Are You In, or Are You Out?

I took the Model Y to work today so Summer could keep the Model 3 in town without burning the battery before our evening trip to Fayetteville. It was frustrating how junky her car is on the inside, but I’ve just had to turn a blind eye to it. It was quiet at the office, so I spent all day fighting the firewall and setting up more restrictive policies for devices in the plant.

I forgot my cheese sandwich, so I had my banana alone for breakfast. My iron left my stomach a bit unsettled all day, but we persevered. I skipped a proper lunch, but picked up a couple order of mozzarella sticks from Sonic and then came back to the office.

I basically completed what I had set out to do, which was get the new maintenance computer ready for deployment. We left close to 3:30 and raced home to get ready for the Coheed and Cambria concert. I swapped cars with Summer at Superfast, then headed home to change. That was when I learned that Eaddie had taken my earplugs some time ago, and left them in her old flute case that was on loan to Jenny. She said I gave them to her for marching season, but that had to be a lie because I had already given her a completely different set of her own. I tried to get her to retrieve them, but she got an attitude to the point that I nearly left her at home.

We dropped Muad’Dib off with Dad for the hour until Summer got off work, and then I chauffeured Eaddie and Eli to Fayetteville. Eaddie started fussing as we came up to Ozark and wanted food. I told her I wouldn’t stop, but then I did anyway. We ate some food at the picnic table outside, then continued to the Ozark Music Hall. I was pretty frustrated that all of the EV spots were taken by gas vehicles, and would have keyed them if my Tesla key wasn’t a plastic card.

The line stretched down the sidewalk, but we made it inside without any trouble. We had plenty of time before the music started, but of course the mob was already at the center of the floor and on up to the stage. We found a winding merch line and I picked up a shirt. The guy was too busy trying to serve the next person, so he didn’t hear me ask for a bag of coffee beans they had, but they were overpriced anyway.

The concert started with an Arkansas band called Little Towns, which were very good, but didn’t really speak to me in that special kind of way. I would have considered their merch if it didn’t have a big razorback on it. They played quite a few songs, and then the set change took a while, but Coheed eventually came out and rocked. It was a good show, but I would have liked to get there as early as I had planned before Eaddie dragged behind.

As they played their last song, Welcome Home, Claudio came out with a double-necked guitar that was tuned incorrectly. They had to stop, adjust, and then restart, but did so with a laugh. It was a good time. Afterward we headed home, having to stop in Ozark to charge again since we couldn’t during the concert. We picked up a ton of food again because the lady said it was all half-off. We shared a couple sandwiches and a bunch of other fried snacks before making it the rest of the way home for bed.

Bye bye, beautiful. Don’t bother to write.

No Buds

I didn’t sleep great again, but I managed to get up and out to check on my parents before going to work. Dad was out of his chair before Mom was, and sounded much better. We ended up getting to work just a little later than usual. I chatted up front for a little bit, then headed upstairs to find a project.

Summer told me last night that she was taken out of the regional meetings, so she wouldn’t be going to Little Rock any more. That meant she wasn’t meeting me for lunch, so I went to McDonald’s for a $2 order of McNuggets, and then Arby’s for a gyro. We took it back to work to eat, and I started on the nuggets in the parking lot while Muad’Dib wandered about. The wind had been going, but about halfway through it wanted to carry my food off, so we went inside to finish.

The afternoon carried on a bit as I caught up on the Google I/O summit. Quitting time eventually showed up and we headed home, driving with my meats because it was raining too much for autopilot to do it quickly. Summer was playing Torchlight, but I asked if she wanted to check on my parents with me. She got up and we made it over there to talk briefly. Mom got up to warm up some dinner for them, so we left. Terry walked up just as we were leaving, so I pointed him to go on in.

Just as we got to the house, I realized I forgot my eyeglasses at my parents’ house, so I dropped Summer and Muad’Dib off and went back. Terry was just leaving and commented on my car, so I talked him into a joyride. Then I had to find dinner because Summer didn’t want to eat like we had planned. I tried Gary and Grant, but neither answered. I circled around a bit, but still ended up at our planned Cici’s for a $5.99 salad. The salad was great, and I felt like I didn’t stuff myself.

