Tag: sad

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What Is

I got very little sleep last night, but made it to work at a “normally” late time. It was not a day for accomplishments. I went to McDonald’s with Randy for some breakfast and had a steak, egg, and cheese bagel. That got me through to a late lunch with him and Jim at Louisiana Famous Fried Chicken just up the road. They liked their food pretty well, but my jambalaya was poured over rice that simply wasn’t cooked.

I guess the afternoon went by pretty quickly. I charged a little extra last night so I wouldn’t have to stop on the way home now that my free Supercharging is expired. I took Muad’Dib out for a run and did two laps of our usual course while I took a phone call

Completely out of the blue, Shawna sent me a friend request over the weekend, so I entertained her message, fully expecting to be phished or scammed in some way. To my absolute surprise, it really was her, so we had been catching up since Sunday. I think in hindsight, that conversation went fairly predictably. Then, again by chance, I got a call from Johnny and I talked to him for a bit as we made our way to my parents’ house to see Dad, who had gone out for a flight with Julie since she earned her next step in her licensure.

We made it home for the night and I brushed him out. I desperately wanted to take him for a bath so he could stay inside for the night, but we dawdled too long and didn’t make it. I threw myself a pity party and reminisced as I gathered myself for bed.

What Should Never Be

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Sundane

I was a little worried that Muad’Dib stayed in all night and Eaddie let him out of her room without taking him outside, but I never found a mess. The house is far from dog-proof, so I was frustrated at the lack of care again. He didn’t want to go out when I woke up to try and take him, and he seemed fine when Summer took him out later when she finally got up. I didn’t want to sleep too late, so I just ran on the couple hours I got.

Summer went to the gym and I took Muad’Dib out for a good run in the morning because I was worried it would rain. The ground was a little bit wet, but not too bad. We had a decent run, but he was really slow. We went to my parents’ house, then circled back around to run most of the course in reverse.

Mom was hungry when they got back to town, but Summer wanted to come home and work on the yard. I went to Check H with my parents and rode around with them for a little bit, then came home to try and clean things up a bit. I had a bunch of Vine stuff to clean out of the walkways, but I need to focus on putting some stuff to work instead of just collecting things without any time to use them. I’ve cut my ordering way back already.

That was pretty much it for the rest of the day. Summer did laundry and sat down in front of the TV to work and finish Moana 2, which was still terrible. I milled around, exhausted from lack of sleep. Muad’Dib didn’t get to hang out inside because he chose to take a bath in the creek, so we’ll need to take him to the dog wash again soon.

Hilarious Universe moments

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Spring Paws

I had a bunch of dreams last night, but none of them were notable enough to remember halfway through the day. I had trouble getting to work because the first two onramps I tried were closed, so I ended up driving all the way across town to the last onramp. Fortunately there was hardly any traffic due to spring break, so it was smooth sailing after that. I was late, but still walked in just as Randy was pulling into the parking lot. He wouldn’t have cared either way, because the old men were playing games or watching videos all day and he just quietly pointed it out to me and laughed.

Several of us went to Black Bear Diner for lunch and I tried the fish and chips, and I’m no longer thrilled about their all-you-can-eat fish on Fridays. It wasn’t bad, but it was just frozen, fried cod. The afternoon was even quieter, and Randy let us go about half an hour early.

I stopped to charge up to 80% to take advantage of my last few days of free Supercharging, and then made it home to run the dog. I was thrilled that Eaddie wanted to go ride her bike with us, so the three of us rode down past Kroger and over to Casey’s where I redeemed a free drink for us. Then we crossed back over to Oakland Heights before turning toward home. We stopped to see my parents and had just gotten back home when Eaddie realized she left her phone at their house. Muad’Dib and I rode back to get it, and after running for the entirety of our first outing, he walked nearly the entire time for our second. All total, we did 8.4 miles in almost exactly one hour with a top speed of about 17 miles per hour. He did great crossing traffic, and I only held the leash when we crossed to Casey’s without a light.

Summer was home by then, so we went to Peg Leg’s for some burgers. We were the only three souls in the restaurant, but we were pleased to see another table of four come in after us, and at least one person come through the drive-through. The food was good, but the cheese dip wasn’t warmed through. The flavors have always been great, but for the price, there wasn’t really any excuse for anything to be underprepared, especially if it’s basically just microwaved.

I unboxed just a couple new things when we got home, and then everyone was off to bed early.

Happy little locomotive.

