Tag: Traditions

Uncategorised

A Real Jokester

I struggled to get out of bed an hour early today for the back-to-school breakfast. I’m pretty sure I was the first from our department there, but Greg walked in right behind me. We both expected them to be enforcing masks after the board meeting last night, but hardly a soul was masked. We got our food, which was probably the best I’ve had for the occasion, and found a seat right in front with Summer and Justin. The casserole was so good I had to go back for more, but it was okay because they didn’t have any other events or big raffles like previous years.

After breakfast, we headed over to the arts center for some quick training. Without Ben’s cyber security training, we just heard from a couple suits and then listened to Judy talk about FMLA before our OSHA training. I liked that guy the best just because he seemed like a cool, old guy.

We got back to the shop a bit before lunch, and they sent out the first draft of the proposed classified salary schedule. That, of course, sent everyone through the roof when they learned that our pay was lowered both at the base, and then significantly at the cap. I divulged that I had gotten a big raise, likely unintentionally, and was making more than Zach for the school year.

I was still full from breakfast, so I only ordered some chips and a shake when a group of us went to Slim Chickens for lunch. That left me pretty salty and dehydrated for an afternoon of crunching numbers, and then trying to find out why we were short so many new laptops for junior high students. It was just one clusterfuck after another, all day long.

After work, I went straight home and immediately had to start fighting sleep. My gut never quite recovered from the food from the day, but at least I was able to go to bed early.

Let the output reflect the input.

Uncategorised

Less Taxing

Summer took Autumn to work this morning while Eaddie and I slept in pretty hard. I felt really refreshed when I woke up, and then got to ease into the day. She came back to get Eaddie and went to pick up groceries for dinner with Noah, which ended up getting cancelled.

After Autumn got off, they came to pick me up and we went back-to-school shopping for tax-free weekend. We went to Staples first, where we ran into Jazz, who had a couple quick questions for me. Then we went across the street to the Valley Park Center. TJ Maxx was fun. Ross was about as disappointing as usual. Shoe Carnival was selling things at full price. Rue 21 was where we saw the most excitement. I had gone to move the car while the girls walked across the shopping center. When I got there, I ran into Candace and Ana. Then a few minutes later we spotted Zane Dave from across the room, but Eaddie was being weird and just hid from him.

On the way home we stopped at Walmart for a couple things to go with dinner. Summer prepped some tilapia for fish tacos, so dinner was ready super fast. We ate, and then Summer watched TV while I proofread Autumn’s apology letters to the officers she called last weekend. She ended up going to her grandparents’ house so she could take a stab at proofreading it, and stayed the night.

Trying to prep for school, Eaddie showered early and went to bed too. With both girls off to bed, I wrapped up my evening therapy and went to sleep.

I love pens, but I hate writing.

Uncategorised

That Thon, Th-Thon Thon Thon

Summer left early this morning for the RussVegas Half Marathon. I set an alarm so I could get out to meet her at the end, and made it early enough to hang out for a little bit and then get a picture of her actually crossing the finish line. We walked around the train depot area to take a couple pictures before making it back to the cars, and then we went to Las Palmas for her recovery lunch. The service was pretty absent, but the food was good.

Afterward, we came home and she cleaned up and crashed in front of the TV while Dad came over and helped me seal up the hole in the brick outside. Once that was caulked in, we had to let it dry and moved to the other end that went into the laundry room. I still needed foil tape and wanted to try and find some kind of flange or boot to put against the wall, so we went to Lowe’s and then Leonard’s without any luck. We ended up just going to get some of his old sheet metal, and cut out a piece with a hole in it to tape to the wall. Since then I’ve seen some flexible tape made for flashing that I may like to find in order to seal it up a bit better.

With that done, we had to leave the foaming for later, since we couldn’t really get into the inside wall without disturbing the caulk job. Dad went on home, and then I came in to watch a movie with Summer. I warmed up some leftovers for dinner, and then we watched The Shape of Water, which had far more frontal nudity than I expected for a love story between a woman and a sea creature. Otherwise I thought it was a pretty good movie.

Summer continued to fall asleep on me while I browsed YouTube for a while, and finally went to bed. I scoured the official photos from the marathon for her for a while, and eventually had to save the rest for later so I could get some sleep.

I think I’ll sing it again!

Uncategorised

An M. Night Shyamalan Plot Twist

We had a shortish meeting at work this morning, and then I unboxed a giant iMac that I would have to learn to enroll in our device management system. I didn’t notice until much later, but Josh and Brody basically burned the whole day putting the wrong image on a bunch of flash drives to take to the middle school because Josh didn’t want to image them over the network.

Most of us went to CJ’s for lunch, and when we got back, I helped make the correct flash drives while Josh started some lab computers imaging over the network. Kyle came in and kept me company while I churned out drives. I started to wrap my head around Jamf Apple computer management, but ultimately had to leave it for Monday.

Mark asked me to come by after work, so I ran home to grab my laptop and then went to his office for a little under an hour. Then I picked up the girls to meet my family at Pasta Grill to celebrate Mom’s birthday.

