Too Laborious

Monday was Labor Day. Ironically, most Americans spend this day at home not doing any labor at all. And had I not been on-call, I would’ve been one of them. However, given that I was, I spent the lion’s share of the day laboring away. 

My Blackberry alarm went off at 5:30am just as it’s programmed to do Mon - Fri. In a deep sleep, I immediately grabbed for it thinking it was an incoming phone call. After two or three unrequited hellos I realized what I had done. Unfortunately, I couldn’t fall back to sleep, so eventually got up and headed down the stairs. 

Before exercise, I threw on a pot of coffee and logged onto my work laptop. Yikes! There was plenty of work needing my attention. For the next 1.5 hours I balanced work, exercise, and coffee. I saw that my boss was online early too. Not only was he online, but he was also pinging me about a few things. Geesh! At 7:30am I set out for a run. I ran just three miles to help conserve time. 

 I had plans to meet some folks for a few hours of fun and hoped to be able to do so without worrying too much about work. However, hurricane Gustav was doing its best to screw up my plans. I thought about calling off the gig but actually had things looking good before the clock struck 8:30am. By then I had my shower, and Mindy and all four kids were up. I went ahead and left, but also took my laptop and new wireless card just in case. 

I met my buddies just as I had planned. However, almost as soon as we hooked up work became an issue once more. I tried responding remotely via my Blackberry, but one can only do so much with that. Eventually I conceded and made my way alone back to my vehicle where I grabbed my laptop and wireless card. Taking to a remote table in the corner, I attempted to log on.  But of course there was no service available in the area – none! Are you frikkin kiddin’ me? There was a rogue wireless network nearby but it was secured.  Crap! By then I realized that I had little choice other than to head home. I had a funny feeling that would happen. 

I arrived home about thirty minutes later and quickly got things under control. No sooner did I get home that Mindy and the kids headed off to the pool for the final time (pool closes Labor Day). It was a hot one, too – 92 degrees. Mindy and the kids weren’t there that long. Mindy said the pool closed at 4pm – something she as well as most other patrons didn’t expect, like, or plan for. But knowing the owner, he needs to be ready for work the following day, so… 

Ashley showed up around 5pm to pick-up Rocky & Landon for Lindsey. While there, she agreed to drop an envelope by Rosemary & Al’s for Mindy & I. In addition, we helped her out a little too.  By 6pm our house was comparatively quiet once more. Gone were the noises commonly associated with having four little ones running around, along with their friends. Having just Jacob & Bella suddenly seemed peaceful. 

I spent most of the late afternoon and early evening tinkering with work related matters. However, lucky for us, the hurricane had all but petered out.  As the evening wore on we tuned into ESPN to watch a big college football game - UCLA against Tennessee. UCLA won, although I didn’t stay awake to the end.