Tag: Reviews

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Rainy Review Day

I got out of bed with Summer this morning instead of letting myself sleep all day. It was rainy out, so we played with the dogs on the porch for a little bit. I got a few more things from Vine later in the day, so I spent some time catching up on reviews. The girls both left for a while and I took a shower in the afternoon. Dad invited us over for egg rolls again, so Summer and I went to eat dinner with them in the evening.

When we got back home, I spent some time messing with more Model 3 accessories. I got all of my puddle lights installed, and swapped out some console trays. The hardest thing I did was attach some rear seat vent covers in both cars. They just didn’t want to snap in on the Model Y. The ones I got for the Model 3 didn’t actually fit at all, but laid in place in a way that seemed mostly secure, so I left them.

Summer had been working on embroidery and cross stitching all day in front of the TV. Eaddie brought her some more when she got home, and we all eventually made our way to bed pretty late.

Productivity Pit

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M3SORED

I had an absolute fit trying to sleep last night. I went to bed for a couple hours, maybe dozed for a few minutes, but laid awake for most of it. I ended up getting out of bed and puttering a bit, then trying again. My mind wouldn’t quit wandering about any random topic. It could have been remembering facts about the Byzantine Empire, or cats. It could have been pondering alternative methods to make peanut butter. Anything but sleep.

I dozed again briefly for about 20 minutes before my alarm went off, then got up and ready to go to Kansas City to pick up the new Model 3. Summer was a dear and loaded all of my accessories into her trunk. Eaddie was slow to rise, but we eventually made it out the door.

The drive to Kansas City was pretty terrible. It rained pretty hard for most of it. There was a ton of fog and mist, so I really had to push the car through it. We charged in Ozark, Lowell, and Nevada before making it to the showroom. Eaddie sat up front with me while Summer worked on her laptop in the back.

The parking lot was absolutely packed with cars for delivery. It was the greatest concentration of Cybertrucks I’d ever seen, and it was a little bit glorious. I had a pretty good idea which car was mine, but we went inside to check in since we needed restrooms by then anyway. I talked to two different staff members. The first was kind and led us to the car to check it out. That was the end of any courtesy we received. I guess they were just too slammed with deliveries to entertain the idea of helping us get a charge on the Model Y, and I got a deadpan one-word response when I asked if I could drive my car before I accepted delivery.

Fortunately there didn’t seem to be anything amiss. I loaded up my floor mats, and we made our way to a public charger a couple miles away to leave Summer’s car while we took mine out for the day. Our first stop was the Red Door Woodfired Grill. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was delicious. We got super meaty calamari, and three excellent entrées. Eaddie had a big cheeseburger, I took the recommendation of the prime rib French dip, and Summer had a sirloin. The portions were small, but I guess they were going for “upscale sports bar.” The flavors were on point, but I think it did me in on sodium for the day.

Our next stop was IKEA. Summer was reluctant, but Eaddie and I outvoted her. We didn’t waste much time, and basically made a quick pass through the whole place so we could get to some meatballs. We were all full from our late lunch, but they both actually really wanted meatballs. I started feeling bad, with a racing heart and likely high blood pressure. The city driving started it, and the racing heart pushed me to the edge where I just had to sit down in the restaurant after taking my metoprolol and a clonidine. We shared a plate, and I eventually felt good enough to walk out of there.

We got back to Summer’s car and headed toward home, stopping to charge in Belton, Nevada, and Lowell for a long final leg of the trip. Eaddie rode with me from Nevada to Lowell where I developed a really elaborate pee-dance for about 45 minutes. I didn’t let myself go through the same thing, and stopped at Ozark for another break while the girls continued on home. Just past Ozark, I nailed a small-to-medium sized opossum dead-on. It didn’t make much of a sound, and I didn’t see any damage when I got home, but I still felt bad.

The girls crashed instantly, and I fed the dogs and got things picked up a little bit before finally settling in. I’ll have to do some shuffling tomorrow to get the Model 3 into the garage.

The Brewdy Kitten Café

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Those Christmas Lights

Summer got me up around nine this morning so I could get the turkey going. To my surprise, we were approved for the zero percent loan for my new car with a low down payment, so I took care of that and made the final payment before I got started. Then I kept Summer nearby because I wasn’t sure what I was going to need at any given moment. I used my new grinder to grind the spices down for the injection. It worked better, but still ended up clogging. I think it had more to do with the fact that the butter was solidifying in the syringe since the turkey was still cold inside. We eventually got it on the smoker though, and then it was a race to get everything else going. I oiled and salted the potatoes and threw them on the grill as well.

