Shooting Range

Momoko's brother in law said he wanted to go shooting with me. So, when I woke up, I ran out to get breakfast. The local joint said they were out of jalapenos. That messed up my plans. Ended up ordering a bacon burrito and cherry slush. Was strange they charged 30 cents for the cherry flavoring,

Momoko's BIL called me asking what I wanted to shoot. I said a 22 gauge revolver was all I was interested in. He said he had plenty of that ammo. He came over and we headed to an indoor gun range. We decided to share one lane. Then we found out that BIL forgot the ammo. I had to buy 2 packs of it. I saved some money by opting for "mini mags".

I had to borrow eye protection from the range. BIL gave me ear plugs. I put headphone speakers over top of that. It was still loud with the 9mm guns blazing. I initially was shooting high on my target. When we put a fresh target up, I sent the target far down the lane. Was able to hit with half the shots. Some guy working there kept sweeping up the shell casings. There were a couple girls present with their boyfriends.

I got proficient at loading a 6-shooter revolver. Next time, I will come with stronger ear protection. I will hopefully save the eye protection they gave to me. I do prefer outdoor shooting. But BIL let his outdoor membership lapse a long time ago. 

High Lawn

Momoko's dad has the neighbor mow his lawn. But he only mows the front. The back lawn was over a foot high. Momoko's dad has a lawn mower. So, I decided to cut the back grass. I had to disconnect the power cord from the mover to move it out of the garage. Then I could not start the thing.

I was pulling the rope that normally starts lawn mowers. Momoko's dad explained that I needed to hold down a bar handle, and then press the electric start. I was off to the races. Mowing was a slow process. It took a while for the mower to move over the tallest grass. If I moved too fast, the mower would stall.

I also encountered some problems with sticks being on the ground under the grass. That would mess up the mower. I ran out of gas less than half way through. Luckily there was a 5 gallon can full of gas. I could not figure how to get the spout of the gas can working. I just skipped it and poured the gas right out of the can directly into the mower.

The grass so crazy that I had to mow over certain spots multiple times to ensure the grass got cut. Afterwards, I put everything away. Then I used a grabber to pick up sticks. They were hard to pull out of the weeds. I tossed them into the huge garbage can. I barely made a dent on the sticks though. Somebody must have cut a lot of stuff down and just tossed them on the ground. Fail. 

Japanese Hibatchi

Momoko's niece had scheduled a time for me, her boyfriend, and Momoko's dad to go out to dinner. Momoko's boyfriend recommended we go to a Japanese Hibatchi restaurant that he used to work at. From all the driving I did earlier in the day, the gas in the car was low. So, we went to Sam's Club to fill up the gas tank. Momoko's dad paid with his Sam's club card. When done, he said he dropped his wallet on the floor.

I searched the floor of his car. Eventually he recommended that I call his phone. The thing rang. The phone was in his pocket all along. He wanted me to use OnStar to get directions. But I did not trust his GPS direction. I used my phone plus Apple CarPlay. We headed to the Japanese Hibatchi restaurant. The GPS took us to a mall. I drove along the edge but did not see any restaurant. I called Momoko's niece. Her boyfriend said I was at the wrong side of the mall. They came out of the restaurant to flag me down.

Momoko's dad had a walker. But he had a hard time getting into the restaurant. He needed to climb a few stairs. He took a few rests. The place did not have any Yumi Yumi sauce. They cooked vegetables individually. They provided soup. But it was not Miso soup. The fried rice was not good. Shrimp was delicious. Momoko's dad got most of his meal to go. There was some $6 or $8 option to get 10k days of happiness. It seemed for birthdays. We skipped that option. Momoko's niece's boyfriend picked up the tab. 

Used Car Dealer

I had seen some Tiktok videos of this used car dealer 1.5 hours north of Momoko's dad. I wanted to visit them. I borrowed Momoko's dad's car and took out the oxygen tank for room. I drove over half an hour to pick up Momoko's niece and her boyfriend. They had researched places to eat near the dealership.

