Big Fat Thule

It must’ve been about 8am when I slipped out of bed, stumbled into the bathroom, brushed my teeth, then headed downstairs to begin my morning all the while Mindy remained lost in her weekend slumber. My clogged head cleared up considerably after completing my morning exercise routine. It wasn't long before Ykraps and I headed out for a walk into the cool morning air. It was a balmy 21 degrees with light flurries falling. The cold air felt good, and helped wake me even further. After our walk I spent the next hour checking in on work and then writing in my blog. I wasn't concerned at all about the time, or more pointedly my run. Mindy must’ve gotten up around 930am. She printed a grocery list and worked on that while sipping her morning coffee. I readied and left for a run around 10am. As I was heading out the door I remembered that I hadn’t stretched. I stopped for a brief moment and considered going back inside to stretch but ultimately decided to run without doing so. However, I did stretch my hamstrings from the stoop like always. My 4-mile run went really well. I must’ve arrived back at home around 1040am. Before heading back inside I broom swept the drive and put down a little more salt. Mindy was still in the kitchen in her robe. I asked about yoga. She still planned on going and also agreed to pick-up Ykraps’ prescription at the vet’s office nearby. She didn’t need to leave until 1130am. She also planned a stop at Target, too. After Mindy left, I bounced back and forth between work and pleasure a handful of times. Happily, work remained calm. I was eager to get my new iTouch operational, and spent a good hour or two doing just that. In addition, I mailed off my $20 rebate from to Adobe. They really make you jump through hoops to get the cash, thus why most folks pass the offer by. That presented with my first opportunity to use my new printer as a copier. Convenient! I was still fooling around with my iTouch with Mindy got home around 2pm. She got the kids a second pair of ski gloves for our trip. Always a good idea to have two pair. The sun came out late afternoon. I saw that as the perfect opportunity to try and mount our new Thule cargo carrier on top of the Honda. It’s been resting on the deck in its box since Thursday afternoon. I drug it through the snow and into the garage where I sliced away the cardboard box. It’s a very simple device – not much to it. I read the install directions a couple of times then decided to give it a go. The biggest bummer is that the Honda won’t fit in the garage with the carrier on top. That means I needed to do the install on our steep driveway. Lucky for me, the ice and snow was all but melted away thanks to the earlier salting. I positioned the step ladder nearby just in case but placed the carrier atop the Honda from the ground. It’s fairly light – about 30lbs. I had a little trouble getting the grippers to the correct width but all in all it went OK, especially being the first time and in the cold temps. Somehow, though, one of the ‘cheaply’ made carrier cradles snapped off the bottom of the cargo box. Can you say instant irritation? After holding my own little swearing convention, I got creative and found a washer in my personal collection big enough to make the broken cradle work. I proceeded with the test. The carrier mounted up fine save for not enough rear hatch clearance. Even with the cargo carrier as far forward as possible, the rear hatch won’t go up all the way. I seem to remember the same trouble with Bob’s Yakima carrier last winter. My original intent was to remove the cargo carrier after my test, but after conferring with Mindy we decided to leave it atop the Honda saving ourselves the hassle of stowing it and then placing atop the car again later next week. The only real down side is leaving the Honda out in the elements. Again, it won’t clear the garage door opening. Mindy headed off to Target for another shopping spree as soon as I was done. It was 5pm. She gave me an update on the Bengals playoff game – 7-0 Bengals. Mindy was gone for about an hour. I spent the time playing with my iTouch and watching the Bengals game. Any momentum the Bengals had early on evaporated along with their slim lead. The Jets were punishing the Bengals offensively and defensively. The Bengals somehow got close in the early fourth quarter, but then the Jets rebounded with a quick score of their own, pretty much sealing their victory. Mindy gave me crap for being so critical of the Bengals play. Mindy suggested she take me to dinner. I wasn’t on board 100%, especially initially but eventually acquiesced. We agreed on the Big Fat – a household favorite. After a quick brush up, we left for dinner around 7:30pm. The Big Fat was packed to the hilt upon our arrival – good for business. We suggested a seat at the bar while awaiting a table with Katarina, one of our favorite servers. Mindy had a glass of Shiraz and I had a Jack & Coke. The Cowboy/Eagles game was just getting underway, this we could see on the big screen directly to our left over the bar area. We weren’t there long before the restaurant cleared out a little and our table became available. Like all good servers, Katarina knows what we like to drink and what we like to order. She pretty much ordered for me. – scallops and a small Greek salad. Mindy also went with her favorite, the salmon and an artichoke salad. My dinner was scrumptious. Mindy said the same of hers. Katarina comp’d us a free dessert – lemon cake drizzled in raspberry sauce. It was tasty too. The Cowboys were ahead in their game, not for certain the score. Mindy made a new friend, a woman walking around with a toddler in her arms apparently in an effort to calm him. She is a teacher too. We left for home I’m guessing around 9pm. Mindy drove. We phoned Chrissy while in route asking if she was up for company. Kenny was off hunting for the night. After arriving home, Mindy quickly changed into her PJ’s, and I grabbed a beer from the garage fridge – a Rogue Yellow Snow IPA. We walked down to Chrissy’s. Chrissy is a Dallas Cowboys fan. They retained control of the game from jump. It was quite apparent that it'd be the Cowboys and Vikings next Sunday at noon. Chrissy made it clear that she’ll still be my friend even if the Vikings win. She also asserted that I might be less kind should the game go the other way - her way.  Mindy started fading and even dosed off here and there before the game ended. We left minutes after the final seconds. I’ll bet Mindy was in bed ten minutes later. I was up a while longer, determined to watch Saturday Night Live. I struggled through the late news first. Apparently more snow coming Monday. They also shared that we set a record with snow some 14 days in a row. I probably saw less than 5 minutes of SNL, falling asleep on the sofa. Got up around 230am and headed for bed.