Tag: Reviews

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A Message for Our Steakholders

I thought I would be out in the sun a bunch this morning, but Gary was a bro and had me complete some work in the office instead. The others went in pairs and disassembled some digital signage for spare parts before they’re outright replaced with the new hotness. For some reason they’re replacing all of the elementary signs regardless of condition, but not the middle school sign that is like 90% broken.

Four of us went to Brangus for lunch, where my beef spud tasted like mouthfuls of dirt. I don’t know if the mushrooms or potato weren’t washed, but I figure that’s what happened. After lunch, we split up into a couple re-imaging groups. I had Kyle go with Brody for the junior high, and I took Josh with me to the high school, based on who lived closer to which campus.

After work, I went straight home and did a little more cleaning up before Summer got home. Then we went back to Brangus for dinner for another sub-par service. I really thought it would be better, but the tumbleweed was burned to a crisp, and the service was mostly absent. Brangus is normally a good pick, but they were zero for two today. The one redeeming part of the visit was seeing Melinda and Matt on their way out. I had to holler at her pretty loudly to get her attention, but as soon as she saw us, she one-upped me.

Once back home, we wound down pretty quickly and went to bed early. Tomorrow we’ll face the new boss. The last one was easy.

Too many ghosts.

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Child’s Play

I got up this morning to meet the guys at Taco John’s for lunch. Blake and Robert were already there, both waiting in their cars like a couple of shy guys. When I started to go in, Robert yelled out his window for me to sit in his truck with him, but as soon as I got the door shut, Blake got out of his car because he saw me.

Gary and Grant both showed up eventually, and we went in to get our food. Surprisingly I think most of us were about as unimpressed with that place as I always am. I don’t get the nostalgia, but I was happy to be a part of it anyway. We chatted for hours, or rather mostly listened to Robert as he recounted stories from his steel trap of a mind. It was absolutely awesome getting to catch up, and I wished timing had worked out for Mitch to be there as well.

We wrapped up just in time for me to go home and clean up before the play. Summer got tickets for the two of us plus my parents to see Disney’s Descendants: The Musical. My parents arrived just late enough for it to be awkward to get back to our seats, and the rest of the show went about how I expected. I was glad Summer enjoyed it, but I have absolutely no feelings about school plays at all. I loved Wicked, but this basically took everything I disliked and amplified it. It was difficult to understand some 90% of the dialog, so I relied on context clues to follow the entire plot, which I had already gleaned from the summary of the show. It would have made more sense if we were taking small children.

As soon as we got home, Summer had to take off to get the girls to band camp. I tinkered with some photo backups at home for a while until Summer was ready to eat. Then I took her a new Fitbit I picked up on Prime Day, and warmed up some leftovers for us.

At some point in the evening, I lost connectivity to everything in my house. It wasn’t a power outage, so I assumed my internet had gone out. I checked in again late in the evening, and everything was still broken, so I went home to check on it. Evidently the battery backup for the home entertainment setup had gone worse, and some of my equipment was cycling on and off. I was glad to catch it before it continued on overnight, but frustrated trying to fix it while unable to turn on any of my lights. The convenience of an everyday smart home turned a simple task into an infuriating circus.

Exhausted from all the crawling about behind equipment, and knowing I had to get up for a stupid Catapult health screening in the morning, I just crashed there for the night to save myself the drive in the morning.

LINE!

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Dress Rehearsal

I felt exhausted all day again today, and I still don’t know if I’m just not getting enough sleep, or if it’s some kind of internal clock thing that still hasn’t reverted back to this time zone. Fortunately it was pretty quiet at work. Mike was at the high school all day for the virtual conference they were hosting. I spent all day with Brody hunting for Chromebooks. We’re short nearly half of the lease that needs to go back, and I don’t know what we’re going to do. Hopefully we can return some alternate devices.

We decided to try The Gunslingin’ Burger for lunch. I had been once with Allen a while back, and my opinion didn’t change today. It was a pretty good burger, but not worth near what it cost. It would have stung less if the combo meal at least came with a drink, but the girl said they stopped including a drink when too many people chose to bundle with shakes. I guess it never crossed their minds to simply not allow that, and to only include a fountain drink.

In any case, I’m still creeped out by the life-size cross standing in the dining room. Then the chef seems to miss social cues as he lingers to ask how you enjoyed your meal. In most any other environment I wouldn’t take issue, but in this scenario it just kind of makes everyone feel a little uncomfortable. I think at a cheaper price point I would just accept everything else, but this just feels like a lot.

After lunch, I ended up sitting out of any real group work. I tried to do some sleuthing to find the missing devices in any system at all, but didn’t have any luck. I spent the last bit of the day prepping for my interview first thing tomorrow. I think I’ve just decided to go all-in. I want to believe that the three of us have a fighting chance, but a bigger part of me thinks there’s no way they’ll let it happen, so I feel like I have to really do something to stand out.