I made it back to the house and took Muad’Dib on an acoustic walk before coming in for the night. I thought to look for my earbuds for our concert the next day, and couldn’t find them anywhere. I’m pretty disciplined about putting things like that in their home, so it was frustrating that they seemed to have disappeared. Even Summer eventually got out of bed to help look, but we couldn’t find them anywhere. I just went to bed, disappointed again.

How did I get here?

Let Off Some Steam

Autopilot was a frustration to and from work today, so I spent both drives disengaging repeatedly so I could record feedback. I figure it looks bad for them to have interrupted or shorter drives, even if I’m one person in the 10 billion self-driving miles driven.

I was surprisingly pretty busy today just helping others, so it felt good to be out of the office a bit. It was a nice day out too, so Muad’Dib and I went to Taco Bell. I ended up not eating all of my food, so I took my burrito for later and finished up the afternoon. Janice left a little early, so it was quiet upstairs.

Eaddie arrived at home just as I did, but then left. Johnny called and I talked to him for a little while. Then Summer showed up and we ate some leftovers. I took Muad’Dib for a late run, and then I got to play with my new Steam Controller for a bit as she went to bed.

A storm blew through pretty quickly with some loud thunder, but it didn’t last. Eaddie came home late and gave me the news that Whattaburger closed for good tonight with little notice. I felt like it went downhill when all the knick knacks disappeared and were replaced with generic pictures of food. It would have been nice to see that kind of stuff make a comeback.

Simpler times had lower standards.

Scanned if You Do; Scanned if You Don’t

I felt mildly rumbly in the tumbly for much of the day, but it wasn’t bad. I brought along another griddle cake sandwich for lunch, which got cold sitting on the table while I chatted with the ladies downstairs for a bit. I ended up down there a lot to resolve some scanning woes, but also to discuss redundancies in processes and other meaningless paperwork nonsense.

What wasn’t spent fighting scanners was spent fighting an utter lack of support from Microsoft for collaborative address booking. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, we found some time between a bit of rain to go to Sonic for a small, quick lunch. I picked up some fries from McDonald’s on the way back because it was a bit too small for me, but Muad’Dib got a handful of those too.

The afternoon was relatively short, and then we made it home after fighting autopilot and its newly developed habit of dropping speed. Summer was making a stuffed spaghetti squash and chicken dinner for us, which was relatively delicious. She had been in her feelings all day, and it never got much better. I ended up having to leave for a run with Muad’Dib after she started fussing about work some more.

Muad’Dib ran exceptionally well because it got quite chilly out. We made it to my parents’ house pretty quickly, but he slowed down a bit just before that. We didn’t visit long before making it home where we found Summer winding down for bed. I got cleaned up and did the same.

S’more o’ that!

The Dilemma

Feyd-Rautha laid on the porch by the back door all night long, and I could not have felt worse about the possibility of him going back to those people. He had finally started wagging his tail when he saw us come out, though he still hadn’t eaten anything but a couple treats. Summer left for Little Rock and I headed to work with the plan to deal with him later, though I texted Eaddie later and asked her to play with him some when she came back home from class.

I stayed pretty busy, but took time to email Animal Control again. They said they would send someone to do another welfare check, so I called to clarify that I still had the dog in custody. Tammie didn’t seem too concerned with what I had to say or what I wanted to do, so we just agreed to bring him in ourselves in the evening. I guess I wasn’t surprised, because it just comes with the job for them.

I met Summer for lunch at Ortega’s, and I was a little frustrated by the lack of service. They brought us a brand new bottle of salsa and then no chips, and didn’t get all of my order right. At least the food was good, but I could have gone for some more.

