Tag: Reviews

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M R Not I. M R Ducks!

I felt pretty sour this morning, but I made it back to get the girls for their trip to the Children’s Hospital. There was a report of a crash around Pottsville, so Waze routed me off the interstate from there to Atkins. Fortunately we still had plenty of time to get there. I dropped Summer and Autumn off at the hospital for Autumn’s MRI, and then drove a few blocks away to Ben’s new office.

I was surprised how close it was, though it took some Google Fu and driving around his building to realize I was right under his office the whole time. I found the Arkansas Public School Resource Center on the directory downstairs, took one of the four elevators up, and could not have been any closer to their office. It was just a short walk down the third floor, past a big open stairway above a big water fountain. When I walked in, I told the lady he’d get a kick out of it if she told him his StripperGram had arrived. He didn’t answer the phone, so she had to go back and find him, and I heard laughter from around the corner.

He took me back to where he was working and we chatted for a bit, and then I got my laptop out to work on the importing of new laptops for the junior high library. I was on the right track and really would have had it figured out on my own, but it was nice to get some back history of his process so I could more easily replicate what he had done in the past. I really doubt it’s something the libraries will be able to do themselves in the future.

Autumn ended up not getting an MRI today after a new doctor talked to them about checking on some mental health issues that may be more likely, so maybe his words will carry some more weight. When Summer said they were done at the hospital, we picked them up and drove just a few blocks further past Ben’s office to Cotham’s for lunch. They were pretty packed, likely from walkers since there was plenty of parking available. Service was extremely slow, but not the worst. Three of us got hubcap burgers, which had a pound of meat that completely dwarfed the already large buns. The meat and the fries were both seasoned well, and everything was really good. Summer had to be different and got the chicken fried chicken, since they were out of regular fried chicken. She seemed to like it, on account of her happy plate.

After we ate, we dropped Ben back off at work and headed to the Splash Carwash on JFK for a quick detail. Then we went to McCain Mall and wandered around uncomfortably in the heat. I was absolutely miserable for nearly the entire time. I agreed to get Autumn some cookies from the Nestlé Toll House Café because I thought some ice cream would help, but it really didn’t. The young girl at the counter was having some trouble with her receipt printer, so I fixed it for her and jokingly asked if I earned a free cookie. She smiled and nodded, and I gave her another buck for a tip because she was so nice.

We made our way back through and out of the mall, and drove across the street to Target. There, at least a gust of cooler air came out of the door as we walked in. I was still uncomfortable though, and ended up just fanning myself with an Exploding Kittens expansion that I picked up on clearance.

Summer wanted to stop for some wine on the way home, so I looked up reviews and we drove the opposite direction to a well-reviewed one in Sherwood. They were nice, with a pretty good selection, and I even got a case discount on some Flyway. Once we loaded everything up, we made our way home, having to stop in some construction traffic around Morrilton. It didn’t take us too long to get through it fortunately.

The girls went to their rooms as soon as we got home, and I finished importing the rest of the laptops for Jessica. Then it was off to bed.

Time to sync some photos…

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Gotta Get Away

I got up early and ran straight home to clean up before going back to pick up Summer and Eaddie. We had to run by Summer’s shop to print Eaddie’s itinerary before we could leave, but then we were off to Little Rock. We made it with plenty of time, but they only let one of us go through security to the gate, so Summer went in while I sat on a bench outside just out of the rain. Fortunately it felt pretty nice out, and I had my earbuds on me.

Once the plane took off, Summer came back down and I took her to a place called Lakewood Fish & Seafood House to cheer her up. Watching Eaddie take off hit her a lot harder than she expected, so that pretty well set the tone for the day. At least everything we ate today was delicious. The stuffed crabs and seafood chowder were probably our favorites. The crab claws were odd, tasty, and overall left me a bit hungry.

After we ate, we walked all around McCain Mall and basically just felt sad about the state of retail in America. The nostalgia is all but gone. Even GameStop was uncharacteristically empty. JCPenney felt like a ghost town in areas. None of it made me happy.

I took us to Best Buy next, which again only served to kill time. They had zero deals, so we left and went to Sam’s Club. By that time I felt like I was just dragging a corpse around, so I picked up a couple things and we headed toward home. We had spent enough time out that we were both hungry again, so we stopped in Conway and ate at Bulgogi, which was excellent.

It rained all day long, but we eventually made it home, and Summer went straight to bed just as Eaddie landed in Milwaukee. I knew she could handle it.

I still kind of just want a steak.

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Slow Return to the Cinematic Universe

I pretty much worked with Kyle all day today, finally running some cable at Dwight in the morning, and then shuffling devices at junior high in the afternoon. We only had to make one trip back to the shop, but we ended up with a pretty clean install.

Everyone really wanted Fat Daddy’s for lunch, so I followed along and had an overpriced chili dog. It looked pretty gross with everything added on it, but tasted fine except for the cheese dip, which was just a bit too much. There wasn’t enough chili, and the coleslaw made the whole thing cold in the middle.

After lunch, I ran by The UPS Store and paid for our lease shipment finally. Then I tried to track down a single missing device that I’m pretty sure was dead out of the box at the junior high. I couldn’t find it after a couple rounds through the building, so hopefully it turns up sooner than later.

When I left work, I went home for a bit and waited on Summer to get back from Conway so we could use my BOGO coupon at CiCi’s. Then we met the girls at UEC for Black Widow. I was a bit uncomfortable for most of the movie, and ultra disappointed that we missed it in 3D. I guess all the movies rushing to release now after being held back due to the pandemic are pressuring theaters to run everything through really quickly. I got pretty stressed over it, and ended up disappointed in the theater as usual, from the stuff hanging in front of the screen and casting shadows, to the loud air conditioner, to the sound of the auditorium next door. At least the size of Auditorium 8 was better than I had remembered.

The movie was enjoyable enough, but did feel really lackluster after the prior movies, and even all of the Disney+ series. It felt more like a formality of passing the Black Widow baton than anything else. What I’m really looking forward to is more Loki.

It’s no “Falcon and Arm Guy.”

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New Boss, Who Dis?

It was cooler and rainy today, which fit perfectly with my mood about Ben being gone. Thomas is back, and we’ll get to spend the next few days bringing him up to speed with what he has already identified as “same shit, different people.” At least he’s welcomed input so far, and I don’t guess I could ask for much more.

Gary didn’t have anything new for us to work on, so we split up to image computers again. Josh returned to the high school with me until lunch time. Then we met everyone back at the shop for lunch with the new boss. He picked Fat Daddy’s, who appeared to be busier than usual. I had an uncharacteristically good burrito, which may be my go-to from now on. Everyone else’s meat plates looked overcooked and dry as usual. We still can’t figure out why the service takes so long though, since all the meat is smoked for longer periods of time. It’s not like we’re waiting for it to be freshly prepared. I had joked during our brief morning meeting that Gary said Thomas was paying, and then he actually did. I must be a prophet.

After lunch was just more of the same. Gary joined us for the last few minutes, and then we were off. I went home until time to get the girls for the band camp concert at Tucker Coliseum. I don’t remember it being carpeted the last time I was there. It probably helped the acoustics, but it still wasn’t at all ideal for a wind band. The girls were placed in the top two bands, which were both markedly better than the third.

They were hungry when we left, so I grabbed a family pack from Wendy’s on the way home. Then Eaddie and I watched an episode of House before bed.

Sometimes you just have to move the numbers around a little bit. It all makes sense. Trust me.

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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.