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Double Quatro

I woke up super early this morning with a stomach ache, but I was able to get back to sleep for just a little bit longer. I didn’t sleep in too late though, and got up a little while before Summer. It was her birthday, so I made her some fresh ground coffee and gave her some gifts I had been holding back. After a little while, she went to the gym and I took a shower and ran the dog. We had a good run and swim in the creek, then circled by my parents’ house a couple times but nobody was home.

We thought we’d be going out for dinner with both of the girls, but when Eaddie wasn’t hungry when she finally got home from her overnight trip to Oklahoma City. Summer and I just went to New China by ourselves, and stuffed ourselves of some pretty mediocre food. Some of it was nice and fresh, but others were problematic. The rangoons tasted super stale like the wonton wrappers or oil were really old. Some of the other food was cold even though it looked hot and fresh on the bar.

Summer had an upset stomach herself when we got home, so I took Muad’Dib out for another run. We went straight to visit my parents that time, then he ran the rest of our route backwards until he was too tired to run and we just lollygagged back home for the night.

Ready, break!

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Three Wheels, Four Legs, and a Smokehouse

I didn’t want to sleep too late today, so I got up and fed Muad’Dib, then started getting ready so we could take him out on an early run. Eaddie left for Oklahoma City with a friend overnight, so we had the whole day to ourselves. Summer and I had talked about going to Ridgewood, so once I got showered, she got out a bicycle and I took my Onewheel, and the three of us rode straight over once they were open for lunch.

We had a good run, and the restaurant was busy. There was another group of people with a dog or two at the other picnic table outside, but they didn’t want to let them socialize because they were service dogs in training. I tied Muad’Dib up and went in to get food, and Robert gave me a handful of pulled pork for him along with my own rack of ribs and Summer’s mac and cheese bowl. The weather was nice while we ate, and Muad’Dib did pretty well under the table. He gets excited sometimes, but once he’s settled down, he’s always super chill and gentle.

Once we ate, we headed on back toward my parents’ house to visit before eventually making it home. We were both pretty tired by then, and Summer started to feel a little sick to the stomach. She took a bath while I put together a big plant stand.

The afternoon went by pretty quickly, and we eventually got a little hungry again. Summer didn’t want to leave the house, so I picked up some Panda Express to share, and I ate some more of the mushy rice she made a couple weeks ago. Muad’Dib came inside to sit with us, and I gave him some of his pulled pork while we ate. He behaved so well by the table.

After we ate, I put on Moana 2, which should have been a straight-to-VHS movie. It started awful, and it just never got any better. It seemed like fan service for children so they could sell more stuffed animals. I got super sleepy watching it, and eventually had to turn it off and just go to sleep.

Heavy

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Mazel Tov Cocktails

I thought I was a little further behind today, but I still beat everyone but Gary to the office. I-40 was backed up from the McCain exit back to the I-30 split for much of the morning, and the slow traffic caused multiple other accidents because people love their jobs so much that they’re willing to risk it all. I had forgotten we were supposed to go to the annex to clean out the rest of the junk there, but everyone started at the office anyway, and they chatted about the school board passing the reorganization plan at the meeting the night before.

We eventually did head toward the annex, but Randy and Maggie had to go to central office and everyone else drove separately. I took the back roads and got there long before Gary, who left the office just after I did. Jim and Kyle were there first, then Jay, Brian, Jimmy, and Gary eventually showed up. Just before Gary got there, Randy called and needed me to get a virtual machine set up for remote HVAC access. I started back, but took JFK down to McCain rather than taking the Interstate.

As I got to my intersection, I was reminded that there existed a Hardee’s, so I stopped for breakfast. I had a deal for a sausage and egg biscuit, and I wanted to try their Nashville Hot chicken biscuit as well. The hash rounds were the best I’d ever had from a Hardee’s before, in spite of how much the employees appeared to be struggling. I ate those on the way back to the office.

It took me a while to get Hyper-V to do what I wanted, but I did get it done by the end of the day. People eventually filtered back into the office, and then Maggie and I met Randy and Kyle at Texas Roadhouse for lunch. The afternoon was pretty quiet, and Randy sent everyone home at three after he and I took pictures of the car accessories I got for him off of Amazon Vine.

I had no choice but to stop and charge on the way home, and Summer was on her way to Conway, so I charged up to my 80% limit and met her at the wash. They only had one working bay in the manual wash, but I eventually got in and washed. While I was there, a guy rode up to wash his motorcycle. I talked to him very briefly as I was working, and he complimented the Model 3 and asked if I’d seen all the stuff about the “mazel tov cocktails.”