The afternoon was short just due to how late we ate, and then I asked to leave early so I could help Summer take Feyd to Animal Control. I raced home through slow traffic, and we wouldn’t have even made it on time if they hadn’t been waiting for Dreya to show up with another found dog. She talked to Summer briefly, and I took Feyd-Rautha into the loud, smelly, anxiety-inducing prison for the night. Tammie was of course unaffected, but did say the guy called looking for him. She did me the favor of not telling him that I had him, but said she would at least make him fill out the return paperwork tomorrow.

Summer and I headed back to the house and I started grilling steaks while she baked potatoes. I wanted to use charcoal this time, and it turned out pretty good. I even managed to use a small amount of charcoal without having a ton left over. At some point, we made it to the bedroom where I dug around and found my S21 Ultra, so I’ll be able to use it for the company picnic. We ate, and then I took Muad’Dib for a late run to see my parents. It was dark by the time we made it back, and we rushed to bed.

Oh, yes. I remember Gammu when it was Giedi Prime – the oil-soaked, blood-soaked hell hole of the Imperium!

Doggy Daycare

I considered breakfast this morning, but couldn’t come up with a worthy deal in time and just showed up at work early instead. Amanda needed help downstairs, so I spent a while working down there. Teddy came out of Rhonda’s office and ran around with Muad’Dib for a while, but then she made him go back before we left. The morning went by pretty quickly, but luckily we left for lunch when we did, because I forgot about the call I had in the afternoon.

We ended up at Taco Bell, then made it back just in time to hop on with the Aptean guys again. There was really no point to the call other than for us to be prompted to fill out a survey. I didn’t leave great remarks. The afternoon really dragged on after that.

Chick-fil-A sent me a free fry, so we stopped by on the way to get those on the way home. I saw Kevin and Hope at AT&T, so we stopped there to see them while we ate. Kevin was on his way out, but I caught up with Hope a bit before we left. Just as we were pulling out, I met the new store manager and we chatted briefly, and he suggested I should come back and work a part-time position they had because he “liked my vibe.”

I was pretty hungry when we made it back to the house, so I ate some leftover mush with Summer and then we sat on the couch and watched some YouTube for a while. She suggested popcorn and a movie, but I guess she changed her mind after I took Muad’Dib on a late run in the cooler air.

We visited my parents, and then I basically had to drag him back home. I ate some other leftovers and Summer went to bed.

Woah, again.

‘Cause if You Like It, but You’re Afraid of Early Release Bugs, Then You Shoulda Put an Update Ring on It

More pork chop sandwiches this morning. I had an okay day tinkering with some more Intune compliance stuff, then had an anxiety attack before a late lunch. It was a good, but windy day to sit outside Taco Bell, and then the afternoon was less painfully long.

Summer had a late meeting, so we got to the house and then immediately left for a run. Muad’Dib just casually trotted along the whole way, and it’s not even hot yet. We saw Dad before he left for church, and then got home and ate some leftovers. A bunch more had gone bad, so I threw that stuff out and took out the recycling just as Summer got there.

We spent some time outside cleaning up the driveway in preparation for some rain. I got Summer up on the roof to blow out the gutters as it got dark, and then she showered and went to bed. I cleaned up some more, then followed suit.

Whoa-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh.

Together We Can Take the Long Way Home

Eaddie beat us all up and into the shower this morning, which was great. We all managed to get ready and left right at checkout time. The kids actually left a little before us so they could get lunch downtown. I thought my parents had already left, so we headed toward Rogers for lunch, but then discovered they were still back at the hotel. Summer and I got to the Supercharger and walked around with Muad’Dib for 20 minutes or so, then put him back in the car and walked to Việt Buffet.

My parents arrived with perfect timing just shortly after we walked up, and we had a great lunch. I’m worried they won’t last long because of how many people were on staff and how empty the restaurant was, but all of the food was great. It’s a long drive even for a day trip, and there’s not much else up there to do that we can’t find closer.

Mom and Dad left a little before us, and then we still had to walk back to the car, but we got home just behind them. I took Muad’Dib on a run since we hadn’t been through the neighborhood in a couple months, and I could tell he was tired from an adventurous weekend. We visited my parents briefly, then made it home to unpack and clean up.