Summer did a bunch of other cleaning and worked on her deviled eggs. I took a shower and then pulled the potatoes off the grill so I could gut them, mash that up, and re-smoke them. We were getting down to the wire, but had a reasonably good morning until I got a text that Mom wasn’t coming. I had my hands full of potatoes, so I had Summer call Dad on speakerphone. I instantly blew my top at her because she wanted to blame my blood pressure, but changing plans at the last minute was what really got me hot.

I got the potatoes back on the smoker and cranked up the heat a bit, which turned out to be a big mistake. I guess there was still some grease at the bottom that caught fire, and my temperature shot up from my set 350ºF to over 500. We pulled the potatoes off and Summer finished them in the oven. I was going to drive over to talk to Mom, but just then Kevin showed up, followed by Julie with various things to unload from the car. Dad wasn’t far behind with even more stuff.

We got everything settled and then I took Dad’s car to go talk to Mom, since he and Julie were parked behind us. I talked to her briefly and apologized for blowing up, but reminded her that a big reason that I agreed to buy our house was so we would have room to entertain the family for the holidays, in a house with as little travel from theirs as possible. It didn’t take much more for her to come back with me, but she insisted that she didn’t want to stay long.

Noah was running behind in the most characteristically unpredictable way, so the seven of us ate. I thought all the food turned out pretty good. After that, we took a break to open presents. Eaddie had the biggest haul and wanted to know what she did to deserve to be so spoiled, but I think everyone felt pretty satisfied. After that, it was a bit of a struggle to decide what to do. I wanted to either watch Red One or start on some dessert, but Summer was busy cleaning up in the kitchen and became unresponsive to anything I asked. Julie ended up putting on Elf and they watched that while a few of us got some dessert.

Dad took Mom home, and Eaddie had Eli come over for some presents. Then they put on the Michael Jordan documentary series or whatever on the TV again. Noah finally showed up at some point and ate food and opened presents. I wasn’t terribly upset that he didn’t end up staying the night. Once everyone else left, the girls and I watched Red One together before bed. We all really enjoyed it for being so creative and unexpected.

I wrapped up the night by making some more turkey soup from the new bones we had. I was up pretty late waiting for it to cool down enough to refrigerate, but I was happy to be done with it right away instead of letting the bones sit for weeks.

Light up the street.

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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.

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The “Ga” is Silent

I woke up at 6:30 so we could make it to a nine o’clock movie in Conway. The girls got up after I was out of the shower, and then we were off. Summer drove so I could try and order snacks on my phone, but we ended up ordering there instead because I couldn’t redeem Movie Club credits for online orders.

Summer drove stubbornly and reacted poorly when I scolded her for not letting the car move out of the passing lane. Then when we got to the theater, she tried giving up after one horrible attempt at parking. I got out in a huff and waited in line to order snacks, then had to yell at them from across the lobby to come help me carry stuff.

We watched Wicked, which evidently was a Part 1, in a smaller auditorium in 3D. I think we were there with only one other person. I accidentally spilled a bunch of buttery popcorn and had to deal with a slippery floor for the whole movie. I also got super tired and struggled to keep my eyes open for part of it. Otherwise I thought it was pretty good. I think I liked the live show better though.

After the movie, we went to Brick & Forge for lunch. Our server was super weird and kept wanting to hover while we were reading the menu. Then he brought our food out before our appetizer. In fact, that didn’t come out until Summer had eaten all she could stand of her pasta entrée. Eaddie liked her burger, and my brunch quesadilla wasn’t bad. The pulled pork bread roll appetizer was pretty good, but simply came out too late. I nearly asked for it to be removed from the ticket.

Once we finished eating, we headed to Kohl’s and Shoe Carnival to do some shopping. Summer wasn’t feeling well, and Eaddie needed to get back to practice before her rehearsal, so we headed home after just those two stores. I drove this time, and stopped at Walmart once we got back into town so Eaddie could get some body wash. Summer waited in the car, so we were in and out fairly quickly.

I took the dogs out for a run as soon as we got home, and they did fairly well. They got treats and food, and then I tried to clean up in the kitchen a bit. I cleaned up some leftovers, then had Eaddie pick up some dollar McNuggets before the coupon reset. She ended up going to get Eli first, so there was a bit of a to-do. I probably spent $10 in gas for her to get those $1 nuggets.

