HOP IPA Looza II

More to come...

I was anxious and excited for Friday to arrive and it finally had. However, after partaking in Hop-IPA-looza at Barley’s the night before, I moved about somewhat gingerly. I felt much better than I had imagined, but was still noticeably tired. I made coffee and started my exercise routine. Before walking Ykraps I took a 20 minute nap on the sofa. After waking I realized that while I loaded the coffee maker I hadn’t actually hit the brew button. I hit it and went briefly to the PC. I decided right then that I wasn’t going to concern myself with being on time. After all, I would be on vacation at day’s end, and psychologically, I felt as if I already were. Mindy was up and stirring around 6:30am. I listened for the sound of her shower but that never occurred. Instead I heard the clanking and clunking of trash cans being dumped. My morning quiet time had been abruptly ended. I was not ready for that. Mindy came down with the trash she gathered from both bathrooms, and dressed in semi-grubbie attire, suitable, I gathered, for tearing apart her classroom.. After interrogation, my suspicion was confirmed. Mindy admitted being equally surprised to find me still at home, assuming instead that I would’ve been well into my morning run. I darted out for my run at about 7:00am. I cut my run a little short approximately three miles. The weather was nice - about 60 and sunny. I was home at 7:30am. Mindy was just preparing to depart for school. She wished me well, and I her. I had a decision to make. Should I cook breakfast or skip it. I decided it important enough to eat something substantial to help my energy stores, especially after a short night’s rest and multiple beers (3+). I ended up making an egg & gyro meat sandwich, using leftovers from the TBFG. It was quite tasty. I showered and readied for work as usual. I left for work just after 8:30am and arrived just before 9am. Work was busier than I had hoped. I so wanted a slow, easy day. I managed to stay focused and worked fairly hard through the rest of the morning. I hoped to leave for home around 2pm and even made those arrangements with my boss and peers. The deal was that I’d work from home for the last three hours. However, even well laid plans sometimes fail. Things got so busy that I just couldn’t peel away. Plus, I had a handful of administrative tasks I felt compelled to see to fruition before departing. I finally made good and left work at 3:15pm. Before heading home I stopped at CVS to pick-up a prescription for Mindy, Great Clips for a quick hair cut, and Jack‘s to get crickets for the lizards. In order to maintain some sway or control over my hair, I didn’t get it cut as short as usual. I arrived home near 3:45pm. Mindy was home doing some packing. I took a much needed nap on the chaise lounger from the lower level of our deck, in the shade. I took my Blackberry out with me. Work was still busy and I wanted to follow one particular issue. Feeling so sleepy that I could barely keep my eyes open I switched to music and drifted off for a few minutes. Afterwards, between 4 & 5pm, I upped and started to gather all of my attire for vacation. Mindy offered to actually pack it for me. I accepted, albeit reluctantly. I have never allowed someone else to pack for me, at least not since I was a small boy. While Mindy packed, I went to the deck to trim my toe & finger nails. Meanwhile, out in our deep backyard were two mothers, only one I recognized (Nick’s mother). They wandered forward towards the deck. Mindy came out at about the same time. It was Nick and Anthony’s mothers. The two boys were in the pond riding rafts. We talked with them for a good 30 minutes. They’re both school teachers. Kenny came over sometime during our conversation. I really needed to head back inside to finish packing my personal belongings like my MP3 player, phone chargers, books, and pens, etc. I finally excused myself from the conversation and headed back inside. Kenny came back over to ask about getting our stored fridge which we kindly agreed to give away to his sister. Our goal is to empty our storage unit before the end of June. Mindy agreed to go with Kenny and open the unit. He said he wouldn’t need my help. I would stay home and finish packing and start watering all the flowers. Mindy left with Kenny, and I headed outside to walk Ykraps, something I had forgotten to do earlier, but just as well. It was only 6 something. As Mindy and Kenny drove past in his pick-up on their way to fetch the fridge, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the oddity of the scenario. Here was I, a strong, virile young man, watering flowers while his girly wife headed off to move a refrigerator. I felt a tad guilty, but did tell Kenny that I would help if necessary. After all, he’s always there for me. I watered flowers front and back quite thoroughly. Mindy was back well before I finished. It was 7pm by the time I was done. I forgot to mention that I phoned my dad a bit earlier in the day to measure his willingness to drive us to the airport on Saturday saving us the trouble of parking a car there. He willingly agreed. Cool! I felt really tired but also wanted to attend the HOP IPA looza event again Friday night. Mindy still hadn’t showered, but definitely needed one after a day cleaning her classroom and now moving a fridge. While she showered, I updated my blog for the past couple of days. I didn’t need a shower but did want to freshen up. We left for Barley’s at 8pm. To our surprise, it wasn’t as crowded as Thursday. That’s indeed odd. Still, many of our peeps were there: Steve Wonn, Rick, little Bob and his wife Carol, Dan, and Tim. Unlike Thursday, Beth was working, Told Mindy she was feeling down. We had another nice time. I drank 2 four seas DIPAs and a HopSlam. Mindy drank rum & Cokes. I paced myself and ate a big sandwich, a Cuban and fries. I felt completely sober when we left for home. I drove. Mindy was feeling no pain. We called neighbor’s Crissy & Kenny just before we arrived home to measure their interest in company. It was 11pm. They encouraged us to come over. We did. After grabbing a beer and a drink for Mindy we walked over. We visited with those two for about an hour. It was midnight when we finally walked home and headed to bed.