Tag: Reviews

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The Other Marvel

Today was a quiet end to a quiet week. I still had no real luck with my tablet project, and frustrations with Microsoft mounted. We had our usual call scheduled for the afternoon, so we left slightly early to get some Chinese for lunch, then came back for a meeting that was just long enough to confirm we no longer needed meetings. Then Joel came by in the afternoon and said everyone was cutting out an hour early.

I ended up staying a little past my usual time because I brought a little display shelf up to assemble for my office. I eventually wanted to rearrange, but at least this got it out of the house for now. As I was finishing up, Summer texted to say she really wanted pretzel crust pizza and beer for dinner, so she ordered that and we met her at Little Caesar’s to wait and let Muad’Dib out to run around a bit.

When we finally made it home, we ate the prettiest Little Caesar’s pizza I’d ever seen (though somehow the slicing was comically bad), and then settled down pretty quickly to watch a movie. Eaddie left for the art walk, and we skimmed through Netflix for a while before I picked Kraven the Hunter. By all counts, the reviews were correct. It was terrible. The writing was bad. The animation was bad. Everything was bad. It made a fine popcorn movie to watch while Summer wouldn’t quit talking.

After the movie, Summer went to bed and I finished up. Eaddie actually got in before midnight, and everyone was off to bed.

They have to be legitimately trying to do it this poorly, right?

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Brown and Down

I didn’t get much sleep last night after getting a second wind and doing a bit of cleaning up before bed. I still somehow got out of bed before Summer, and got back into it just a little bit. I had messaged Kevin about mowing, so he was out relatively early mowing the other house, and then showed up to do the new house. It felt awful outside, so I figured it would be a good day to go swim, so we made plans to do that in the afternoon.

I cleaned up some leftovers, and Summer and I headed over to my parents’ house to wait for Kevin, Abi, and Mathi. It was a pretty good time without any big to-do. We just swam around and got some sun. Even Dad came out to join us. Muad’Dib was hot in the shade, so I eventually let him lay down inside with Mom.

The kids were home when we got back, but Summer wanted to go to Brown’s for dinner. They were going bowling later in the evening, so we left Muad’Dib with them while we ate. The restaurant had a line out the door, so we sat in the car for a bit, thinking it would go down. It did not – at least, not really. It started to sprinkle a little bit, so we walked up and at least made it inside the door within a couple minutes. The crazy thing is that they had tables open. They’re just slow at getting people in and through the line because they don’t seat you first.

We got our fill, and then headed home with upset stomachs. The kids left, and I barely made it through a shower without passing out from exhaustion. I perked up just enough to knock out a few reviews, and then went to bed after Eaddie called to ask if her friend Autumn could stay the night.

Cram Sessions

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A Lot for a Little Run

I got up early so I could go to Fort Smith with Summer for her run this morning. I had an anxiety attack as I was getting ready, but it didn’t seem to affect me long. I was still pretty exhausted as we left, but it was a smooth ride. We made it to Ben Geren park only to discover a disappointing number of runners, running anything from a 5k to a marathon, depending on how many times they looped back around the track. It didn’t really seem like many people knew each other, but it was a seriously tiny group of maybe 20 people. One of them was Hot Springs native, multi-title world champion, professional arm wrestler, “Monster” Michael Todd, who arrived in a giant motorhome wrapped with giant pictures of his face. There appeared to be no fanfare. We arrived early, because Summer anticipated it would take her some time to get her packet, but we spent all that extra time wandering around in the hot sun.

I had forgotten to load my Onewheel, so when the race finally started, Muad’Dib and I walked over to a pavilion with some picnic tables and sat in the shade. We had a surprisingly strong breeze over there, which I hadn’t felt at all when we were walking around. It felt really great over there as we waited, expecting to see Summer come around the bend. I took a picture of a couple cheering on their son, then shared it with them. Summer never showed up though. Evidently her run took her on another path, and we found her back at the finish after less than half the time it took us to drive to the race in the first place.

We didn’t stick around, and instead drove to a place called Digs in The Bakery District. I guess it was a little grouping of places in one spot. We found parking across the street and walked up to the patio where they were doing yoga. A server greeted us, had us pick a seat, and then the food service was quite quick. Muad’Dib did well with some passers-by, and we had a really tasty, elevated, expensive brunch. We had a couple cocktails and shared a bagel board with a couple fancy cream cheeses and peanut butter. Then Summer had a sandwich, and I had a burrito. Everything was really tasty, but definitely priced as an upscale establishment in a rich part of town.