We had a really great time at dinner, and it was nice to see the family actually functioning and smiling. I think everyone was pretty satisfied with their food too. My blackened redfish pasta started out tasting like it was floating in butter, but either it got better or I just got used to it, and I really enjoyed the rest after a while.

When we got home, Summer wanted to talk with Autumn because I had caught her leaving town with Harry without Summer’s permission. What I thought was going to be more or less a disciplinary talk ended up being everyone coming together and spilling their guts all over the place. It was pretty hard for Summer. I’m still not really sure how I feel about some of it, but at least it was a proper airing of the past. I’ve said for a long time that therapy only goes so far, and that eventually the kids would have to come home and talk to us.

Summer and Autumn went to bed immediately after that. I stayed up a little bit longer and tried to finish an episode of House with Eaddie, but even she was tired and ended up just wanting to sleep on the couch.

We’ll never make it through the entire MonsterVerse like this!

Uncategorised

The Easter Boomer

I’ve felt pretty exhausted lately, and last night was no different. I slept super late today, and only got up in time for a little leftover brunch before having to get ready for a late Easter lunch with my parents. Summer made some deviled eggs, and the girls caught the irony. We let Autumn drive us all, and Bác Vân and Doug beat us there.

It was a relatively limited menu compared to our usual, but it was a great meal with much reduced stress. The girls enjoyed overhearing the adults ponder racially-charged social nuances, and it was a good time for all. After we ate, Autumn dropped Summer and Eaddie off, and I went with her to Walmart for a couple things. What should have been a pretty quick trip turned into both of us wandering around alone. It was hot and aggravating, because even when we weren’t browsing and just on a mission to pick up something specific, she felt the need to take off and leave me.

When we finally got back to their house, I loaded up and came home for the night. My left foot had been hurting all day for some reason, and the rising temperatures got me pretty lethargic and cranky. I ended up sitting on the couch for a couple hours and watching some Home RenoVision DIY videos.

Just before an early bedtime, I got out my new MonoPrice tube amplifier and hooked it up in the garage just to test it out with some old speakers. The speakers work great, and I think the amp will look super cool on top of the two larger speakers stacked on top of one another.

Nice weather means they’re sold out of tennis rackets.

Uncategorised

Fool Me Once… Shame on….Shame on You

It’s been cooling off this week, and I could really tell this morning when it started to sleet on my way to work. It didn’t stick at all, and just melted away instantly, but I was definitely caught off guard by the sound of it hitting everything around me outside.

I’m still recovering from re-imaging my laptop, which meant I had to build a Microsoft Office installation for myself. That and a bit of tinkering with some other things got me through to lunch at Western Sizzlin with the boys. Afterward I packed up and went to the high school to help Mike sort depot boxes. We ended the day with the lift in the band room since we finally got our lamp in.

Autumn went to the gym again, so Summer left work and took Eaddie as well. That left me to go home and clean more in the garage. Nearly forgetting to plan my shenanigans, I pulled out my old TI-99 for deployment at work. Not just the base computer though. Oh, no. I brought out the Expansion System as well. That thing was heavy. I needed some help repairing the video cable though, so I packed up and took it to my parents’ house.

Dad got me sorted with some solder and hot glue. Then he pulled out my tiny old CRT television, and things booted up perfectly. Unfortunately I didn’t have the necessary Microsoft Multiplan 5.25″ floppy, so all I can really do is look at the loading screen, but it’ll serve its purpose. He went with me to the office to help stage everything, but just as we finished setting up, Melinda walked in. It was in the dead of night, so I really thought she was there to stage her own pranks, but she was just there to pick up some things. She’ll be out tomorrow, but I was hoping to land the prank on her the next day. Unfortunately she walked right in and saw it, so it’ll just have to be for fun with the rest of the gang tomorrow.

I dropped Dad back off at home and finally headed home to finish up the last of my plotting. Tomorrow should be fun.

Duuuuuude…..

Uncategorised

That’s a Surprise

I slept in super hard this morning, but got up and around for an early lunch. We cleaned up some leftovers, then tried to keep the kids motivated to clean the house in preparation for the evening. Eventually it came time for me to leave for my shower, so it was up to all the girls to get things rolling.

While I was gone, Melinda picked Summer up for their pedicures. I arrived back at the house shortly thereafter with a fresh bag of ice and the hamburgers, and we did our last little bit of prep work before the guests started to arrive. Ronda, Steven, and Maleea showed up first, but were quickly followed by Suzanne, John and Melissa, Noah, and my parents. We had a house full of relative strangers to each other, and I was busy slicing vegetables and running the grill. Had I known the nail salon was running behind, I would have slowed way down, but for all I knew, I had about half an hour to get things rolling.

Around 6:40, Melinda showed up with Summer and we did our level best to surprise her. Ronda had the great idea to have all the friends stand back, so the kids and my parents jumped out first with a couple big confetti poppers. Then as she came further into the house, everyone else jumped out and surrounded her for a second surprise. It was hugs all around, except for Eaddie, who got totally got skipped.