The soap in the wash did an absolutely horrible job, but the paint looked better. I made it home through dumb, slow traffic, and tried to get the kids to ride bikes while I rode around with Muad’Dib. Eaddie fussed at first but said she’d text me after a bathroom break, so Muad’Dib and I set out to “find Stilgar.” I kept coaching him and let him lead, and he walked me straight to my parents’ house where Dad met us in the driveway.

We left there and went through the basin trail, and he took me down to Phoenix where we passed Mom on her way home. He walked me all the way to Ridgewood Brothers, so I tied him up and went inside for some pulled pork. Grant had his butcher hook me up with some scraps gratis, which was very touching since I’d been having a hard time with the nice weather and thinking about Stilgar. I absolutely love the new relationship I have with Muad’Dib, but I hate that this is how I got it. Our walks are a completely different experience now, and I miss Stilgar’s energy so much.

Muad’Dib went absolutely nuts when he smelled the food, so it was a struggle to get him calm enough to eat any. Then when we started to leave, he took off after some guests and I had to zap him a couple times before he’d leave with me. We lollygagged back toward my parents’ house, stopping for another dip in the creek. He did a lot of walking, a lot of marking, and a bit of running too. It was a good seven-mile trek in total.

I let Muad’Dib hang out inside while I unboxed my newest Vine haul. Summer got home from work late and ate before bed. Eaddie had left with Eli but came home a little earlier to go to bed. My legs and feet had been staying swollen for the past couple weeks even after sleeping all night, so I guess I should report that to someone, but I’m afraid of what it would cost to talk to someone again at the risk of receiving zero feedback.

What’s the point?

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Free Running

I got out of the house a little earlier today and had a sleepy drive in to work. I didn’t get into anything at all really, and just did a deep clean of my inbox that had gotten out of control. I checked in on Muad’Dib, and he was just sleeping on the porch, so I messaged Dad to see if he might want to take him out for a walk sometime, and he ended up taking him home while he worked in the yard.

I met Randy and Kyle at Fazoli’s for lunch. I had never been, but it was pretty decent, and seemed pretty cheap for Little Rock. We took a vendor call in the afternoon that wasn’t of much value to us, and then kind of rode it out until quitting time.

Summer traveled all day, so I stopped to charge most of the way up so I wouldn’t have to stay up late to swap chargers at home. Once I got home, I rode over to Dad’s to get Muad’Dib and we went on a long run to Ridgewood Brothers. I saw Kyler’s car there, but the doors were shut and they were working, so we sat on the bench for a little bit and then headed on back. We encountered a couple other big dogs that were pretty fussy, but then got to meet the same small dog we sniffed yesterday. I talked to the lady for a little bit and let them play, and then we headed back to my parents’ house to see them before we made it home.

Eaddie had a fundraiser at Freddy’s, so Summer got herself some food there. I ate some leftover goulash and then took my car to the wash because it was super gross. I couldn’t even see out of the rear camera very well. After that, I finally replaced an outside bulb I had been meaning to get to for weeks, and then unboxed most of my daily Vine stuff before bed.

Potato; tomato

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Review Recap

I awoke from a deep sleep this morning, and it was off to work again. Jimmy was the only one there, but then Kyle and I walked in together. Randy got there shortly after that, and I recapped my week and a half since I’d left. The rest of the day I tried to catch up on emails in between talks with Randy about getting my evaluation done. They had trouble getting the self-evaluation form to us, so Randy was stuck.

The two of us met Kyle and Jim at the Black Bear Diner, and we had breakfast for lunch. It was super good, and a reasonably good price for all the food we got. It was still expensive, but I had leftovers to save for tomorrow. I finally got my self-evaluation form in my personal email, so I spent the afternoon filling that out more than what was probably necessary. Then I ran home as quickly as I could so we could pick up Muad’Dib.

Traffic was awful even after I stopped to charge in Conway, but I eventually got home where Summer was waiting for me. She had her bicycle out to ride over, and Dad met us outside. Muad’Dib was just hanging out on the porch, and didn’t seem to mind much. I’d seen him really whimper in the past, so I thought he might be even more excited after we were gone so long, but he just sort of greeted us like any other time. We ran Summer home, and then the two of us went for our normal route at a leisurely pace. He did great off leash, but I did end up holding onto him a couple of times near another small dog, just as a precaution.

When we got home, I started unboxing Vine stuff. I got all of the smaller packages done, but I still had a couple large ones that were mostly outdoor light fixtures. I sprang to bed as quickly as I could, so hopefully I can maintain a healthy sleep schedule.