Lastly, we swung by Truong Son on the way home to browse for some Asian foods. We didn’t get much, but I picked up a smallish can of Café du Monde coffee and chicory blend to add to my collection. I made a cup when we finally made it home, but found it mostly bitter. Summer and I lounged around the house the rest of the day, both exhausted from the morning adventure. I eventually had some leftover chicken salad for an early dinner, and cleaned a bunch of moth-filled boxes of cereal out of the pantry. We played a Netflix miniature golf game on the TV, and then Summer watched the worst of the Ghostbusters movies.

I did a bit of cleaning, but it was overall a very quiet evening until bed.

It’s a vibe.

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Nowanna

We woke up abruptly this morning when Muad’Dib launched out of bed to meet Eaddie at the door. From what I could tell, she stopped in briefly to poop, and then left again. I was deep in the middle of a dream, and stumbled out of bed with a weird, lingering inner ear thing. I wasn’t really dizzy, but it was like my balance was hard set just a little bit off, so I kept wanting to lean to the right. It eventually went away, but it was really weird.

We didn’t really have anything planned, but Summer decided she really wanted to go see the live action Moana movie. I firmly did not, because I felt the original was too perfect to rake through a cheap, money-grab remake. I made myself a sandwich for lunch and then Summer went to the gym while I got cleaned up for the day. Then we eventually got loaded up for a late afternoon showing.

Muad’Dib ran to my parents’ house where Dad was passed out on the couch, and Summer and I made it to her movie. It was in auditorium four, so the screen appeared about as large as our bathroom TV from where we were sitting. There were a couple families with a boatload of kids, but I already wasn’t really invested in the show. It was expectedly bad, and then Summer had the gall to ask what I thought of it as we drove home. That eventually resulted in an outburst that needed to happen, but it’s exhausting living with someone that refuses to try and figure out her own feelings. We talked for a little while, and then I rode over to my parents’ house to get Muad’Dib.

It was getting late, but I wanted to get something resembling real food before we settled down for bed. I ultimately landed on Taco Villa so we could share an order of nachos outside with Muad’Dib. While I was waiting for our food inside, Jennifer walked in with a boyfriend. She took a selfie with me to send to Becky, and we talked for a bit until I took our food outside.

We ate, then headed home where Summer went to bed. I was up for a while longer doing a little bit of cleaning in my office, but tried not to stay up very late.

Shot entirely in a one bedroom apartment.

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Babysitting

Summer went to the gym this morning while I had a rough start myself. She decided to try Eaddie’s shower when she got back, and much preferred the shower head in there. I gave it a try myself, and while the volume of water was better, I didn’t care for the space or the lighting. We eventually got things going and ran Muad’Dib to my parents’ house so he could stay there while we went to Conway for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

We were both hungry, since it was after noon, so we started at Stoby’s for lunch. I thought I was going light by getting a Reuben, but the large cheese dip done us in. We arrived in Conway early, and went by Sam’s Club first to kill some time and hunt for snacks. We didn’t get much, and settled on a bag of Werther’s, then made it to the Cinemark.

The theater was filled with people, though our auditorium took a while to fill out. I fought Summer on getting popcorn, but she insisted. She also wanted an extra large for a refill, and a large drink. The movie was a huge shift in gears from any other recent Marvel films, but it was absolutely fantastic. It was definitely more emotional than any of the others, and brought you closer to the action with Spider-Man, especially in 3D.

Summer barely touched the popcorn at all, which caused some drama. I am not allowed to feel frustration. We headed straight toward home instead of having dinner. I dropped her off at her car that was parked at my office, and then beat her home so I could move the Buick out of the garage for her. She went out onto the porch with a big glass of wine, and I rode the Onewheel to my parents’ house to get Muad’Dib.

My parents were out watering plants when I got there, so he sprinted after me from a distance. I got his things, and we continued on a really great run in the fall-like air. It felt really amazing outside, so I was surprised that he shortened his run. Once we made it back to the house, he went to bed with Summer, and I did my own thing until bed.

Third time’s the charm.

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ANOTHER ONE

I had an anxiety attack in bed just after midnight when I got up to go to the restroom, but went right back to sleep. I got to sleep in a very little bit since we were headed to Little Rock for my car. She went to her bank to get some money for me, and I went to Arvest to close my account, since they wanted to start charging for basic checking accounts. I took Muad’Dib in and we saw Aaron first. Then I was maybe a little too surprised that there was zero effort to try and talk me into some other kind of bank account, or keep me as a customer. I told the young teller that I wanted to close my account, she took my ID, and then handed me a cashier’s check for my balance after just a few seconds. She then had to cash that for me, which felt silly, but then it was done. My first bank account, which I’d had since childhood, and which only held birthday money for years before my first job, was closed.