After work, I ran by Summer’s shop to try and print a better copy of my “blank” page to my résumé. It turned out really well, but I wanted to see if Staples could go full-bleed. Unfortunately they couldn’t, but I perused clearance while I was there. Then I stopped by Taco Bell for a quick dinner on the way home. They were unbelievably slow, and the food seemed really lean, but it tasted alright.

Mom and Dad stopped in while I was putting together my individual packets for tomorrow. Then I video chatted Summer while I picked out a nice outfit for the morning. I hope it pays off.

I suppose you’re all wondering why I called you here today.

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Tropical Mornings

I got out of bed with Summer this morning so I could go out before the sun came up. It was still plenty bright outside because we’re on the wrong side of everything to see a proper sunrise, but it was still really pretty out. We walked along the breakwater and watched surfers go out to sea. Then we walked down the pier to look at the boats. We ran into a couple roosters by a swing in a tree, and then a friendly cat. We even spotted a boat for sale for a cool half million.

Eventually we were hungry enough for breakfast, so we went to CJ’s again to see if they could open on time. They made it pretty close, and the food and service both ended up being pretty good. This week has been pretty successful as far as food goes.

When we got back to the room, we took Dad out to try the pool, which was way too cold in the shade for being on a tropical island. We eventually moved from there to the saltwater lagoon, which was still too cold for Summer. Dad went to rent a stand-up paddleboard while Summer laid in the grass. I just shuffled around the lagoon letting fish nibble at my feet.

Julie eventually made it out with Mom as well, and they had a lad carry out a couple beach chairs and dig a hole for an umbrella. I eventually had my fair share of sun and went in to clean up. I made a sandwich for lunch to clean up some of the food we have left, and then went with Dad and Summer to do some souvenir shopping. I hate gift shopping, and wasn’t terribly impressed with much of anything. At least Summer loaded up for all of her people.

We rested for a bit after shopping, then dressed up for dinner upstairs at Fresco Italian. I was pleasantly surprised by the food, and it was nice to be seated right next to an open window, where outside they were hosting a luau. We split up after dinner and Summer and I walked around a bit more before coming back to the room. I stayed up a bit late to pack as much as I could before bed.

Tropical evenings

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Rubbah Flippahs

I tried to get out early again to get some pictures on Summer’s run, but got there after she had finished. We walked around the harbor a bit and took some pictures of crabs and fish along the dock, and then came back up to get ready for the day. Dad made breakfast this time since Julie didn’t wake up until much later. Mom stayed up all night, wired on coffee ice cream.

Dad and Summer picked up snorkeling gear, and eventually we got everyone downstairs for Susan to take us to the Makai Research Pier. She stopped in a few scenic places along the way and showed us around, and even took some pictures for us. Dad took a spill at one of them and scraped up his knees pretty badly, but Susan came to the rescue again and patched him right up.

The research center itself was closed to the public, but there was a pretty good beach with lots of live coral for snorkeling. Julie was upset that there were clouds out for part of the day, and didn’t feel like the snorkeling was as good, but I felt like it was quite a bit better than Hanauma Bay and the skeleton of its reef. I don’t remember seeing tons of great fish there – mostly giant parrot fish, which I guess was interesting too, but this time I felt more like we were in a real ecosystem. We also didn’t have to camp out tickets at 7 in the morning, and there were WAY fewer people there.

Dad, Summer, and I spent the most time out in the water, and we kept getting spread out. Dad and Julie saw a sea turtle at one point, but I never did. I spotted a seahorse and showed Summer, and we think Dad saw the same one just a little earlier based on where we saw it. It was super hard not to just touch the little guy. He was bright yellow, and had hitched himself to some seaweed relatively near the shore.

Mom never even got in the water, and stood in the shade to play on her phone the whole time. Julie tanned for a while, then made us sandwiches for lunch. When we were finally ready to leave, Susan had to send her boyfriend, Kevin, over to get us since she was on the opposite end of the island. He was pretty cool too, though.

On the way back, we stopped and picked up a bunch of fresh donuts from a Leonard’s Bakery truck. Both Susan and Kevin kept telling us about it, and we figured we wouldn’t have a better chance to pull off the road to get some. Kevin insisted that we eat in the car, but I was the only one that did. I kind of regretted it because they were pretty messy, but they were also way better fresh than when we got back to the room.

After cleaning up and resting a bit, Dad, Summer, and I went to return the snorkeling gear. Just as we got there, Susan said she could take us out to eat, so we hustled back and met Mom and Julie out front. We went to Nico’s Pier 38 after Susan’s suggestion earlier in the week, and after a bit of a wait, we got a table. The food was pretty great, but my mojito hit me super hard and I felt like I had a midget sitting on my shoulders the rest of the night.

