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Spur of Thought

I really planned to have a Soylent this morning, but then I got super hungry just as I was getting into Morrilton again, so we stopped at Wendy’s for a small breakfast. Muad’Dib was super distracted and didn’t want to come inside, which left me shivering in the wind. We finally got inside and I continued tinkering with Intune.

Summer finished with her meeting early and wanted to meet for lunch, but I didn’t want to eat too early, so I had her meet me at the office. She came in to see Maple, but she was being shy all day and wouldn’t even come to me for a treat. We went to Ortega’s and had a really good lunch, and then I had her go by Ridgewood on the way home so I could try their pastrami special.

Earlier in the morning, I finally emailed Future Motion for an update on my Onewheel. It took them all day to respond that after thorough testing, they found nothing seriously wrong with it. That was exactly what I knew they would say, and I probably should have just disputed the charge with Discover Card first instead of talking to them again. They’re such an incredibly shitty company.

I finished the slow afternoon, completely forgetting about therapy until right at 4:30, so we raced out the door and made it just in time to wait another five minutes. I felt like our session was really good this time, but I didn’t realize how depressed Summer was really feeling. All I can really do is try to keep communicating with her, but doing happy little things is never going to be enough to turn this around for good.

When we got home, she put the cabbage in the slow cooker with the corned beef she started in the morning, and then we waited to eat. Once we did, dinner was great. Then her birthday present arrived and we set up our pair of BedJets for some temperature controlled air in the beds. Hopefully this keeps us comfortable and try, since she has a habit of feeling cold and then sweating all over the place.

What do you call a cow who tells dad jokes? Corney beef!

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No Review; No Wheel

I got up half an hour early so I could get to work before 7:30, expecting a quarterly review with Shane and Joel. That seemed odd, but I wasn’t going to question it. We grabbed a burrito at Hardee’s and made our way in. Joel seemed confused, and then explained the true purpose of the call, which was for Shane’s guys, and for me to be on standby. I hopped on a call with both of them just to catch up with Shain, and then did my own thing the rest of the day.

It was blistering cold when we stepped out for a late lunch. The wind was howling and it felt like an incredibly sunny winter day. We grabbed our Monday cheese sticks, then went to Wendy’s for an ironic cup of chili and a frosty. I let Muad’Dib run up the road on the way back, and then the afternoon didn’t drag by terribly on account of our late lunch.

When we got back to the house, Summer had been there a little while not feeling well. I made rice and ate dinner alone, and got upset with her for refusing to eat anything more than her biscuit breakfast and a small cup of plain steamed rice. I emphasized that she consistently feels bad because she doesn’t take care of herself, and then distanced myself for the rest of the evening.

I had also been sitting around waiting to hear back from Future Motion long enough that I decided it was time to post my support timeline on Reddit. I got a ton of feedback – much more than I expected for such a wall of text. I had some good input, and a ton of bashing the company. I ended the night with a conversation with Discover Card to see if I could dispute the charges and get my money back that way. Surprisingly, it sounds like they may be able to help. I suppose I’ll reach back out to Future Motion, but it’s at the point now that it may just be best to cut my $900 loss and try to get a refund for the original purchase.

Don’t press your luck.

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Pork Choppin’

I surprisingly woke up pretty early today and didn’t feel groggy, but I just wasn’t ready to get up before the sun, so I slept for a couple more hours until Summer got up. I had a leftover waffle, but nobody else wanted to eat with me. Eaddie left and was gone for most of the day, but Summer we planned to cook a nice dinner in the evening.

Summer eventually went to the gym, then we cleaned up the kitchen a bit in the afternoon. We eventually got out of the house to go to the Neighborhood Market for groceries, and just as we got inside, it started pouring rain. Muad’Dib didn’t seem terribly bothered in the car, so we continued shopping, and it had stopped raining by the time we were done.

I had voiced frustration trying to continually plan around Eaddie when she has become less and less reliable over time. She loses my stuff as well as her own stuff, and I’ve gotten to the point where I’m just ready for her to move along with her own life, but she doesn’t have any source of income yet. I think we’ve agreed that we just need to do what we’re going to do in spite of her, because we’re always going to cook more than just the two of us can eat anyway, and then Eaddie can join us or not without any expectations.

Summer made mashed sweet potato and broccoli, and I grilled pork chops, zucchini, and squash, and it all turned out really good. We’ll have plenty for the coming week, with opportunities to amend our meals with other sides. Dinner was great, and I finished up some laundry before we started winding down for an early bedtime.

Pork paper!