Eaddie had a sorority thing in the evening, so took a moment to decompress, and then I had to load up my loudspeakers to take to work for the upcoming picnic. I’m excited to actually get to use them properly, especially with all the new accessories I’ve been picking up.

Summer passed out early, and even Eaddie got home and went to bed before I finally got there. It was a fun and exhausting weekend, but man, what a year.

Better than watching Geller bending silver spoons

Makin’ Our Way Downtown

Summer and I got out for breakfast alone this morning because the kids didn’t want to get up. We drove across town to a place called The Squatch, where we had a breakfast burrito, biscuits and gravy, and avocado toast. The toast was probably the best of them. None of it was bad, but none of it was great either. It was a cute place though.

Afterward, we made our way back to the hotel and I ran around with Muad’Dib a bit. Evidently there was some kind of a footrace going on across the street, because we saw a few runners and could hear the commotion. We eventually got everyone out to go downtown and walk around, dropping the Model 3 off to charge at the top of the hill before taking Eli’s truck to park down the hill. I mostly stayed out of the shops with Muad’Dib, but it was really nice outside. As lunchtime approached, we ended up eating at New Delhi Cafe where they had a fusion of Indian and American. Eli and I split a burger and a curry chicken wrap. Eaddie had some butter chicken, and Summer had a huge fillet of fried fish and chips. Everything was really good, but I think the fish was probably my favorite bite.

We made it back for the afternoon show, which was much better than the last. We all had a good time before going back to the room to rest a bit. I ran around with Muad’Dib some more, and the others spent some time at the clubhouse playing mini golf and pool.

Dinner time eventually came around and the four of us met my parents, Uncle Rick, and Ginny at Red’s Pizzeria. Their four-generation sourdough pizza crust was great, and then we picked up my car on the way back for the evening show.

Everyone had a great time, but even Muad’Dib was exhausted by the end of it. We made it back to the room and started settling down for bed. Of course the Harry Potter marathon was finishing up, so I had trouble as my eyes kept wandering over to the TV, but I finally got to bed after midnight.

fifteen

Wheely Bad Service

I took a toasted pork chop sandwich for breakfast, and a heated lunch box with some chicken, sweet potato, and broccoli for lunch today. In spite of all the frustration, I was excited to get my Onewheel back in the morning. Teisha called when it showed up, and I loaded it into the car. The entire day was spent at the office wrapping up some of my understanding of Autopilot, so now I’m ready to actually build out some stuff around that and properly manage our devices.

My heated lunch box worked perfectly, and my meal was piping hot. Afterward, we took a break for some cake for Janice’s birthday. The afternoon went by fairly quickly after that, and we made our way home through heavy traffic.

Summer was in the tub, and Eaddie was leaving to play pickleball at Old Post, so I decided to take Muad’Dib out there to ride around. We never did find the kids, but we had a good time making a big loop around the park before coming back to the house.

As for the Onewheel; Future Motion did their usual shit job. It started with insufficient packaging because they didn’t replace the top egg carton inside the retail package, which I absolutely shipped to them. The Onewheel itself was completely covered in some kind of dust or powder that just blew off, so it had clearly been sitting out somewhere for a while. They replaced my Maghandle for some reason, and gave me a super shitty torn-up one with a really bad rubber grip. The plastics on the bottom corners also had huge chunks hanging off like they had curbed it multiple times. They rode it hard for 27 miles, which I’m not surprised wasn’t enough for them to reproduce my motor disengage issue. They did give me someone else’s used TFL valve stem cap though.

When we got back to the house, Summer and I ate some more leftovers. I saw another possum on camera under the house, so I had to investigate that. I have no idea how they’re getting in, because I walked the entire perimeter of the house and couldn’t find any holes apart from the small one at the top of the house under the eave of the roof.

Summer went to bed and Eaddie got home early and disappeared into her room. That left me to my own chores for the night before an even earlier bedtime than when I actually have to work the next day.

#FFM