Kevin was the one to take us back to the room after dinner, and from there it was straight to bed for us.

See horse?

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Diamond Head to Go With These Hands

Summer got out for a run super early, and I didn’t sleep in much but didn’t realize when she had gotten back. When I finally found her out on the balcony, we decided to get out for breakfast. Dad was up too, and the three of us went to Blue Water Shrimp again after CJ’s New York Style Deli couldn’t get their doors opened within an hour of their posted opening time. The food was really good, and seemed cheaper than CJ’s anyway. I had some super thick French toast that had a great crunch and squish.

After breakfast, we came back and tried to get around to do something. We didn’t have any set plans, so we settled on a hike up Diamond Head. Summer and Dad were most excited about it. I was interested, but leery of the physical toll. Mom and Julie had no interest. We wandered downstairs to try and get some coffee, but the taxi showed up before we got through the line.

Leading up to the hike, we actually drove through a tunnel to get into the crater. Then it was a long hike up the inside of the crater to one of the military installments at the peak. You could see all around the island, and it was just beautiful. The sun was pretty brutal though, and I was drenched with sweat by the time we made it to the top. Some of it was paved. Then it got to a carved, rocky surface, went up through a tunnel again, and then ended with a bunch of stairs.

After a bunch of pictures and cooling off in the strong breeze at the top, we made quick work of the trip down. They had a couple food trucks there, so I got a pineapple smoothie, and Dad and Summer got Dole Whip. I ended up getting a free Doll Whip myself when the girl stuck her head out of the truck and offered it to anyone. Nobody else jumped on it, so I was happy to eat it.

It proved tricky to get someone from Charley’s Taxi back out to take us back to the resort, but we finally got a lady out that ended up being our favorite driver yet. She was super affable and informative, and made it a short trip. By the time we got back, Julie had gotten Mom out of the condo and out to the beach. We changed and joined them for a while until I knew we needed to start planning dinner.

Summer and I came back to the room to shower and change, and then we all took a taxi to Phở Bistro 2, which Julie found nearby with good reviews. I had oxtail soup, which was really rich and tasty, but it was weird that it was made with lettuce and rice in it. I’m pretty sure those beans were peanuts, too.

We had trouble getting a taxi again, so we just walked the mile back to the resort. I started sweating pretty furiously with the humidity, and couldn’t stand to wait in line for ice cream or drinks. Summer and I just headed back up to the room where she fell asleep while I took a cold shower to cool off.

I came downstairs for my blogging ritual at the end of the night, and Dad came out of their room with a pair of panties he found in one of the lamps in their room. Julie called the front desk to talk to a manager about it and negotiated a $100 credit on the resort fees, but I don’t really know what I would expect in a situation like that. Gross? Sure, but I don’t know what kind of resolution would really make me happy. I probably wouldn’t expect anything. Now I feel like I have to clean my own mess up so they can clean around me.

What a time to have a place with stairs to get to the bedroom.

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So You’re PMSing Pretty Bad, Huh?

It was nice enough this morning that I got the R1 out, but I didn’t get much time on it. I started super tired and got a slow start, which landed me at work pretty late, but I stayed even later to make up for it. I felt like it was a pretty productive day of mostly helping others, but I also felt like I was the only one that saw it that way. I’ve been feeling more or less like a superficial cog in the wheel, taking on menial tasks without any real, tangible usefulness.

Lunch at Fat Daddy’s didn’t make it any better. Gary and I got the Tuesday special, which was a “brisket sandwich” that looked like an overcooked philly cheesesteak sandwich without the grilled onions or peppers. It was more like a French dip than anything, and it was pretty awful. I left hungry and dissatisfied, both because of the food and the amount of time it took to get to us. I don’t know how a barbecue place that has to smoke meats hours ahead can take so long to slice and assemble a plate.

The afternoon was successful in that I got rid of the Mac that has been sitting downstairs for the past couple weeks. I was also promised some recommendations for Ben’s position, though I’m not super hopeful about that. I’m cautiously, if not unjustifiably optimistic. Ben told me to take my speakers home, which sort of inadvertently crushed what little bit of happiness I’ve had at work lately.

I stopped by to see Summer on the way home and we chatted a little bit before she went home. Still hungry from a disappointing lunch, I stopped by McDonald’s for a sad bacon double quarter pounder, then Wendy’s for a sad order of fries. I ate, finished up a bottle of apple pie, and watched a couple more episodes of Superman & Lois before crashing for the night.

I suppose you’re all wondering why I called you here today.

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Battle of the Bulk

Summer and I got up this morning and started shuffling things in the garage. After some debate, we decided to get rid of the chest of drawers that has been rotting away in the garage due to some water damage. Then we got rid of some larger pallets from the shed out back, and moved some of the smaller ones from the garage out into the shed. There was a nest of some kind of flying ant-looking bugs out there, and they didn’t seem to be eating up anything, but they just went everywhere when we disturbed them. I just left the shed open all day, and they moved on out.

