Next?

The weekend was over, the Vikings lost, and now it was time to return to work. This would be just my second full work week since mid-November. All wasn’t gloom, however. I was much looking forward to the Buckeye game against Texas later in the evening. I thought of that shortly after waking. And speaking of waking, I was up at 5:15am ready for the go despite waking numerous times to the sounds of Mindy hacking up a lung. In her case, certainly not a pleasant way to start back to work. I did my exercises and then walked Ykraps. We were back by 5:34am. I had lots of time to enjoy my coffee, PC, and meditation. I purposefully steered clear of the negative Viking headlines. All that would’ve done was cause a gloomy mood. I took Mindy coffee around 6am. I half expected her to call off work, but she didn’t. She got up, and I headed back downstairs. I left for a run about ten minutes early. It was just under 30 degrees. I was very comfortable in a regular wicking shirt and jacket – a sure sign that my body has adapted to the winter climate. My run went well. I finished feeling strong (Streak update: 11 years, 10 months, and 25 days – over 18,000 miles). Something I haven’t witnessed in a couple of weeks, students at the bus stops, school buses milling about the subdivsion, and Mindy & the kids gathered in the kitchen readying for the go. Ahh – normalcy. I helped get things moving by packing my own lunch and stirring the scrambled eggs. The two week hiatus probably impacted Landon the most. It was like starting over for him. Mindy let me know that she broke our good crockpot while carrying it up from the basement cabinet. She had to use an older model for our beef roast. She invited my dad for Monday night dinner Sunday evening. We all look forward to beef roast dinners. Soon Mindy & the wee ones were gone. Jacob and I were back to our usual routines. I was off to the shower and he was off to his room. I noticed he was wearing Buckeye attire to school. I briefly considered wearing one of my Buckeye jerseys or t-shirts but didn’t. Instead, I wore black to memorialize the end of the Vikings season. :) Not really. I wear black almost everyday. We left for the bus stop at exactly 7:58am. Jacob was exited to wear his receiving gloves. I started my Trooper as we walked down the drive. Jake was already waiting at the bus stop. Crissy left as soon as we walked up. We tossed the football like most other days. Right back into our routine. I checked the house for anything in disarray before locking up and heading for work. Gas was $1.79 at Thornton’s. I’m getting low but figured I could go another day or two and kept going. I haven’t gassed up for coming up on three weeks. I noticed a small car with its lights on parked right next to me as I walked into the building. I had it in mind to attempt to notify the owner. Somehow I forgot as I meandered to my office. After logging in, I walked down to my center to see my team. We chatted and joked around for about fifteen minutes. Many I hadn’t seen since before Xmas. My boss and a peer showed up and we went for our morning coffee. The work day was busy, but not overtly so. I didn’t take a formal lunch but did spend some time catching up on the Vikings headlines. I wanted to see how the locals took the playoff loss. For that perspective, I read the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Very negative. As a life long fan, sure, I wish they had won and moved on, but I am also grateful that they’ve shown steady improvement year over year. Super bowl – maybe next year! I talked with Mindy on my way home. My dad was over for dinner as anticipated. He had already walked Ykraps. I could hear lots of background noise – the kids. All four of them were wound up by the time I walked in the door. Whoa! Landon wanted held and Rocky wanted to hang on me. Mindy was busy finishing prepping dinner. I eventually took Landon to the basement to play. Bella joined us. We played Hopping Frogs until Mindy called us to dinner. The roast was delicious – not as tender as many past but still awfully good. Along with roast, we had mashed potatoes, crescent rolls, and peas. Landon didn’t care for the peas. Even when I hid them in his mashed potatoes he found them and promptly spit them out. No foolin’ him! Jacob badgered his mother throughout dinner about the possibility of visiting neighbor Jake. As usual, Mindy had to tell him, if you ask one more time, you won’t get to go at all. So predictable. He got the message. Meanwhile, Bella ate more beef than I’ve seen her consume ever before. All the kids were clean platters, even dad! Rocky chose mini-muffins and the cherry turnover he missed out on Sunday night as his dessert. Clean up took a while. I talked to dad as I did clean-up. Mindy did some other chores. Jacob left for neighbor Jake’s. In trade, Makayla came over to play with Bella. They played Mario Kart. Meanwhile, Rocky lost his ability to play Mario Kart for swearing and hitting just before I arrived home. I had to succinctly clarify why he lost it because we told him just this morning that he would have it back tonight if he got a smiley face in school today, and he did. Dad left around 7:30pm. And as much as I hate doing it, I agreed to give Rocky & Landon their baths because Mindy wasn’t feeling too well. Now, because I broke the pot metal lid that was molded into our tub drain, we had to buy this rubber pancake stopper. Well, while Rocky was peeing, I accidentally dropped it into the toilet. I wasn’t about to reach into the yellow water to retrieve the large rubbery disc. Mindy walked by and was amused at my dilemma. Perplexed, I wasn’t quite sure how to proceed. It didn’t take long. Just as I asked Rocky not to flush, he reached and flushed the toilet anyway. Worried that the rubber drain stopper would be sucked down into my toilet drain and cause a life’s worth of trouble, I reached into the urine filled potty to fetch it. I was not a happy camper. I washed my hands pronto all the while scowling at Rocky. After getting both kids in jammies and seeing that they brushed their teeth, I retreated to the downstairs to tune into the game. It was already 8:25pm. To my surprise, the game had already begun despite hearing that kick-off wasn’t until 8:30pm. I missed the initial kick-off and a play or two but that’s it. As always, our offense was offensive. They could move the ball but couldn’t punch it in. How discouraging! Soon, we managed a couple field goals. Sadly, even though we outplayed them going into halftime, we held the slimmest of leads, 6-3. The second half started going Texas’ way quickly. After some assistance from the referees, Texas was up 17-6. And at one point, it looked like a massacre might be coming. They were running a hurry-up offense and we couldn’t even get ourselves set. We looked frazzled. However, another second half collapse in a BSC game wasn’t to be. The Buckeyes somehow managed to scored 15 unanswered points to take a 21-17 lead with 2:05 left. Now, all we had to do was stop Colt McCoy and the Longhorns. Easier said than done. The Longhorns tried to give us the game. We dropped a sure interception at the line of scrimmage, and then kept allowing them to narrowly convert long third downs into first downs. They marched down the field. On a 4th and 8 in our territory, Colt McCoy found a receiver right at the first down marker. It was very close. The initial spot looked like it was our ball. However, it was actually a first down by inches. Tressel wisely used his challenge. The spot was upheld. It wasn’t another play two later that Texas scored a 26 yard touchdown with 16 seconds left to take the lead. Heartbreak in Columbus!! It was after midnight. I was tired but also wound up. In fact so much so, when I went to lie down in bed I could feel my heart beating heavily against my chest. I just had to get back up and do something. I went back downstairs to play on my PC for a while. At 12:45am I finally retreated to bed for some much needed shut eye.