650lb Virgin

There’s little wonder why I woke tired at 530am. I stayed up until 11pm watching The Science Channel with Bella. Despite the shortened slumber, it didn’t take long to shake the sleepies. Once I started my sit-ups I felt fine. A check of the weather revealed that it was 50 degrees under cloudy skies. Before doing push-ups, I released Ykraps from his pen. Unless he gets control of his ‘weak’ bladder, this is going to be the new plan. By the time I completed my push-ups and leashed up Ykraps it was already 6am. We were slightly behind schedule. It felt pretty nice outside. I noticed that the two curbside maples were almost naked, there autumn colored canopies lying helplessly below. We weren’t back form our walk until 610am – already coffee time. Along with my own, I prepared Mindy’s and made the on-time delivery. Mindy asked for her robe. While retrieving her robe, I grabbed a Tagament from the medicine cabinet. I returned downstairs to carry on with my routine. For some reason, I started stretching before meditation. And my first stretch was the towel behind the back thing. It felt great. I felt a slight twinge in my right knee during stretching, making me consider my rehab plan more carefully. After successfully stretching I did a five minute meditation. That was enough. I felt good, and also ready to run. I skipped ear covers but wore two wicking shirts and running gloves. That ended up being a good call. I was comfortable. My legs and knee felt good – no problems at all. I decided to keep my run to three miles fearing a reoccurrence of my knee injury. Again, I need to look at this from a long term perspective. I’ve got to be smart about my rehab. Perhaps because of the cloud cover, today was the first day I noticed that it was, for all intents and purposes, dark at my run’s conclusion. However, dawn was apparent to the east. Just a few more days until we roll the clocks back and I am once again running in full daylight beginning to end. But that won’t last long. I haven’t checked the details, but I know we’ll loose early daylight fast throughout November. It was 711am when I got back home. Jacob was just finishing his waffles and soon headed back upstairs to watch TV. Bella, Mindy & I enjoyed our eggs. Mindy wasn’t feeling too well at all and suggested that we not plan anything for after work (Wednesday Barley’s). She left at her usual time and I headed off for the shower. The kids were beckoning. I figured I must be dragging behind. But like many other days, they were simply eager to head out early. While they headed to the bus stop, I tidied up the kitchen. I joined them a few minutes later, and took Ykraps along too. Good thing I did. He had plenty more pee in that gun! I left for work around 815am. This was going to be a ‘Rachel day’. Mindy left a check for her on the island. I heard her tell Bella to pick-up her room before she left. Pick-up your room because the cleaning lady is coming? I’ll never fully understand. I arrived at work on time. Along the way, gas, I noticed, was up to $2.68 at Thornton’s. I definitely don’t like seeing that. The morning went by in the blink of an eye. We spent the lion’s share of it in a meeting. I left for an overdue haircut at 1pm. I chose Great Clips over Saturday’s in Mill Run. I felt a little guilty going there over Saturday’s, which there’s only about five store fronts separating the two, but they’re about $4 cheaper and the cut’s not much different if at all. You save where you can. Still, I had been going to Saturday’s for 15 years. Andrea cut my hair this afternoon. She was swift but attentive to the details. She shared that her step-father still has wears a mullet. Said her mom’s asked more than once that she sneak in and whack it. But Andrea said she has trouble visualizing him any other way. She went on to say that most male customers tell her that they’ve been wearing the same hairstyle since high school. Don’t fix what ain’t broke mentality. She was done in ten minutes - easy. I tipped her well - $5 on a $13 cut. With plenty of spare time, I decided to roll across the lot to Lowe’s for some aisle browsing. I checked out their Xmas decorations, and more specifically their Xmas lights to see if they had anything new and unusual. LED Xmas lights are definitely becoming more prolific. What’s more, you can connect up to 25 sets in succession. That’s a huge improvement over regular bulbs. I also browsed through the appliance department, and then checked out Sharkbite plumbing connectors to see what I could’ve used in lieu of old school copper and solder connections. Turns out, I would’ve spent about the same money on the Sharkbites. They’re expensive. I headed back to work a bit lighter after my 6-week shearing. The afternoon moved along nicely. Mindy called just as she was arriving home. Said the house looked awesome. Thanks Rachel! Mindy said she felt a little better and would likely be up to going out for dinner after all. She felt better but still made a doctor’s appointment for Thursday after school. I believe the reason her colds/sinus infections hang on so long is from taking antibiotics too regularly over the years. I’m venturing to guess that she takes them on average three or four times per year. Me, I’ve taken them only once since I was ten years old. I left for home at 515pm. I called and talked with Mindy after the busy roundabout. We decided on Barley’s. She asked if we could stop for gas on our way. I let her go just before getting on the freeway. I was home by 540pm. She wasn’t interested in walking Ykraps. I walked him alone. I ran into neighbor Joyce just heading out for a walk (exercise). We talked about her exercise regimen and Ykraps. She suspects he has a weak bladder. Says it happens to older dogs frequently. Back at home, and after freshening up, Mindy & I left for Barleys. We were surprised to find the lot more crowded than even a Friday night. What? Why? We weren’t certain, but I quickly gathered that it was a Blue Jackets pre-game crowd. I stood while Mindy sat at the lone stool remaining at the bar. Mindy ordered hot tea. I ordered Green Flash Imperial DIPA – a guest draft. We ordered food, too, me, Gate of Hell wings, and Mindy two mini-barbeque sandwiches (one pork the other beef) and cheesy fries. I had just one beer. Mindy took care of the check. We left for home just before 730pm. We were home about 10 or 15 minutes before the kids arrived. I was just opening the box to my new external hard drive hoping to get it setup. Once the kids were settled I did just that. It was very easy to set up and begin backing up data files. It’s almost entirely automated. I have 35gig of music, photos, mail, and documents to back-up. Because it’s a USB connection, it’s slower than a SATA connection, of course. It slowed the performance of my PC to an absolute crawl. Heck, it’s already too slow with only 512 mg of RAM. I walked away and let the external HD do its thing. Mindy put the kids to bed earlier than usual. They were in bed by 820pm. I went up for the tuck in then returned to the family room to watch The Learning Channel. We watched a show titled something like, The 650lb Virgin, the story of a grossly obese man’s transformation to a 220lb stud. Interesting story. It was over at 10pm. We headed to bed immediately after the program. I crated Ykraps before heading up