We hit the road after that. Summer had to get back to work, so we dropped her car off at the Love’s in Morrilton, then continued to Gwatney in the loaner to get my car. I also queued up Randy and Ben for lunch before we headed home. My car was right out front, and I guess I should have looked it over first. They didn’t really even walk me around it. I just took a moment while Anneka was gathering paperwork, and walked around it quickly. I immediately spotted a blemish just under the left taillight. Then Summer looked closer and found flaws on the edge of the hood. Anneka took it back to see if they could buff any of it out, but then came back and said we would have to schedule another visit.

They had a Buick Envista that they had just gotten in for a loaner, so rather than come back next week, we took the loaner and also kept the loaner Model 3 from Tesla. That created a predicament later. We left there and dropped the Buick off at the high school before meeting Randy, Jim, Jae, and Ben at Cotham’s. I sent Summer in to find a table, and luckily Ben was already there. I waited outside with Muad’Dib until everyone else got there, and then we had lunch. I wasn’t impressed with any of the food this time, which was rare. The hubcap burgers have always been excellent. We had a good time visiting, but Summer needed to be back at work in a hurry, so we left.

I dropped Summer off at her loaner, then went to Conway to Supercharge in order to make it home. It wouldn’t have been a problem, except I didn’t expect to have to drive it back home. She went straight to work, so I ended up going to Love’s to swap out her car just to get it out of the public parking lot. I went to work for a couple hours, and then Teisha gave me a ride to Love’s so I could leave Summer’s car at work overnight inside the gate.

I got home and had a ton of stuff from Vine, but it all processed super quickly. It was actually mostly clothes for the girls, but I did get a bike service stand that needed some assembly. Eaddie and Eli chatted in the kitchen over some food he brought while I assembled it, and then they both left. She went to spend the night with Autumn because she had created some new health drama and needed to draw more attention to herself.

Summer eventually made it home from her work meeting, and we went to swim at my parents’ house. I thought they’d check out the Buick, but they were busy watering plants. Muad’Dib ran both ways, but had to stop and poop on the way back. It looked like it was all loose, so something he ate didn’t sit well with him. I ended up walking about a third of the way back home with him while Summer drove home.

They went to bed and I prepared for work, but it was a pretty quick night to bed.

You didn’t have anyone quality check it???

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Back Doorman

Internet at home was still out until late in the morning, without much news from TCW. I was excited to get to experiment with some scheduling instead of just beating my head against the wall over intercom programming today. Nobody else seemed to show any feelings about it, but I assumed they were just glad I finally fixed something. Of course now I also have a backup, and can replicate my success in a few minutes rather than weeks. Programming was relatively straightforward, but the holiday scheduling had me stumped for a while. The guides I found all had them added to schedules, but that wasn’t the case. Just adding the holiday dates defaulted the lock schedules to a locked state.

We took a really late lunch and picked up some free McNuggets, then had chili cheese fries and onion rings at Sonic. It was cheap and light, and the weather was great for it. When we got back, I stopped by the back gate to test the closing, and it worked perfectly. I had its schedule fixed, but now that the plant is running around the clock, the gate isn’t really even necessary.

The last piece of the puzzle for now was to get cameras integrated with the security system, but everything I tried seemed incompatible between systems. I had an anxiety attack late in the afternoon, but it cleared up well. We left a little late after verifying the gate shut properly. Then we made it home to find Eaddie back from her band conference, and Summer in the bath.

Once Summer got out, I took them to Brangus for dinner. I had a pretty awful steak, which was both overcooked and somehow cold to the touch. The girls enjoyed it, so I didn’t press. I just don’t think they’re any good for a dinner on a slow day.

I tried to take them out for dessert when we left, but they didn’t want to go. Instead, Summer and I had a beer on the back porch before I took Muad’Dib out for a run. We took a big plastic bag from Eaddie’s vacuum-sealed couch, and then came back home. As we got back, I heard the familiar frustrated cries of a man trying to recall a stubborn dog. I was proud to be able to call Muad’Dib back out of the house to run and fetch him, and then deliver him back across the street.

Not bad for a Thursday.

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Epic

Summer left early this morning for a race in Clarksville. I got up just before she would get home so I could be ready for our day in Little Rock. Eaddie stayed home with Muad’Dib, and the two of us went to eat Bulgogi in Conway, then walked The Promenade for a bit before the movie. The only shop we visited was LoveSac, just to check out their modular furniture. It was neat, but I didn’t think it was worth the unlisted price.

