Red Lobster

The very minute I begin to brag about being settled into my renewed habit of waking at 530am I’ll experience a minor set back. Still, I’ve got to applaud my progress as I’ve done a pretty good job of rising on time for three weeks running. In the past, waking at 530am was simply a desire, but now it’s almost mandatory should I choose to remain on task. And to an extent, it’s even a bit troubling, since I never like to feel forced or rushed. My weekday routine is everything but leisure these days. I completed my exercises and walk with Ykraps by 5:55am. After, I was happy to be facing the coffee pot pouring the morning’s first cup. After my three day weekend I wasn’t too motivated to head back to work. But before I could worry about work, I had my morning run ahead of me. I spent the usual thirty minutes catching up on the Yahoo headlines, reading the Daily OM, and meditating. It’s a proven fact that all my days go better if I meditate. By 6:30am I donned my running attire (shorts and shoes) and then hit the streets. It was a good run. Mindy had a fresh strada (breakfast casserole) ready in the oven by the time that I returned from my run. Her idea is to have this ready for heating each morning. At my place setting she already had a bowl of fruit set out too. Mindy and Bella dashed off towards school a little bit late my most accounts. Mindy called me minutes later to ask me to make sure Jacob got his allergy medicine and to make his bed. Because of the weekend rains there was no need to water flowers so I wasn’t rushed at all. Instead, I took my shower at a leisurely pace. Jacob and I departed for the bus stop at 7:59am. He still seems eager to get out there each morning. Pat & I discussed the Buckeye game, his weekend golf outing, and a little bit about the NFL. I headed towards work. It was 8:10am. Fifteen minutes later I was unlocking my office door all set to begin another work week. One of the first things I noticed was that my boss approved my Thursday vacation day. That felt good. I had a one on one meeting scheduled with him that he ultimately canceled. He stopped by my office a bit later to explain why. Come lunch time I headed off to Lowe’s. My goals there were simple. I wanted to checkout their gas grill selection as well as take another look at their storage shelves. I really want to get that project done in the next month. I spent about 25 minutes looking around. I saw a couple of grills that I really liked but they were much pricier than the one I fancied at Home Depot. By all accounts, it was a cloudy day. Just thought that I’d throw that in. We haven’t had too many of those this summer. I was eager to get out of the office at a reasonable time. I managed my way out around 5:10pm. Originally the roofer was supposed to stop by tonight to sign our contract but he called around 5pm to cancel. Seems he injured himself climbing on a roof. Mindy had designs on taking me and the kids out for my birthday dinner immediately after. I called Mindy to let her know that the roofer canceled. We agreed to simply meet at Red Lobster. That way I wouldn’t have to exit 270 just to get back on minutes later. Good idea! She walked Ykraps before heading out. We met at Red Lobster around 5:45pm. Uncharacteristically, it wasn’t too crowded for a change. I ordered a lobster tail and shrimp combo. Mindy ordered Tilapia and shrimp. Jacob ordered scampi – his favorite! Bella had apple sauce and French fries. Service was quick and efficient. They’re probably never going to get high marks for quality but the food is adequate & service is generally fast & friendly. We enjoyed it. Earlier I had my eye on their desserts but after eating my entire dinner entrée, that idea went out the window. Instead we paid the bill and headed home. At home the kids were eager to play but there wasn’t much time allotted for such toil. Jacob got a little aggressive with his mother and ended up losing his TV privileges. But his antics didn’t stop there either. Eventually he lost them through Wednesday. He wasn’t happy, especially since that meant he couldn’t watch the Bengals on MNF with me. Sucks to be him! Finally, he went to sleep. Mindy headed to bed at her new bedtime of 9:15pm. I stayed up and watched the game in its entirety (almost). I did dose off for about five minutes of the fourth quarter but saw the final three plus minutes, which were loaded with excitement. The Bengals won! Being opening weekend there were two games on. I saw the opening drive by the SF 49ers but that was it. I needed to go to bed.