Bye-Bye Blue Monday

I checked the calendar and even though there was a hint of Autumn in the air, it's still summer - dammit! Unlike the last couple of months, there was next to no humidity and the temperature was in the low 80's today. In turn, I was able to give the A/C a break when I got home from work. In its place, I opened a few windows and let the cool evening breeze sweep through my home. Nothing like adding some freshness to the stale, re-circulated air. Work was uneventful compared to last week. No complaints though. It was nice to have a day without drama. If you recall, my Lead Engineer resigned last week. He came in today so that I could take him to lunch. We went to Spagheddi's in Mill Run. I hadn't been there in probably 8 years. In fact, I think I was married the last time I was there! YUCK!!! Because of my pre-planned lunch outing, I had to go for a run at 1045AM. The air was still a tad cool, even with the sun shining brightly. Needless to say, that made for some splendid running conditions. I barely broke a sweat! And as if I needed another reminder that summer was about done, I happened upon the Hilliard High School Band doing a full rehearsal in the school parking lot. That's always a bad sign! Received an Email from my brother Tommy seeking closure on the boat deal. After listening to him speak sentimentally about his personal attachment to the boat at our karaoke outing a couple of weeks ago, I wrongly assumed that he had a change of heart, so I hadn't pushed the issue. Nope! He's ready to finalize our deal. I'll call him on Tuesday and nail things down. Looks like I'll be taking legal possession just in time to pay to have it winterized and stored for the winter. Joy joy! :) At home Monday evening, I did some reading on the deck since the weather was so nice. My back yard is most excellent this time of the day and this time of the year. No direct sunshine, moderate temps, and lots of long shadows from the numerous trees. All this adds up to extreme comfort. I am finding it difficult to immerse myself in Tolles book, The Power of Now. The ideals and concepts are interesting and familiar but the style is a little choppy for my liking. Sometimes, though, it just takes me a few days to switch gears and warm up to another very different writing style, especially after taking an entire month to re-read Chopra's, The Book of Secret's. IM'd with Dodie for a few sometime around 7PM. She's doing well and seems excited about her upcoming "girl" party. She was readying herself for an evening walk down Bier Run rd. That sounded really good. I've written about it a time or two. If you close your eyes and picture a curvy country road setting against a back drop of hills, trees, and farm land, that's Bier Run. Very nice! I really appreciate the relationship that Dodie and I have forged! She's like the sister I never had. At the tail end of the evening I caught a little bit of the Dallas Seattle Football game. Seattle had a quarterback, can't remember his name, that looked awfully impressive in the short amount of time that I saw him play. It seems to me that his name was Senneca something or other. While watching the game, I practiced guitar. Speaking of which, I found a new instructor that I am slated to begin lessons with the week of Labor Day. I haven't had a real lesson since pre Cozumel. I really enjoyed the personality and style of my old instructor, but coordinating our schedules and driving out east once a week proved to be too cumbersome. I knew that I'd eventually find a new instructor without making it into a chore. I simply allowed the universe to bring him to me. This guy is going to come to my house rather than me doing all the traveling. And instead of a half hour lesson, we're gonna do a full hour. We both agreed that works better. It allows the lesson to sink in a little more. Originally we planned for once a week, but the more I think about it, the more sense it makes to me to go every other week. That way I'll have plenty of time to practice what I've learned. Meeting once a week with my old instructor always left me feeling pressure to nail down the scale or riff he taught me before our next meeting. Playing the guitar should never be "pressure". Right?? Can you believe that it's practically Labor Day already? Shit! It seems like summer just began! I hate that. Can we slow it down just a little...please? I'll write more about this later. It was almost completely dark at 850PM tonight. ...another sign! I took special notice because I've been watching the stars of late. Excitement for the day... There was this guy in a large SUV behind me on the way to work. It seems he wanted to go faster than the posted speed limit on the new Trueman Road in Hilliard (new Target and Home Depot). It is one of those roads that begs 45 MPH or higher but has a limit of 35 MPH. To make matters worse, there are always Hilliard cops lurking about. When I looked in the rear view he was flipping me off. Now I rarely get incensed behind the wheel these days. I mean, why would I let someone else having a bad day ruin mine? Suddenly, he jerked out from behind me, purposefully pulled up beside me and began uttering something behind glass. Couldn't hear a word, but he was jerking around and making God awful faces and even more hand gestures. What can I say, I mistook it for "I love you". But when I blew him a kiss it seemed to throw him over the edge. Hmmm? Guess he wasn't flirting after all. He stayed beside me for a quite a while. I could feel my blood pressure rising and a minor adrenaline rush. All I could think to do was to show him "thirty-five"MPH with my fingers. He didn't like that either. The thing was, he seemed in such a hurry to pass me, yet he continued to stay right beside me for about ¼ mile until he got to his place of employment. Do you think he was having a bad morning. Probably married to some nagging wife that complains about his short comings and never gives him any praise. :) Who knows? Song of the day: Brad Paisley, Alcohol. "I can make anybody pretty...I can make you pick a fight with somebody twice your size...I got you in trouble in high school...had some of the best times you'll never remember with me...Alcohol".