Slick!

Like clock work, I was up at 5:20am eager to get my day rolling. It felt good to finally make it to Wednesday. After all, this was my first five day work week since the week before the Michigan Ohio State game. And the past two weeks, Wednesday was my Monday. From a work week stand point, I’ve been all out of sorts. Like any other day, I completed my calisthenics then headed outdoors with Ykraps. Stepping out the door I noticed a thick coating of ice on everything. Like always, our front stoop was incredibly slippery. I proceeded with much caution. I had no choice but to walk through the flower bed and front yard, otherwise I would‘ve slid all the way down the drive. Ykraps was confused by seeing me walking in the road in lieu of the sidewalk. The roads were slick as well, but not nearly as treacherous as the walks. My thoughts turned to my run and how I might pull that off. Everything was covered in a coating of ice. After a slow walk, Ykraps and I made it safely back home. Then, after pouring some coffee I took to the PC where I first scoped out the weather forecast. As bad as it was I figured I should look for school closings. Right off I saw that Hilliard schools would be operating on a two-hour delay. In response, I emailed my boss and peers to notify them that I would be approximately two hours late. Next, I prepped Mindy’ morning coffee for express delivery. I notified her of the severe conditions and the fact that Jacob’s school was delayed. She asked about hers. Nope, only the burbs (Dublin, Hilliard, Westerville, Worthington). I decided that Jacob’s delay would fix my running quandary. Since the temperature was on its way up, we stood a good chance that the ice would start melting in a couple of hours. It was hovering close to freezing already. I planned to delay my run until around 8:00am. I helped Mindy get the kids ready but also dashed outdoors to grab some road salt from the shed and then sprinkled a liberal amount over the drive and walk. I worried that Mindy might otherwise take out the Trooper backing out of the garage. To avoid that problem completely, I backed the Trooper onto the road and parked curbside. Now, if Mindy slid while backing out, she’d hit nothing but air. Because the front of our house faces due north, we have a wet, frozen stoop & drive almost all winter long. By the time Mindy needed to leave for work the salt had worked its magic and provided just enough traction for her to back out problem free. I played around on the PC for the next half hour before leaving on my run. Jacob was in his room playing his PS2. As I maneuvered down to the road I spotted Jake standing at the school bus stop and his mother’s SUV parked along side him. I hollered for the two of them to come my way. Somehow they missed the school delay message. I told Crissy to leave Jake with me and go on to work. She was grateful and departed. To be fair, I let her know that I’d be running for 30+ minutes and that the boys would be alone for that same amount of time. She understood and went on her way. As did I. I carefully struck out on my run. The walks were nearly impossible and the streets almost as bad. However, having done this for several years, I have a technique that thus far has served me well. The basic idea is this, I run slower, wider, and with total respect for the terrain ahead. I don’t think that I’ve ever fallen. I’ve come close, but never taken a dive. Whenever possible, I ran in the crown of the road (dead center). Occasionally, it would be completely free from ice. Whenever a car would come barreling down the road I would move cautiously up onto the grass strip between the road and walk. But believe it or not, that was slick too. I had to be careful. It took a bit longer than usual but I made it home unscathed. Boy, was I ever happy to be done. Before getting a shower, I loaded the clothes baskets now full of gift bags into the Trooper. I was out of the shower dressed for work by 9:50am. At 9:58am Jake, Jacob, and I walked to the bus stop. Of course, the two boys walked on the still treacherous sidewalks. I walked in the road. They loved the slick sidewalks and treated them as an ice rink. Finally, the bus cometh. The bus driver scolded my Jacob non-verbally for sliding out into the road before she came to a complete stop. Turns out, I was doing the same simultaneously. She commented that many of her peers were knocking over mailboxes. She went on about how they should’ve called off school all together. Back home I buttoned down the hatches befor departing. I arrived at work at 10:30am. I parked in a handicapped spot close to the rear entrance to aid in carrying in my three clothes baskets full of gifts. It took me a good ten minutes to get all three up to my fifth floor office. Our staff meeting was slated for 11am. I quickly totted my team’s gift bags into the center and distributed them like Santa. Only one of my guys was off. Everyone was most appreciative. Turns out, the team had a gift for me too – two in fact. The first was a $50 Dick’s gift certificate. The second was a gag gift and a play on some joking dialogue we’ve had recently about my easy jeans and black t-shirt wardrobe. They commented only days ago that it was easy because they were so small and could all be washed in one load. J In turn, my gag gift was a long sleeved black t-shirt and a pair of jeans. The unique thing was that they were tiny sized – about Rocky’s size. The team roared as I opened it. I laughed along with them. It was funny. A few minutes later, a couple of them (suck-ups) came by my office to make sure that I wasn’t offended. Please – me? I was barely settled before it was time to head off to our 11am staff meeting. The meeting was brief as we had a team lunch planned for the Cheesecake Factory at Easton. After our staff meeting I gave each of my peers their Starbucks gifts. Then, before heading off to Easton, we presented our boss with our joint gift – a gift basket full of OSU stuff. We found parking relatively close to the Cheesecake Factory. The walk was chilly but certainly not unbearable. They quoted us a fifteen minute wait but it was more like five. Soon we were seated for our team Xmas lunch. Bottomline, I wasn’t impressed with anything we ordered accept the cheesecake. Our spinach dip appetizer was average at best, and my Cuban sandwich couldn’t hold a candle to Barley’s rendition. But then again, it was more about the people I was with rather than the food. We had a lot of fun yucking it up. On my prompting, everyone ordered cheesecake. I went with their Kahlua cocoa. It was scrumptious! We headed back to the office around 2:30pm. However, one of my peers, Sandy, went her separate way, heading off for some shopping at Easton. She’d be off until Monday. The late afternoon in the office was easy. There wasn’t too much going on and everyone was in extraordinarily good spirits. Just as the end of the day often brings a big issue, today was no exception. I didn’t get out of the office until 5:45pm. On my way home I stopped at Target to pick-up the hockey table for Jacoby. I looked for the new Enya Xmas CD but like most places, they didn’t have it. Also, at Mindy’s prompting, I picked up a box of big boys training pants – what can I say. I’m having issues. J No, not really. They’re for Rocky. He’s pee’d the bed about three or four times over the last three weeks. Mindy’s tiring of washing his bedding. Everyone was pretty much settled by the time that I arrived home – one of the benefits of arriving home late. I still had to walk Ykraps, however. This was a Jimaken Wednesday for Jacob & Bella. They didn’t get home until 7:40pm. That gave Mindy and I a little more time to focus on Rocky & Landon. They seem to benefit from that. Once J & B were home, they were quickly off to the showers. Soon, everyone was tucked into bed, and Mindy & I were left with some alone time – time to ponder our day and our immediate future. There’s an awful lot going on over the next week or so. It’s important to plan. I lagged behind after Mindy headed off to bed. I watched a DVR’d episode of Family Guy. I headed off for bed around 11pm.