JUL 02

2025

Wednesday: another day in Michigan. (More importantly, today marks the date on which 2050 is closer to us than 2000 is.)

Since Chris had wanted us to head to a barbecue restaurant for lunch, we drove to the house to meet up with him and Roger, though we picked up limeades from Sonic on the way. They were both asleep, but we didn't have to wait long for them to wake up; Chris directed us to Ricewood, an Asian barbecue restaurant. I had a pulled pork ricebowl with sesame cucumbers; it might be the best thing I've eaten this week. (Julie ordered the chicken, but she didn't like hers as much, unfortunately.) From there, we went to a bank and a lawyer to ensure that neither Chris nor Julie would have trouble taking care of Roger's affairs if he were to have a stroke or other unexpected incapacitation.

With the last of the errands taken care of, we headed back to the house. Julie and Chris coordinated on the phone with their aunt Carol to plan our activities for the next few days. At some point, Chris brought the TV out to the canopy in the back yard, and they started watching The Righteous Gemstones. I was drowsing in the suspended recliner behind the TV, though, so I just alternated between trying to take a nap and checking my websites on my phone. Once somebody changed the TV to South Park, we excused ourselves and headed back to the hotel to enjoy some A/C before dinner.

Julie wasn't feeling up to driving at this point, so I had her navigate as I drove us to the local Big Boy. I think that was my first time at the franchise, but something about the odor in the entryway brought me instantly back to the 80s; it was a powerful moment of unexpected nostalgia, but I can't place the exact source of the scent, nor the places we went in my childhood where I would have smelled it. I ordered "The Best Cheeseburger in the World," or something like that, along with a chocolate milkshake. When we'd finished our meals, I brought us back to the Hand-D-Dip Dairy Barn. It was a little bit of overkill to follow dinner with the S'Mores ice cream cup I'd ordered, so while I took my time, I didn't bother to finish it.

Before we came back home, we wanted to stop by Kroger to get the variety of garlic salt we prefer to the Acme varieties, and I bought a razor since I'd forgotten to bring one. I drove us back to the hotel again, where we took showers and got ready for bed. Julie put on more Forensic Files, and I finished my second Hearthstone prerelease tavern brawl. (Dragon/Quest warrior; 4 wins. Imbue Mage decks proved too much for me to keep up with.) Now I'm finishing this update, and I should go to bed soon, since it's nearly midnight.

2024

Tuesday: seems that I forgot yesterday that I have regained my long-departed hour lunches! I celebrated their return by power-napping through most of my breaks. On the plus side, I'm still making good progress through the Dawntrail MSQ, even if it's impacting my sleep schedule. For dinner, Julie recommended we order from Domino's; the thin-crust pepperoni was a welcome break from the Philadelphia varieties I've had to become acclimated to. She continued to watch her shows while I played until I reached the second new city, Solution 9, in FFXIV. Afterwards, I did the dishes while watching a streamer go through the opening parts of the new expansion, which meant that I got to bed right at 4 AM for the second night in a row.

2023

Sunday: I would have suggested that we go out for lunch today, but with it being a holiday weekend, we didn't really want to deal with possible crowds. The heat and humidity didn't help, and it rained a bit. I'm not sure if it's a stray or a local indoor/outdoor cat, but Mim has not been pleased whenever she sees this stranger hanging out on our back fence. I can't tell if this is going to make her less likely to sit behind the drying rack by the sink, or maybe this is the reason she's started camping out there in the first place.

I had cereal for brunch, while Julie finished the last of the soup, and we spent the afternoon doing some light cleaning. I cooked up some of the Achewood flavor burgers for dinner, during which we watched more Futurama. Afterwards, Julie continued trying to get a cultural victory in a singleplayer Civ VI game. Since I'd been watching some Hearthstone streams yesterday to get extra packs, today I played a few rounds with my irresponsible warlock and priest decks. Glad I've only got one day of work before the holiday on Tuesday; the calls need to calm down this week.