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Flower Farm

We got up early today and basically had to drag Eaddie out of the house so we could make it up to Fayetteville in time to get everything done. Eli showed up at the house early, and I don’t know why she took so long, but we eventually made it out. I let Muad’Dib run to my parents’ house, and we tied him up to spend the day with Dad.

We made it to Alma for a short charge while we snacked on some cold chicken from Harp’s. Then we headed straight to the Rivercrest Orchard tulip festival. There were a ton of cars and people there, and it was even more “official” looking than I expected. It looked like they didn’t allow pets because they had food crops like strawberries growing as well.

You could pay per stem if you wanted to pick flowers, or they had several activities that were mostly free all around the property. We walked through the fields that smelled great, rode a little tractor train, and then a train on rails. I picked us up a couple loaded pretzels that were okay, but dressed more like pizza, so that was weird. I probably wouldn’t do it again.

They all seemed to really enjoyed it, but I think next time we’ll try another location. Getting out was tough, because presumably somebody gridlocked the place trying to get in and out. Cars were stuck in a complete standstill, unable to come in or out. Finally some employees showed up to try and clear the mess, and we were able to leave.

We went to charge in Rogers, and roamed a PetCo for a bit until that was done. Then we went to Viet Buffet for a late lunch. They were super slow and ran really lean on the food, but everything was still really good. They didn’t have any of the sausage I liked anywhere, but they had a few new things to try.

From there, we had two more stops for food to take home. Eli’s dad wanted some Pollo Campero, which was in the nearby Walmart. They must have taken a page out of Popeye’s playbook, because they were completely out of chicken and said it would take an hour for them to make a 20-piece order, so we left without. Next up was Hawaiian Bros. after griping at Eaddie for eating mine twice in a row. I don’t even know that it was worth it the last two times, but I’ve just been so upset that I haven’t gotten to eat my own food that I keep going back for more.

Finally we headed home, with a quick stop in Ozark to finish the trip. We picked up Muad’Dib after his day with Dad, and then the kids had to leave for their band thing. Summer didn’t feel great, so she was pretty lame the rest of the night. Eli spotted a jumping spider on my car right as we got back, so I captured it and tried to figure out how to raise it in captivity, but didn’t make much real progress with it. Hopefully tomorrow I can come up with something a little better for it.

let’s put a smile on that face

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ESOP’s Fables

I felt overdue for a casual Friday, so I went with jeans and a work polo today. I did pretty well in the morning, and then we had a pizza party for our ESOP update. It was neat to hear a little bit more about Garland’s operations even if it was a super high-level overview of some numbers. Business seems good, and we hope to keep it that way.

Immediately following that, I had to hop on our weekly call with Aptean to hear about some more “AI” stuff. Still not much we can use, and everything is in development anyway. The afternoon dragged a bit after that, particularly because it was such a beautiful day outside, and we didn’t even go out for our usual lunch break to enjoy it.

I ended up stopping in Atkins for a couple slushies on the way home. Summer was in the bath and didn’t want to go out, so she sent me out on my own. I couldn’t decide on dinner until she suggested I go to Taco Villa, so that’s where Muad’Dib and I headed. I stopped at Casey’s here for another free slush first, and then let him wait for me outside while I ordered food.

They were super busy, but then died off just as we finished our food. Muad’Dib did great through all of that, but then we went down the block to wash my car. A cat came along and prompted him to climb up onto the center console, and when I opened the door to scold him, he jumped all the way into the front seat. I let him out and he stayed nearby, so I finished the job and then we headed home.

My parents were just getting back from Little Rock, so I eventually took Muad’Dib over to see them and visit for a little while before coming home for bed.

Everyone loves Hypnotoad

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Damned Scavengers

We managed to get out of the house early today, so I made a last-second decision to grab Hardee’s on the way out of town. Dexter was at work today, so Muad’Dib ran around with him just a little bit in the morning before we went back upstairs to continue reading through Intune policies.

It was chilly out by lunch time, so I just went to McDonald’s for another Big Arch. There was already a line of disgruntled people there, so I shouldn’t have been so surprised when I saw they didn’t make my burger to order. I went to have them remake it, and of course my somehow-perfect fries were cold by the time I got back to them.

The afternoon dragged a little bit as I went through security baselines, and then we headed home. Summer was just getting into a bath, so we didn’t get to go walking right away. I waited for her to get out, and then still had to talk her into going out again.

