon. I didn’t get to start my Onewheel tire replacement, but I absolutely had to do some laundry. We lounged around a bit since I didn’t feel well enough to start a project with Summer. After a while, I tried to lay down on the couch with Summer, and Muad’Dib started pawing at me incessantly. He just sat there, staring at me wide-eyed until I agreed to take him for a run. We had walked the last couple days, so I took him for a pretty good, late run on the Pint X. We stopped to see my parents briefly, then made it home so he could go to bed with Summer. I was up a little late still not feeling the best, but I tried not to get too distracted.

Take it to the limit!

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100mph Donut

I had a better start today, but still ran a little late. We must not have been as late as the guy that passed me going 100 with an emergency donut instead of a proper rear-left tire. It was a wonder it didn’t blow up in the middle of a mass amount of traffic as we approached Morrilton. We made it in and stayed pretty busy all day.

I brought a couple wireless cameras to test on the line, so Tyler and I went out to see if they would work that close to the machinery. They actually worked perfectly, and I discovered my little security camera would work on a battery pack. I figured if something under $50 would work, we could replace it 20 times for the cost of doing it the “right” way.

We went to Sonic for lunch, and I tried combining my Sprite and my strawberry and peanut butter sundae into a float. It tasted fine, but the peanut butter was surprisingly overpowering. Things got really quiet in the afternoon. I spent some time talking to Tammy and Janice about Elizabeth’s needs for processing UPS invoices, and I think I’ve pretty well decided that it’s completely unnecessary. Then I had to help Teisha with the breakroom digital signage because it wouldn’t connect again.

All of that made the afternoon go by pretty quickly. As much as I dug into the network project, I didn’t feel confident enough in my settings change to build out anything new. I couldn’t even get printing working across the internal wireless network because I didn’t understand how zones worked with networks, which somehow weren’t subnets.

I did a quick rearranging of the office before everyone shows up for training on Monday, and then we left. We hadn’t been on the Interstate long when my left repeater camera died again. This was much earlier than usual, even though I had parked with it away from the sun again. We made it home pretty quickly through some mad traffic, and I cleaned up to take Muad’Dib on his walk.

Summer got home just before we left, and seemed to be feeling much better. She stayed home to prep for a race in the early morning, and Muad’Dib and I walked to my parents’ house for dinner. I finished up the eggplant soup and stayed through some persimmon pudding with Dad. Then we headed home in the dark again.

Summer was up surprisingly late, but I got tired surprisingly early. A big Vine drop started after being pretty dead all day, but I left to lay down with Summer for a little bit just to rest. Eventually I had to get up to wrap up my usual end of day, but then it was back to bed a little early for a Friday.

No game.

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TPS Reports

I had a surprisingly bad start this morning, so we got to work a little later than usual. FSD worked again, so I planned to park away from the sun in the afternoon to see if that would resolve my camera issue going home. Elizabeth finally hit me up to look at her shipping reports, but didn’t tell me when she would have time, so I kind of sat on standby waiting for that most of the day.

Scott wanted to get some cameras on the line for the guys to see lay lines from their stations further down the line. He, Tyler, and I walked over to check it out, and I tried to look up some options for that. I try to walk the line between what’s cheap and what’s the right way to do things, and I think I find myself going cheap too often, but then again, he wanted to get a multipack of wireless cameras from Amazon.

I finally got to sit down with Elizabeth for a little bit, and then we went to Taco Bell for a really light lunch. I ended up having to go to McDonald’s for some fries on the way back to work. The afternoon was fairly short thanks to a little time in David’s office, and then more birthday cake for Scott. We had some good laughs and I felt a little more involved this time.

The drive home was uninterrupted, likely thanks to my alternative parking. We stopped by the election commission office to vote, then cruised on home to find Summer skipping her Arkansas Tech Career Center meeting because of an ongoing tummy ache. Muad’Dib and I walked to my parents’ house again for dinner. Along the way we ran into Stan, because that’s his name, walking the neighborhood again. He wanted to stop and chat and for some reason give me a handshake into a shoulder pat again. I brought up my Fiero, so maybe one day I’ll seriously approach him to see if he wants to take a stab at it. I don’t know how good he is, but he’s always working on lawn mowers, and a Fiero’s basically the same thing, right?

We finally got to my parents and I had some more eggplant soup. I think one more serving and it’ll be gone. We didn’t stay long since it was dark, but we had a good walk back. Summer was in bed, so I cleaned up a bit and got a few things together for work before bed.

Well, ship.

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Single Points of Failure

My left repeater camera and full self driving worked on thee way to work today, which made me think it might have been heat or some other issue with the direct sunlight on the drive home yesterday. We made it to work without incident though, and I hoped it was just a fluke. I felt good about the amount of information I covered today, and I’m definitely reaching diminishing returns before I need to take action.

We went to Wendy’s a little early for lunch since I knew we had birthday cake for Joel in the afternoon. The parking lot and drive-through lines were both packed when we got there, and there was a school bus in the adjacent parking lot to boot. I parked out in a distant part of the lot and found my way in, but it was about half people eating in the dining room, and the other half were just people waiting to go since they presumably didn’t want to wait in the drive-through. The staff made quick work of it though, and mobile ordering had my food out pretty quickly.

