Stick to your Ribs

I had to get up a little early this morning to run across town and do some work for Mark. Summer took Autumn home while Eaddie stayed here and had a video conference for band. Eventually they all went home to clean up before Summer took them to stay the night with their father.

When I finished up with Mark, I ran across the street and chatted with Robert for a little bit. I picked up a rack of ribs and a giant beef rib that I let get mostly cold while I sat and waited between customers to get some time to catch up.

We got back to the house around the same time and ate some ribs. Then we spent the rest of the night finishing up the second season of Cobra Kai. I’m anxious to see where they go from here.

Strike hard.

Or Nothing

We had a brief meeting this morning, and then Mike and I helped Josh hang a couple touch panels at the middle school. It went alright, for having a newbie on the crew. We dawdled enough all morning that it was about lunch time by the time we got back, so almost all of us went to Slim Chickens to eat. I had the chicken and waffle, which was good, but I felt like I was paying an awful lot for the waffle to only come with three chicken strips. At least the strawberry lemonade was great.

After lunch, I stuck around the shop and did some more remote work on SCCM. Ben, Gary, and Zach had an interview with a guy that Melinda said was just like me without the fun parts. I told her we shouldn’t hire a complete asshole. Then for some reason I had to rate her on a scale of 1-10 on how much she’s like the devil.

Librado stopped by at some point and got a badge made for his new position as a relief custodian. It was otherwise a quiet day at the shop until Melinda started shooting everyone with her tiny off-brand foam dart pistol. She got me near the eyes a couple times, so I figured I should break out the big guns when I got home.

After work, the girls came over and I baked the pizza that Autumn brought home from school. It took me way back when I had to cut the thing inside of an actual pizza box, and it really made me miss working in pizza. I can see it now: Cow Pies.

We wrapped up the night with the first two available episodes of WandaVision. Summer wasn’t impressed with the highly stylized format, but it was clear things were going to change pretty quickly. I just hope it’s good, and can tie in appropriately with the future of the movies.

It’s NERF!

Don’t Get Attached

I was back at the high school with Mike again today, but nothing exciting happened. I got to focus on some work in SCCM, which was nice. I only really have to run to classrooms at the junior high right now.

Melinda wanted to go to lunch again today, and I told her she was getting too attached, because this was twice in one week. She, Ben, and I went to Mulan’s, and I did my best not to overdo it. I think it was a success. Melinda decided that she wanted to have a cat at the shop, but I don’t think she realized how bad that might be for a cat to be alone for that many hours of every week.

I worked a little late, then changed at home and picked the girls up at their friends’ house. I helped Eaddie with some math homework until Summer got home, and eventually we got around to watching an episode of Glee before bed.

Just have an outdoor cat. That lives on the other side of town.

Don’t Look Up

It was really frosty out this morning, but I made it back for a true full day at work. I was catching up with Karen in the library when Julie called to say Bác Tran was blowing up her phone to check on Bác Vân. I got a hold of Doug without too much trouble and confirmed that Dad and Lelan were already on the way. When I got into my office, I found the bucket I had placed above the drop ceiling had crashed through the tile and shattered when it hit the cubbies, dumping rainwater all over everything. I wouldn’t have expected to get that much water there, but it did rain for a really long time.

I took a late lunch to run by the post office, then just grabbed some Tropical Smoothie on the way back to the shop. I spent most of the afternoon there catching up with Ben and boxing up the three laptops we had ready to ship off to the depot repair center. I did eventually make it back to the high school to wrap up the day and pick up the girls.

We got home and Eaddie took off on her bike just before another guy came by to check out the renovations we want to make to the bathrooms. This guy was a recommendation from Julie, and he seemed much less sales-y than the previous group. He wasn’t pushy at all and basically said he was just there to complete exactly what we wanted and nothing more, which I appreciated. I think the quote will probably come back quite a bit cheaper because of that. He also name-dropped my superintendent, who is on an entirely different reality of a pay grade, and I wasn’t quite certain how I felt about it.

Once they left, I took the girls home and started prepping stuff for salads. Summer arrived shortly thereafter and we ate, then watched an episode of Glee. Eaddie and I heard something that sounded like it was running across the roof, and we came out to discover two cats that appeared to have difficulty finding a way down. I’m not sure how they got up in the first place, but it just sort of made me mad that they’ve been hanging around, tearing things up.

At least it’s a rental?

Sunday, Recovery Sunday

I got up and made egg sandwiches for Summer and myself this morning. Autumn got around, and asked to go to their father’s house for the day, which was only a minor inconvenience to our plans. Summer let them go until Noah had to go to work at five. The rest of us watched some Cobra Kai, then the first couple episodes of Jericho on a whim.

I helped Summer get cleaned up a bit, and even got her outside a couple times to stretch out her limbs. She was definitely feeling the ache in her muscles today. It was bright and sunny, but cool and quiet. I wished we could have been out enjoying it more, but it just wasn’t in the cards.

The girls showed back up at the agreed-upon time, and Summer and I took Noah to work on the way to my parents’ house. They grilled pork chops and shrimp to go with noodles. We didn’t get quite the backlash either of us expected for Summer’s condition, but it was a good evening.

We stopped by my house so I could take care of a couple chores quickly before heading back to her house for the night. The girls appeared to be doing the schoolwork we required of them. Summer went straight to bed, and I chatted with the girls for a while until they went to their rooms. Tomorrow will start to tell us how Summer’s week will go.

Why do all of my late night conversations with you make it sound like we’re stoners?