We walked to my parents’ house to see them, then came right back. Dad gave me some more rat poison because the stuff I had already put out was already gone, and we still had rats. They also ate all of the bait I put on the bucket trap, but didn’t actually get trapped. I hate to use a glue trap, but I’m running out of options.

Eaddie ate my leftover Hawaiian Bros. again, so I went to bed pretty angry, but at least this time it was my fault for not having finished it by now.

Kindly fuck off.

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Intune with Nature

I had another good day in Intune policies all day today. It was really quiet and a bit rainy otherwise. If I had realized it wasn’t raining at lunch time, we would have gone to Sonic, but instead I had already ordered Subway for pickup. We got that and I ate in the office.

The afternoon was more of the same, if not a little distracted. Summer got home early and made dinner, so we rushed back for that. Then I started some more laundry while we took Muad’Dib for a walk to my parents’ house. We visited briefly and then let him lead the rest of the way home, which was a surprising twist from his usual route.

I cleaned up a bit more when we got back. Summer went to bed, I updated WordPress, and then it was off to bed a minute or two early.

Shoutout to Updraft for keeping backups dead simple!

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I’ll Tost’a My Own Guac

I slept hard through the first few seconds of my alarm this morning, then dragged out of bed. I didn’t go to sleep super late, but I must have been in a deep slumber. We made it to work in spite of the asshole guarding the left lane by speeding and slowing down around me for no apparent reason. I wasn’t driving inconsiderately to begin with, but he couldn’t keep up when I decided to pass him for good.

I was proud of how busy I stayed all day, and I felt like I got some good stuff done, even if they were all short-term tasks. I was rewarded with Ortega’s for lunch, but was told I couldn’t have a tostaguac, so I just ordered a tostada and chalupa, then sandwiched them together to accomplish the exact same thing.

The afternoon was busy as well, and we ended up leaving just a few minutes late, which landed me in some slightly heavier traffic for a bit, but it wasn’t too bad. We found Summer at home finishing up her schedule, so I started some laundry and cleaned up a little bit. We saw Eaddie for just a moment, and then she was gone again. Brandie texted and I caught up with her for a while, and eventually made it to bed.

No cheese for you.

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Full on Monday

It finally rained a bit today after threatening for a while. We got to work early, and then out of nowhere I started to feel gross inside. I managed to keep myself busy enough helping the girls with something downstairs, and we made it to lunch time. We left without a plan other than to grab cheese sticks from Sonic, and ended up at Wendy’s for a break and a cup of chili.

I felt much better after that, and tinkered with Intune some more in the afternoon until quitting time. Summer had call-ins and had to close the lube, so we stopped by AT&T to see Kevin for a moment, then by Superfast to see Summer. They were dead, so we went to Walgreens to pick up my prescriptions. They had lines inside and out, so I just had to stand there and wait.

Once we got home, I changed and then went to pick up Nova at Tech so we could have dinner with my parents. Mom made noodles for pork chops, shrimp, and egg rolls. Summer met us there, and we finished eating just as Julie and Kevin showed up.

Summer headed home to clean up and go to bed, I took Nova back, and then wrapped things up quickly so I could try and get some better sleep than last night.

Bonus pill!

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Short Sunday

The time shift didn’t do much for us today. I tried not to sleep in too much so I could go to sleep in the evening. Summer got up to some coffee and I ate my leftover chicken strip, and then the brisket with the beans and chips from our trip. With the refrigerator mostly empty, I wanted to go shopping and cook a nice dinner.

Summer went to the gym with Eaddie and I got ready for a late start to the day. When they got back, Eaddie showered and left, and then Summer decided she wanted Chinese. All planning out the window, we eventually went to New China where they appeared to still have a steady stream of Hispanics coming in from church services throughout the day. The food was hot and fresh, and I managed to fill up on a few different kinds of broccoli.

After that, we wanted to take Muad’Dib for a walk around Bona Dea. Summer immediately had to stop at the trailhead, so I walked around the short ring with Muad’Dib, and then Summer just wanted to go on home. With her not feeling well, Muad’Dib and I just laid in bed to rest for a bit. I felt like I could take a nap, but didn’t actually fall asleep.

Dad wanted us to bring the Model Y over so their neighbor could check it out. He seemed to have done enough research that I don’t know why they didn’t just go test drive one at the factory, but I talked to him for a little while about it, then gave him a quick test ride. Muad’Dib had run over ahead of me, so I let him run back home as well. Then he and Summer went to bed pretty early. Eaddie was home for a moment, but left. I tried to pay our toll fees from our trip, but failed, so I’ll try again during the week.

Fine, I’ll do it myself.