Summer went to bed, Eaddie eventually made it home and did the same, and I wrapped up late, unslept and aggravated from more general negligence around the house.

Some things I cannot change, but ’til I try I’ll never know.

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It’s Not Wireless

I stopped for breakfast in Morrilton, and McDonald’s had me in and out so fast that I got to pass someone on the interstate twice. I was still the first one to the office by quite a bit, and I immediately dug into my Adobe licensing issue before Randy started sending me things to do. Maggie said she had to go to the transportation office to check out a pile of old junk, so she didn’t show up for a little while.

When lunch time came around, she and I went to a place called Sweet Poppas and had their fried chicken lunch special. I also got a drink and some cheddar peppers, which incredibly brought my lunch total to over $22. I couldn’t believe it. The food was good, but the portions were small, and the cheddar peppers came out with cold centers the first time around. Maggie’s chicken took forever to come out, so mine wasn’t exactly piping hot by the time we started eating.

The afternoon got wild when Kyle asked me to go to the high school to investigate an issue in the rack. Apparently the guys we paid to install the new VxRail forgot to plug in one of the iDRAC cables, so they couldn’t manage it remotely. It took me a while, but I finally found the right piece of equipment and the right port. There were a couple other cables that seemed poorly connected as well, so I don’t know what they were doing in there. Hopefully we can bring a lot of that stuff in-house.

I left straight from the high school and got home to run the dogs. We did our usual route through my parents’ yard to talk to Dad, then took a dip in the creek before making it home. Then I made a burrito for a quick dinner before spending some time cleaning up the kitchen and taking out the recycling. Eaddie and Eli did homework until pretty late, and Summer went to bed pretty early. I tried to take care of as much stuff as I could before I finally got to bed.

But I still forgot to clean the vacuum.

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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.

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Forced Drive

I got out a little earlier today and had a more relaxed ride in to work until around Mayflower. Conway traffic was thick and fast, so I was in a mob of cars that were flying down the road at 88 miles an hour. This is both the speed at which you travel through time, as well as the speed at which Autopilot will no longer autopilot. I had to take over, and with such heavy traffic, didn’t feel like pulling over to park and re-engage. Stress was much higher the rest of the way in, which was also the most busy part of the drive.

The morning wasn’t too bad though. Maggie split her biscuits and gravy with me, and I puttered a bit before really sinking my teeth into anything. The morning went by quickly though, and then I had to text Randy to see what they were doing for lunch. He, Jim, and Kyle were at Cary’s Grill and Bar, which was closed the last time we tried to visit. Maggie wasn’t going to lunch, but changed her mind when I told her the place, so we drove over to meet them.

I had a pretty decent chicken fried steak, but the hashbrown casserole was pretty awful. All of the food could have been a bit more fresh and hot, but wasn’t bad. I also had okra for the first time in the day. Maggie was too nervous to let the car drive us back, so I drove to the office by myself, and I finished the day trying to wrangle our KMS server.

Julie called on the drive home to say she wanted to have Kevin’s celebratory dinner tonight, so I called Eaddie to queue her up before I got home. I didn’t have time to run the dogs, but I got cleaned up before picking up my parents, and then had the car drive us to Brangus to meet Eaddie, Julie, and Kevin. Summer came along after we got inside, but then had to deal with an accident at work.

Dinner was pretty good, as Brangus usually is. We lingered a bit longer than I really wanted, since I still had to run the dogs before bed. Summer took Eaddie home while I took my parents home, and then I took the dogs out for an short, alternate run in the dark. They did alright though, and then I had another speed run to bed.

Sure it works, but is it better?

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Elon, Take the Wheel

I let the car take the onramp all the way to the offramp this morning, and only had to intervene once when it stupidly tried to pass in the right lane a block before it would have had to turn into the office parking lot. I just don’t get why it does obviously stupid things when it does so well at other times.

Randy wasn’t feeling well and ended up leaving after lunch. Nobody else came around, so I just went to Arby’s by myself and hung out there for the hour. I didn’t get into anything super complicated, and actually spent most of the morning waiting for Randy to show me a couple things, so I’m still feeling a little bit lost a lot of the time.

The morning happened to go by super quickly, so of course the afternoon dragged on. I decided to take the next two days off for recovery, so I headed home and then immediately took the dogs out for a walk. We went backwards this time, and went to the pond first to get a bit muddy. Then we stopped by my parents’ house before going up the hill and through Pinewood before making it home, where we took one more lap around the block before stopping.