I let Muad’Dib run the block when we got back, and we worked for a bit before cake time. That’s a tradition I hope someone carries on when Janice retires, because it’s nice to get everyone in the office together for a moment of harassment and storytelling. It also made the afternoon go by a bit faster.

On the way home, at almost the exact same spot, my camera went out again. I felt better prepared for it though, and we continued straight home driving with my own two hands. When we got there, Eli’s car was parked in my way. I called him to move his car, and his response was that he had left and was on the way to something else. Fortunately he left his keys, so I moved it and got parked.

Summer was at the gym, and it was nice out, so I decided to take Muad’Dib for an acoustic walk. I figured I drove myself today, so I might as well walk myself too. We went straight to my parents’ house and ended up staying for some eggplant soup. Summer texted me on the drive home that she was hungry, but evidently that was just an informative text and not an expression of a desire to eat with me. Mom gave me a bunch more basil, so we left for home after that.

I took out the trash and cleaned up quickly, then got to work picking more basil leaves before I could blend it all into some Thai basil pesto. This time I found some walnuts, which I thought added a really nice flavor to the cashews and peanuts that were already in there. It took me a couple hours to finish it, but I thought it was my best batch yet. Summer just felt that it was too strong. I guess I’m the only one that appreciates flavor around here.

I get no letters in the mail.

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Otto Pilot

I had some of the best, coziest sleep I’ve had in a long time, and subsequently made it to work a bit early today. I took a Soylent, but ended up just snacking instead. I spent the entire day continuing to plan and read up on best practices, and I’m hoping I can finally implement some changes this week, because it’s been too long in planning.

Summer still wasn’t feeling well, so she didn’t go to Little Rock or come have lunch with me. I had Ortega’s by myself again, with another new server I hadn’t seen before. He did great though, and the food came out fast and fresh.

The morning dragged on forever, but the afternoon went by a bit faster. I accidentally stayed a little late just because I was deep in thought. We finally left, but had some sudden trouble along the way.

We were cruising down the Interstate when suddenly my car slammed on the brakes and alerted me to take over. I couldn’t re-engage FSD, so I pulled over at Blackwell to try and reset it. I took the opportunity to grab some beer, then got back into the car and had the same problem. Almost none of the smart features worked. I couldn’t auto-shift or engage full self driving. After some messing around, I finally discovered my left-side repeater had no video. It was just a black screen after I rebooted the car. I ended up driving home manually, which was especially hard because my muscle memory had me checking my display instead of my mirrors when I was making lane changes or turns.

We made it home quite uncomfortably. Summer was in bed, so I took Muad’Dib for a run. He did well, and we stopped at my parents’ house for some eggplant soup. It was long after dark by the time we headed home. I cleaned up briefly, got ready for work, and went to bed.

They steer them with their meat!

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The Lonely Quiet

I slept terribly last night, and didn’t have a great start to the morning. I ended up taking some Pepto before I left, which helped after a day of eating spectacularly poorly. Things at work were super quiet, all because Janice was out. The other guys weren’t there much, so it was just the sleepy dog and me. I tinkered with a few things, but struggled to feel like I really made a difference anywhere today.

We took a short lunch to Taco Bell to eat cheaply, and then tried to be a little more impactful in the afternoon. Summer wasn’t feeling well either, and went home to make chicken salad. It wasn’t until much later that I realized how frustrating her vocabulary could be.

It looked really dark when we got home, so I took Muad’Dib on a run as we caught just a couple sprinkles. It was cool out, but he wasn’t very fast. I didn’t charge the Pint last night, so I took it slow hoping not to run out of juice before we made it home. I cut a couple blocks out of the trip so we could see my parents, and then made it home after walking up a couple of the steepest hills. We made it back with 1%.

Today, Summer’s “chicken salad” meant pan fried chicken over a green salad. I was expecting a rotisserie chicken mixed with fruit, nuts, yogurt, and whatever the hell else goes in a chicken salad. I even told her to use up the leftover celery from the fridge. Fortunately we could still use it, but she said the green leaf lettuce we had all went bad. She failed to get out the leftover spinach from when the kids cooked, though. I mostly ate that, since it was starting to turn. The food was good, but the jarring difference between expectations and reality have always been a high frustration point with her, even if things turn out better in the end.

Of course she still didn’t feel well, and was acting particularly pitiful, so I sent her to bed. I cleaned up, did a bunch of reviews, and got ready for bed a little bit early.

Winter is coming.

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Ridgewood Drive

We got up at a reasonable time this morning and milled around the house for a bit. I made Summer a coffee and cleaned up a bit before taking a shower. Eaddie came home for a bit, but I barely saw her. Summer and I had tickets to see The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D, and then a lunch date at the new Ridgewood Brothers location in Conway.

We dropped Muad’Dib off with my parents and headed out of town pretty quickly. We got to a mostly empty theater, grabbed popcorn, and sat down just in time for the movie that played no previews. I definitely ate too much popcorn. Summer hadn’t been feeling well all day, so she was going light on everything. I don’t really get the appeal of the movie, but I thought 3D would be fun. Summer didn’t much care for it.