Bark

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We’ve Been Conned

We slept in pretty late today as a reward for the long day of travel before. Summer finally made me get up so we could find our way to the opening ceremony. Eaddie got lost trying to find her way back to get us, but luckily we ran into Phoebe in the elevator, who got us to the right place. The ceremony wasn’t really “for” us, but Summer wanted to experience it. It was a huge mob of people, so it was neat to at least see all of them in one place.

After the ceremony, we tried to find our way back to the room, but immediately discovered how easy it was to get lost. I changed so I wouldn’t be overdressed, and we eventually took the car across town for a charge and some late lunch. The place turned out to be a co-working space, and there was a huge room with a bunch of food vendors, and even a barber. We ate at a burger place called The Bull Grill, which was super good. I particularly appreciated that in spite of being very tall burgers, they stayed together perfectly to the very last bite.

We headed back to the room again after that, until we got a text from Eaddie that they were going to the mall down the road. We thought that was our indication to meet them since they had discussed going together, but after a super long walk through a maze of escalators and skywalks, we arrived at the mall just in time to hear the closing announcement.

The kids wound up walking further up the road to eat at a nitrogen ice cream shop, but Summer and I weren’t really interested. We crossed the road and used my old gift card at Steak ‘n Shake instead. I still had money left after they closed our location at home, so Summer got a cherry Diet Coke and I redeemed a free birthday shake.

We decided to take the sidewalk back to the hotel since the weather was so nice, and as we walked past the giant convention center, we encountered a poor girl struggling to roll three giant suitcases down the broken and cracked sidewalk ahead of us. She even had a cane on top of one of them, so we decided to cautiously approach and offer assistance. We eventually learned that her name was Elaine, and she was there to set up a vendor booth for Growing Geeks Clothing at the Comic Con happening this weekend. A security guard refused to let her in and told her she had to go to the opposite side of the building to the registration desk. Fortunately we encountered another guy rolling stuff in a side door he had gotten through, so we helped Elaine get everything inside.

She was so thankful that she wanted to give us her extra exhibitor pass, but I wasn’t sure we would have time. Summer eventually caught up and jumped at the chance to go to the convention, so we ended up getting her to the registration desk, helped her locate and arrange her booth, and even hung a bunch of clothes on hangers for her. It was fun to make a friend, and by the end of it as we were walking out, we decided to go ahead and buy an extra exhibitor pass that she was allowed at the discounted rate of $50. When we got to the registration desk, the girl just handed me a pass for free after having her own long day, so Summer and I would both get to go together.

Not really believing our luck, we made our way back to the room for the night. I called my parents to share the excitement, and then Summer found Spider-Man: No Way Home on the TV, so I got sucked into the rest of that as she fell asleep. I was up too late in a mixture of ADD fog and ruminating about the dogs, but I eventually got there.

Buncha nerds.

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Goulashes

It was a rough night, but I still woke up early to check on Muad’Dib. He had his head down all day, and it broke my heart how depressed he looked. I almost wished he had gone too, just for the sake of not being alone with whatever trauma he witnessed. He just hasn’t been right since we lost Stilgar, and I feel similarly. I tried to go back to bed for a while, but just laid awake with my mind rolling.

I eventually got around and spent some time outside with him before getting cleaned up to go for a run. I had been slowly organizing my thoughts for our Indianapolis trip, and needed to visit Dad to see what he had planned for taking care of Muad’Dib. We rode straight over to their house to visit, and then I took him backwards around the basin trail. He did great off-leash until we encountered a young guy spraying something on his lawn. Evidently he had an infant in a car seat in his garage floor, and Muad’Dib made a beeline for the kid as soon as it started crying. I ended up having to zap him multiple times to stop him dead in his tracks right by the guy, and I apologized profusely as I grabbed his leash and took him back to the road.

We got back home and I had a burrito for a late lunch and then paid my stack of medical bills. Eaddie came home and ate some of those leftovers with some Fritos as well, and then thought I should cook something with the extra macaroni that Summer made the other day. I eventually got back out of the house, washed my car again, then went to the Neighborhood Market for some hamburger meat and a bunch of snacks for our trip.

I ended up making a sort of goulash I found online, but with a twist of Rotel instead of diced tomatoes. I let Muad’Dib hang out with me in the kitchen while I cooked, and he was a super good boy. The girls were thrilled when they saw him inside, but I told them he couldn’t stay, especially while he was still dirty and untrained. The goulash was super easy, and the girls really liked it. It made a big pot of food, so we’ll have something to eat as soon as we get home.

The girls packed up and I took Muad’Dib for a quick night run back to visit Dad. Then I packed once we got back home. The girls went to bed super early as usual, and I just did what I could and powered through an anxiety attack.

As in the best it is.