By the time we got the majority of everything out, we had worked up an appetite for lunch, so we loaded up the girls and went to Smackin’ Wings and Things. I guess I had slightly forgotten how high that place is, and I outright refused to get Autumn the 5-piece chicken strip meal she wanted for $16.49(!), especially since she was the only one of us that had already eaten something in the form of two leftover soft tacos just minutes earlier. Instead, we had them split an order of 20 boneless wings, and Summer and I shared some Curious George fries. We still didn’t get out the door for under $50 after a tip, so I hope at those prices even the servers get paid a living wage.

After we ate, we took the girls home to clean up and mow the lawn while Summer and I loaded their old mattress onto her car for a trip back to my house for bulk item pickup day. I was pleasantly surprised with how well it rode up there, and we made it home without incident. I continued to clean up and started some laundry while she went back home.

Eaddie wanted to go to an Among Us real-life game with her boyfriend, what’s-his-face, so Summer dropped her off and then came to visit me for a while later in the evening. I felt pretty tired, and was surprised to see how early it was by the time I was winding down for bed. I’ll take the sleep when I can get it.

Seriously, for $2.75 more we could have gotten a dinner buffet at Brown’s.

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It’s Curtains for You!

I went in to the office for a little while today, then got a call from Brody to help with something at the junior high. We only sort of fixed that for Matt, then piddled around with some print issues in the library until lunch.

We decided to try Whatta Burger after having possibly not been at all since I started working there. They had changed the decorations again, replacing the generic pictures of hamburgers with some squidly kites. The menu boards and POS systems were all new and lacking any character at all. The burger was fine, but the fries were pretty lame. For a $10 lunch deal, it hardly felt like a deal at all.

After lunch, I spent a good amount of time hunting for my bead curtain. Ben hid it somewhere, and I couldn’t tell whether he played some camera trickery on me. There definitely didn’t seem to be any place for it to hide in that storage room where he originally hid it. I was able to recover my pirate flag, but no curtain.

I was supposed to go by Mark’s after work but forgot in the process of getting the girls ready for karate. Fortunately he called to say he had to leave work, so we’d have to schedule another time anyway. I dropped the girls off, then went to the Neighborhood Market for some extras to dress up one of the school pizzas that Brody brought back for us.

Once I got to Summer’s, I started cooking some bacon and putting the dryer back together. The part went in super easily, and I managed to get all the screws back in the right place. I did put the drum in backwards, but it was symmetrical anyway. The pizza turned out pretty great, and was completely unrecognizable with everything I added.

The girls trickled off to showers and bed, and I headed home for the evening hoping not to lose any more Doge. It definitely hit a low where I was losing, but popped right back up within minutes. It just made me wish I was better prepared to begin with, but now that the money is in the account, trades can happen without any fear of missing out.

Rollercoaster…. of Doooooge.

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Where’s Curtain?

I had so much trouble going to sleep last night that it was a real surprise making it to work early today. Ben enjoyed my I Know What You Did Last Summer Recently picture so much that he made his own Where’s Waldo Curtain picture to tape over my door. Melinda was gone and left me with a gift bag of snacks and a single-shot dart gun with a pile of foam darts; mostly pink.

It was a quiet day, because Zach was off and Ben left to cover testing at Crawford. Greg and I were the only two at the shop for a while. Gary was in and out. I had some work orders assigned to me, so I just took care of those for most of the morning.

Lunch time approached surprisingly fast. I convinced Gary, Greg, and Josh to go to McAlister’s with me so I could redeem my free entrée. I should have taken a picture of how pitiful it looked. I got the Pick Two with a cup of soup that was only about two thirds full, and a sandwich that hardly had anything inside of the bread. For ten bucks, I would have been super mad. For free, I just sort of felt like I was on a diet.

After lunch, I continued work in Jamf, trying to enroll that new iMac. I finally asked Gary for some advice and we pretty well decided it was just an OS incompatibility for being so new. Ben and I chatted for a little bit after work, and then I headed home to get Autumn to her Explorers event in Dardanelle.

The internet was in and out for a while, so we had to let Eaddie into the garage from her bike ride. After dropping Autumn off, I came home and continued packing things into my cabinet and cleaning up the garage. Summer came by to get Eaddie, and once the sun went down, I moved inside to try and clean up the laundry room. It gets a lot slower as the things I’m organizing get smaller.

I finished the evening trying to find some arrangement of picture frames that lined up well enough to not notice minor height differences. Next time I’m staggering them purposefully, because inconsistency in mounting hardware height is stupid.

It’s like triangular marketing.