Eaddie and Eli ate salad crap that Summer brought home, and I left out of frustration when I found an empty condiment shelf in the refrigerator. I ended up going to KFC to pick up a Famous Bowl, and then I went to the city park to eat at a picnic table. I sat there and enjoyed the weather for a while before going to the old house to check things out. There weren’t any toilets, so I ended up leaving sooner than I expected.

I didn’t want to go home though, so I immediately started Full Self Driving without a destination, just to see where the car would take me. I wondered if it would choose turns, or if it would just keep trying to drive straight as long as it could. It ended up taking a right at the stop sign, which made me think it was going to default to taking me home. It made it all the way across town, but then took the first exit out of the roundabout, which put me back on 12th Street all the way to Glenwood. There, it took its only left turn the entire night, and took me up to 2nd Street. There, it took another right and got through the stops all the way to the traffic light. It tried to proceed through green, but then hit the brakes hard right in the middle of the intersection because it couldn’t see the street. There just happened to be another car coming from the other direction, so the headlights probably didn’t help the matter. I pressed the accelerator to carefully nudge it through the intersection, and it continued on as if nothing had happened.

It ended up at sort of a dead-end, so it took a right and went nearly all the way to Oakland Heights before it took a sudden right to get back over to Detroit. Then we headed north, all the way over the tracks, and then took the first right out of the traffic circle on that side of town. It took me around the Parker Road bend, then all the way up the steep hill to get to Highway 124. We drove by the girls’ old house and ended up on the intersection of 124 and Weir Road. It took me back toward town all the way to Main Street before taking a right and going all the way over the bridge. After we made it through downtown, I finally told it to take me home, and it did. We made it just over 15 miles over the course of 35 minutes with absolutely no interventions, and I really only stopped because the battery was low and still hadn’t recovered from my drive back from work.

Summer was already in bed. Eaddie saw Eli out, I took out the trash. Eventually sleep.

Adventures with Machines

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Second Lunch; Worse Than the First

I let FSD drive me to work today, and I basically didn’t touch the wheel after Atkins. I kept waiting for there to be a steering wheel nag, but it just didn’t happen. I got the typical “pay attention” warnings if it looked like I wasn’t staring straight ahead for too long, but otherwise my hands were in my lap for the entire drive. I intervened once when I was nearly all the way to work, in order to prevent it looking stupid in heavy traffic. Then I had to whip into the office parking lot quickly because it couldn’t find the entrance with an oncoming truck. Otherwise it performed reasonably well on the highway as long as I was dictating lane changes. That’s still an issue that makes it look like a first-time driver.

Randy was back, and full of piss and vinegar, which was more funny than scary. He gets on rants and just lets it fly, which is only different from my usual accompaniment in that he’s much louder. I don’t mind, and I at least feel like we have the same struggles. He sort of helped me with access to stuff I had been missing since he left, and then he hung around the main office area complaining about all the email he’d gotten.

There was a non-union organization representative that brought us pizza from American Pie Pizza for lunch, and it reminded me of Brick Oven. I liked it, but after I’d eaten my first slice and a bite of the second, Jim called Randy and wanted to go out to eat. Randy said we were going to second-lunch, and at this point I’m still mostly in it for the camaraderie, so I summoned the Model Y and we took it across town. Maggie said she was too nervous to ride with FSD, so she drove separately.

The place Jim wanted to go was closed when we got there, so we rerouted to Señor Tequila, which I thought was fine, but not good. I figured it might be authentic with such little English being spoken, but it was just like any other middling Mexican restaurant. The beans were runny and the chips lacked salt. Otherwise the food could have used a bit more kick. I tried the tamale, and it was fine. The restaurant was also awkwardly quiet. I just wished I had stayed with the pizza instead.

We finished up the afternoon and I tried to close out some stale tickets, and then I headed home. I had to stop at Kohl’s to pick up an order on the way, and then I had to take a break before taking the dogs out on their run. It was already getting dark quickly, so we stopped briefly to see Dad and then continued up the hill and around the block a couple times. They did alright, but not great. I was also aggravated to see pots scattered in the yard and the edge of Stilgar’s pool all chewed up when I got home. They got some chews since I haven’t gotten any more hot dogs, and then I came in to clean up and wrap up before bed.

Cornel West, he’s our guy! If he can’t win, then why’d we try?