We ended up going to a cafe. I got a catfish lunch special that gave me access to the salad bar and soda. I got some potato salad, a hot pepper, and a salad with ranch. I asked for hot sauce. But then I noticed they gave me tartar sauce. I finished up with a loaded baked potato plus a Sprite. Momoko's niece bought a candle from the cafe.

Then I drove us to the car dealership. They had to special deals for under $1k. The lowest priced car was one at $10k. It was no good. I did look at a $15k Ford Escape with 98k miles. Too much money for too many miles. Then I spotted a 2016 Chevy Tahoe for $16k that had 140k miles. It was an LTZ top of the line model. The dash board was thrashed. The rims were big and good. Probably found on road dead.

Next we went to Hobby Lobby for Momoko's niece. I bought some $5 t-shirts. We proceeded to the apartment complex the niece and her boyfriend were going to move into. They were two story units. They planned for a 900 square foot, 2 bedroom, 2 bath unit. They were not sure which one they would be renting. I dropped them off at their home. I drove back to Momoko's dad's house. We plan to all go to Japanese Hibachi  tonight. 

Mayhem in the Metro

I was heading west to visit family on vacation. Momoko dropped me off at the train station. I checked on the amount on my fare card. Some dude was coming off the train. He had a hard time, but he jumped over the turnstile without paying a fare. Nobody did anything. I caught the next train heading out. I sat near the conductor.

Some woman came on, She had a few kids. They had a dog too. Did not know that was allowed. The woman screamed into her phone at somebody. Her kids screeched loudly as well. I saw a cop come on board. Figured he must be there for the woman. He wrote something down on a pad. Then it seems like he did nothing else.

 I was glad to switch trains to get to the airport. I went through TSA pre-check. Some CLEAR employee kept blocking our line to put CLEAR customers through ahead of us. Annoying. I ordered some tator tots. They were hot. I asked for hot sauce. Sat and ate them. Read the rest of the book I was reading.

When it got close to departure, I got a drink of water and went by my gate. It was standing room only. Other people standing kept discussing where our plane was. We must have departed 30 minutes late. I alerted my brother-in-law who was picking me up. It was a full flight. I read a whole book during the flight Kept the shades closed to keep the temperature cool. I learned that to avoid the $35 bag check in fee, I could just carry on two items. I need to buy a small suitcase. 

Changing of the Guard

We have a long retaining wall at the top of the hill in our back yard. It was an extension of the original small one that held up the ground by the edge of our original patio. One board in the wall had rotted out. My brother took me in his truck to Lowe's. I got a new piece of lumber to replace it.

Today I had a lunch meeting. So, I ate early. After the meeting, I ran a long running job at work. Then I went out. I dug up the dirt in front of the damaged board. It was tough as it was laced with gravel. And it was on top of a wire mesh. I got the new board in.

Then I had to take some breaks. I back filled the hole in front of the board with fresh gravel. Then I took the gravel I dug up and put it along a trench behind the fence. I picked up the plywood and lumber that held the gravel I dug up. Then I finally got rid of some of the trash from the project.

My boss was out of the office. But his boss, and some people on the new team were trying to get me to join a meeting. I had missed it by two hours. I told my boss' boss that I went to the lunch meeting. Then I was away from my laptop. Oh well.

Trying to Eat Fresh

I rushed up to Subway for lunch before a work meeting. Saw a lady in a red jumpsuit lounging around outside. She asked me for 50 cents. I said nuh uh. When inside, I confirmed with the worker that I could use my coupon. She said I could if it was not expired. I check the date. It said 9/11. That is a couple weeks from now.

After having my sub built, some other worker took over payment. She asked if I wanted chips or cookies. I said I wanted 2 cookies that are included in the deal. I handed her my coupon. She said the coupon expired on the 11th. She said she could still give me the discount.

I retorted that it is going to expire on September 11. This month is August. The coupon does not expire for almost another month. I don't need her to give me anything special. Just the coupon that is currently valid. WTF?