Summer had a blast and was so excited to see everyone. The food turned out pretty well after Steven helped me keep the grill from going up in flames. The decorations Melissa brought were just the right touch, and Suzanne’s cake was amazing. I almost couldn’t believe we pulled it off. I did forget to toast the buns with butter on the griddle, but I suppose there’s always next time for the gourmet experience.

John and Melissa had to take off pretty quickly to get their kids. Dalia was going to show up late after closing at work, but she actually arrived at a pretty decent time since the pedicures took an extra hour to complete. As everyone eventually filtered out, the kids did a quick sweep up to get the house livable again. I ran across town to deliver some cake to John, then went home to trade my contacts for glasses.

Everyone was ready for bed by the time I got back, so I tinkered around for a little while, and eventually went off to bed.

Fool me once, shame on… shame on you. You fool me, you can’t get fooled again.

Uncategorised

On the Color of Sheep

Julie messaged me just as I was about to go to bed last night, so I went over to her place to try and chat with her and Dad. I was there for a little over an hour before she finally kicked me out, which is to say that it didn’t go well. Then this morning she started in on me again, but followed up later in a group text with a deal that I appreciated, so I’m hoping that’s an indication that it’s not a total loss. I’d really like my sister back.

We had a busy day today. Summer wanted to meet for lunch, so I got ready and met her at Mulan’s. Then we ran to Walmart for a card before picking up the girls to go to Maleea’s birthday party at the skating rink. The girls had a bit of fun, but it seemed like Maleea was starting to grow out of that kind of party. I remember having skating parties all the time in grade school, but not nearly as much into the double digit age.

There was just a little bit of time to kill before we had to get across town for another birthday party, so we went to my house for a bit. Then we took Eaddie to Washburn Park. Amber dropped her kid off and I waved her down so Summer could meet her. We waited for a little while for Jaylinn and Maristella, but gave up and headed on to the bowling alley to wait there.

Even then we had to wait, so eventually we went inside to play a game. The girls took turns bowling for Jaylinn until she got there, then we played one more game. It was a pretty good time, but that place was absolutely packed and hardly anyone had a mask on. The sign out front basically gave everyone a pass on having a health concern that they wouldn’t ask about, so even the staff weren’t wearing masks.

The kids finished their game and spent some time in the arcade while Summer and I waited outside. Then we headed on home for the evening. Summer and I watched a couple episodes of WandaVision to catch her up, and then it was off to bed and to lose an hour for daylight saving time.

It’s been Agatha all along!

Uncategorised

38’s Special

I woke up early this morning so I could make it to Starbucks for my free birthday drink. They ran out of venti cups, so they gave me a grande and tall instead. I got to work just barely early, so we jumped right into our meeting. Then Zach and I went to the high school to check out a projector lamp. It had blown and we didn’t have any replacements, so we went back to the shop until lunch.

The guys decided on Mexican and we went to La Chiquita for the first time in a while. Brody called us late to find out where we were, and then went to the wrong restaurant, so he arrived a little late. Otherwise it was uneventful.

Kyle and I had to help Josh with a TV install in the afternoon, which ended up being a bit of a circus act. I don’t know what it is about Josh, but it seems like he just doesn’t take his time with anything, and we ended up spending more time fixing things in the long run. We got the TV up, but it could have gone quite a bit faster.

I spent the last bit of the day helping Mike set up some computers for Ethan. Then I got the girls and we headed to Summer’s shop to see her for a minute. From there we went to my house so I could take care of a couple things before heading up to their house. As soon as Summer got home, we met the rest of my family at Colton’s for dinner.

I was really glad Julie came along, and everyone had a really good time. Even when we were talking. It really was a birthday success.

Eaddie and I watched some House when we got home, because the other two went to bed early. I was pretty exhausted too, but I managed two episodes before heading to bed.

38 is the sum of the squares of the first three primes.

Uncategorised

A Stroll Down Memory Frames

It just rained and rained and rained today. Everyone pretty much stayed at the shop since it was just a half day. Somehow we got on the subject of my blog, and Ben started Googling for it. He happened across my old highschool site and the Cow Patty Link of the Week section. A little Wayback Machine later, and we got to experience the early Angelfire web of yore.

I got one more HP lesson done, and then Ben had me run to Staples to get some badge holders. They were a buck a piece for 40, so I ran by Lowe’s instead, and then finally Walmart where I found some for just under two bucks for a dozen.

That got me to the end of the work day, so I went home and waited for Summer to get off, and then we went to Leonard’s to spend a coupon I had been saving. She got a mortar and pestle, which was sold in a set, so I’m still not sure which one is the mortar and which one is the pestle, and at this point I’m too afraid to ask.

I had another coupon for Mulan’s, so we met my parents for a New Year’s Eve dinner. Then I took Summer back to her car so she could go home, and I waited until it was time to get the girls from their friends’ house. Eventually with them in tow, we went up the hill and waited for midnight.

Autumn came into the bedroom and played Monopoly on Stadia with Summer and me. We finished up right in time to not see anything happen, because we don’t pay for live television and we didn’t properly coordinate any kind of streaming service. Somehow, one of the neighbors managed to light a few fireworks in the downpour though, so it wasn’t completely anticlimactic.

Maybe all this rain will help put out this dumpster fire.