We got back to the theater early for our movie, and it was a hot mess. The movie was just about sold out, and there appeared to only be two people working. There was a mob of people, and the kids running the place weren’t particularly customer-friendly. In any event, we made it into the auditorium and found our seats. It filled up quickly, and we all took in The Odyssey for the first time since grade school.

It was a long movie, to be sure. I did really enjoy the story, though it did feel a bit more like homework than entertainment. The cast was completely loaded, and I thought the changes in the story helped add thoughtful perspective. The biggest surprise of all was the fact that both of us sat through the entire thing without having to get up.

To get immediately back to the poor experience, as soon as the credits started to roll, the staff turned on the lights and came in to start cleaning up. One of the kids even yelled at us that were were no post-credits scenes, while we were sat watching the scroll. We waited to the end, then left to head toward home.

I didn’t want to skip dinner, so I stopped by Long John Silvers in Conway for a family meal to take home. It was a fairly relaxed drive back, and then I had just a little bit of it to eat before we wound down for the evening.

You are the people from the sea.

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Go Phish

I had some odd requests today, and I was only really semi-prepared for one of them. I had just replaced Heaven’s computer last week, but Scott emailed me asking if I had ordered her a laptop to take out to her new office on the other side of the plant. I reached out to Lexi, my new Howard rep, to see what she could offer, and it took most of the day to learn that it wasn’t great. Later on, Joel forwarded an email chain to me where someone had registered a domain similar to ours and started sending phishing emails.

The morning kind of went by quickly, or at least dully. We left late to pick up a couple burritos from Taco Bell and came back to eat them in the office, because I knew we’d be having cake for Teisha’s 50th birthday. It was a short afternoon after that, though I ended up staying a little bit late. I’ve learned that if I’m not in a rush to get out, traffic isn’t as infuriating the entire way home.

Nick from Tesla called me back just as I got home and confirmed that we could get a loaner next Tuesday. Summer was in the bath when I got inside. I brought a bag of veggies home that Janice brought to share. Summer wasn’t hungry, so I finished up a bunch of leftovers. Then we watched the rest of Jeff Arcuri’s special. We really enjoyed it, though it wasn’t the kind of stand-up that had us rolling in the floor. He was just really funny and charismatic, and fun to watch as he interacted with the crowd.

After that, I took Muad’Dib on a run through nearly the full course, though he was hesitant again to leave the house. I don’t know if he was just too hot or what, because every time I’d try to get him ready to leave, he’d run back toward the bed. We made it to my parents’ house for a bit, and then we had to modify our path home when I heard what sounded like a single, short round of fireworks go off.

Summer went to bed as I finished up. Eaddie came back from Clarksville unexpectedly, and she and Eli watched a movie while I finished up.

Wrap it up!

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Underpowered

Somehow we managed to get out of the house extra early today, after a couple days of running behind. They were having some trouble with equipment overheating in the plant, and I pretty quickly got busy with tasks in the office. Heaven had enough trouble with her computer that I decided to rip the bandaid and swap it out with one I found in the upstairs conference room. Unfortunately it had the wrong power supply, and I couldn’t find the correct one anywhere. The computer would come on, but throttle itself to a crawl.

After that, I had to work on the break room signage that wouldn’t accept a presentation update. That update took forever, so I went upstairs to continue working. I had forgotten breakfast, and ended up skipping lunch because Summer said she would be hungry for dinner when she got home around the same time that I normally do.

Heaven’s new computer just barely hit 99% when it was time to go, so I just left it to finish overnight. We got home and Summer was in the shower, so I cleaned up briefly until she was ready for dinner. We ended up going to Brown’s because of how hungry I was, and because I had a coupon.

As I maybe should have predicted, Summer kept fanning herself with the coupon instead of presenting it to the cashier, so I ended up paying full price and didn’t scan my rewards card for points. Hopefully I’ll be able to get credit another way. I felt like a double-sucker when the food was some of the worst we’d had there. It wasn’t terrible, but almost everything was just barely warm. The shrimp was tiny, and it seemed like everything was really mushy, especially considering how busy they were.

We had left Muad’Dib at home alone, so we took him for a short walk up the cul-de-sac when we got back. Eaddie came home and wanted to have friends over to watch a movie, but I don’t think anyone but Eli ever showed up. They ended up disappearing while Summer and I watched Louis C.K.’s new special on Netflix. It was also pretty disappointing compared to the memories of his old stand-up. Then it was off to bed.

meh