Uppers

Today went by pretty quickly, as all days seem to do lately. It wasn’t long before I found myself taking a late lunch. Slim Chickens had BoGo tenders and mac, so I had lunch with Summer on the bench outside the shop before she went to take the girls home.

On the way to the shop, I picked up a free coffee from Casey’s. After work, I picked up another one from the other Casey’s, which kept me up through the evening.

Autumn wanted to spend the night with her grandparents, so I went home after work and had dinner by myself before putting all that energy to work picking up around the house. Summer and Eaddie came over after karate, showers, and dinner. Then we watched an episode of Glee until Summer went to bed. Eaddie and I wrapped up with an episode of Jessica Jones.

He who controls the Pumpkin Spice, controls the basic white girls!

Go With the Flow

We met at the shop this morning for some quick training over Impero and how we process the student data that all originates from a stick figure lady in the front office. Then Allen, predictably, asked how to do something that I learned in my first year, and proceeded to be taught how to do things by two of the newer guys.

After the meeting, I took Gary to the high school to pick up some boxes for his move across town. Evidently he was renting from Mark, who sold the house to our old classmate Hank, and was moving to a house just a couple doors down from Grant. The whole thing made our town feel very small.

By then it was lunch time, so we met Allen and Greg at Linh. It appeared to be all new staff, and they weren’t very good at it. The restaurant looked nice with the renovation though. Our old family friends Karen and Kristen came in, but didn’t recognize me, so I just passed on by to go back to work.

I burned quite a bit of the afternoon trying to clear out the aerator in the girls’ bathroom downstairs. The thing was completely full of large grains of sand, and the smallest pieces had cemented in the tiniest holes, keeping the water at a horrible trickle. It took a while, but Melinda found a needle that we used to poke the holes out, and now they have actual running water again.

I eventually made it to the high school to work on a long overdue work order in the music office. I sort of thought it was working, but it happened to come across my radar just a day or two ago. An email from Dewayne got me on the ball though, and I discovered that Wight didn’t configure the printer the same way they always do. It sure would be nice if we were notified about stuff like that so we could make it work on the front end.

After work, I came home and got some eggrolls from Bác Vân. Mom and Dad were there, and shortly thereafter, Uncle Giao, Aunt Teresa, Erica, and her kids showed up. We stood outside catching up for what felt like hours until Summer showed up. Everyone eventually split, and we went inside for the evening.

We watched a couple episodes of Cobra Kai before settling in to bed. Monday happens to be bulk item pickup day, which really helps to bring this whole second era of my life to a close. I’ve been using the hand me down furniture I got from my parents, which they bought shortly after we moved into their house when I was a small child. To say that it was well past its useful life would be an understatement. I don’t even care if I replace it any time soon. It’s just got to go.

Out with the old. It’s time for something new.

Strike First

We got up this morning and had a Wendy’s breakfast before Summer left. I cleaned up after the cat, but couldn’t ever really get him to eat any more. He seemed to bounce back this week, but I’m guessing it won’t last much longer.

When dinner time came around, I headed up to Summer’s and we had some chicken salads. Then she helped me load the deck box into the back of the car so I’d have someplace to store the cushions for the outdoor chairs. I took her car to get some gas and a freebie from Casey’s, and waited for her to get back to my house.

Once she got there and we unloaded the box, she had me make some popcorn. That’s when the power flickered, and my computer’s UPS died. I pulled another one out of the garage and let it charge while we watched Cobra Kai.

It’s the story of a hopeful, young karate enthusiast whose dreams and moxie take him all the way to the All Valley Karate Championship. Of course, sadly, he loses in the final round to that nerd kid. But he learns an important lesson about gracefully accepting defeat.

Bickerdoodles

Summer and I got up this morning and had leftover waffles and eggs for breakfast. Then she tried to motivate the kids out of bed to clean up the house while she went to the gym. I left as the girls started bickering at each other. I gave Noah permission to knock them around if needed, and headed home to try and clean up a little bit.

Noah had to work, so Summer brought the girls over after dropping him off. Then she and Eaddie went out for a bike ride in the heat while Autumn stayed inside and watched multiple screens as usual. I cleaned more carpet, because that’s my life now. When they got back from their ride, Summer took them home to prepare dinner.

I eventually made it back up the hill, just in time to eat. Summer grilled some pork chops to go with an asparagus, mushroom, tomato, and mozzarella dish, and some mashed potatoes. It was nice to have a well-rounded meal again. Afterward she watched a couple episodes of Glee until everyone scattered to their rooms.

But they don’t look like pigs’ tails.

Come On, We ‘Rona Schedule

Summer took Autumn to work with her this morning, so I picked her up from there on the way to work. She only had a few more student laptops to finish up, and the morning flew by for me as I ran around closing work orders.

We took a late lunch to pick up some Burger King, drop some off for Summer, then went back to the shop to eat. Next week we’ll be back on our full-time schedule, so I decided to take tomorrow off before hell week.

The afternoon was pretty uneventful, though I did get a handful of printers converted to my new deployment scheme. After work, we ran by my house so I could change, then got Eaddie for karate.

While they were at karate, I went to my parents’ house for some fish soup for dinner. I just barely had enough time to eat and run before picking up the girls and taking them home. Summer was absolutely beat from work, but Eaddie convinced her to watch an episode of Glee before going to sleep. Afterward, Eaddie and I watched an episode of Jessica Jones before she decided she wanted to go to bed early.

Hurry up and relax!