From there, we headed straight over to the restaurant and found Grant and Kyler in the smokehouse out back. Grant gave us a walkthrough of the surprisingly tiny building with two giant propane tank smokers, and then an impressively tall rotisserie smoker. He emphasized that it was all still pure wood fired, and sacrificed some smoke to give us a peek inside.

From there, we found our way into the restaurant where Robert was at the block carving meats. They had a pretty small crew working, but it was late for lunch on a soft-open day. We visited briefly in line before finding seats at the bar area. Grant and Kyler were walking around visiting and making sure everything was going well. I didn’t realize it was the old Outback Steakhouse because it had since been Foghorn’s wings. They had a ton of room to eat, and a patio to be finished sometime in the future.

After we ate, Grant gave us a walkthrough of the enormous kitchen and storage area in the back. Kyler had said it was one of the largest commercial kitchens in Conway, and I believe it. I really wish them all the best, because they’ve been putting everything into it.

Summer had to get something from the Splash on the way out of town, and then we made it home. I found the caterpillar wrapped up in a cocoon, so he was ready for the winter in the garage. I took the Onewheel to get Muad’Dib and crashed because of some uneven concrete at the end of the driveway. Then we did a loop around the block before doing our normal reverse route. I felt the board struggle over small bumps several times, so I really need to get the tire replaced on my GT S-Series.

Summer had taken a long bath but still didn’t feel well. I did a bit more cleaning up, then got ready for work pretty early. I didn’t feel great either after so much heavy grease, and I felt exhausted for it as well. I just hoped an early bedtime would help me out in the morning.

This isn’t just another large father figure’s barbecue joint.

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No, I Do Not ‘C.’

Summer got up and we had some coffee before she went to the gym. Eaddie came by to clean up before going to practice for the game in the evening. I finished up some leftovers and then got cleaned up for the day. Kevin came over to mow, and I went outside to pick up some fallen branches and sticks out of the yard. After Kevin left, I tried swapping license plate frames on our cars, but my original screws weren’t long enough, and the ones that came with the frame were the wrong diameter. I was able to get Summer’s replaced, though.

The afternoon went by quickly, and we had to go to Tech for the party in the plaza. I dropped Summer off and had to go park out by the pastures. Just as I got on the Onewheel, I noticed a giant caterpillar in the middle of the parking lot. I scooped him up and carried him with us to the band, who was just finishing up. A young officer came up and asked me to leash Muad’Dib, who was being a bit ornery anyway, so I unwrapped it from around his neck and held onto him. The guy seemed impressed with Muad’Dib’s behavior, but I wasn’t.

Summer and I struggled to get the caterpillar off of her stadium seat where it had been riding along with me, but we eventually got him onto my sleeve. Muad’Dib and I went back to the car and then headed to my parents’ house for a while. It got cold fast, so Muad’Dib and I did a quick run around the block at his fastest speed since last winter. After that, we headed home for a few minutes before going back to pick up Summer.

We had to wait in the car for a few minutes, but we got Summer and headed back to my parents’ house so I could get some food. I hadn’t felt well all day, but by that time I was super hungry. I cleaned up some lemon grass chicken and rice, and then we went home for the evening. I dug out a new rimless aquarium for the caterpillar and set it up in the garage for the winter while Summer went to bed.

I assumed it was the cappuccino that had me burping all day, and I’m sure the tiny scoop of ice cream I had for dessert didn’t help. I just couldn’t stop, and my chest felt full all night long.

I know. I have improoooved it.

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Mostly Chicken

We had enough time to stop for chicken biscuits this morning. It was a little bit cooler in the morning, but it got much colder with the wind by lunch. It seemed really quiet all day, but I did have a fairly long call with Greg in the morning.

I still had a reward to use for Brown’s, so I checked with Summer early in the day to see if she might want to go for dinner. She sounded excited about it, so we had a really light lunch at Taco Bell. It was so light that the wind nearly blew it all away. It cut through my clothes and made me really cold, too.

When we made it back, Joel had Dexter outside, so I let Muad’Dib out to run around with him. Muad’Dib tore off in circles around him, looking like he was showing out more than anything. He was running so much faster that he could spin in circles while still chasing Dexter around, and then tackle him to the ground.

After that, we went upstairs to finish out the day. It seemed like a lot of people left early. I built a little plant stand I brought in, so I could bring a plant for it later. Then we left and headed home to change. Summer had to stay a little later than she expected, but eventually we met at Brown’s.

Dinner was great, and I had lots more chicken that was fresh out of the fryer. Al was there visiting with people, and stopped by our table to say, “hi.” I couldn’t eat a cinnamon roll, so I took a big ice cream cone when we left, then shared it with Muad’Dib when we got home. Summer took a bath while I ran Muad’Dib in the dark.

We stopped to see my parents, then watched a cut of the Roadster demo on their TV. Afterward, there was a press video from another channel that had much more up-close detail that was neat to see after the demo at a distance.

It was pretty late when we made it home. Summer was getting into bed, and I dawdled for a bit before crashing.

Sleep debt!