Me & My Aarrow

I was awake and downstairs by 535am after another quality night's sleep. For the first time in a while, I took a couple Advil after feeling some lingering stiffness in my shoulders. It was mild, but I didn’t want to give it room to linger. After my calisthenics I played on the computer until it was time to wake Mindy. With coffee in hand, I headed up to wake her just after 610am. Like most mornings, she asked that I crank up the heat when I headed back down. Gladly. I moved on to meditation and stretching after addressing the heating situation. The most recent blips in my life, the Shawn incident, and now my aging Trooper, I needed a good bout of meditation to remind me of how fortunate I remain. It was more difficult than usual to stop my mind from drifting towards the negative but I did OK in the ten or so minutes I allowed myself. My stretching went well too. I rose with more energy than I started and was eager to get on with my run. I dressed in three upper layers like most winter days. I secured the house behind me as I set out for my run. The roads were only a tad bit better than the morning before. Still lots of dry slush slowing me down, putting additional drag on my strong running legs. As always, I managed. I ran the full four mile track. At my prompting from the entry way, Mindy brought me her car keys so I could warm the Honda. I moved the trashcan behind the Trooper after placing it at the curb behind the Honda the night before, and as it turned out, also a day early. The holiday threw me off. I headed inside for breakfast. I stripped out of my top two sweaty layers before being seated at the table for breakfast. My eggs & fruit were fulfilling. Mindy knew I still had lunch in the fridge at work so she didn’t have another sitting out, although there were two more already prepared and in our home fridge. Mindy left a little after 730am reminding Bella to go to Noah’s after school. Mindy had parent teacher conferences scheduled until 8pm, a long day for her indeed. The kids and I were ready to go by 753am. We took our time heading out the door. After the kids were off on the bus, I headed back home for a quick cup of coffee and my final prep. I called Aarrow Radiator & Repair and made arrangements to drop off the Trooper on my way into work. Next, I tried phoning my peer, Ken, hoping to arrange for a pick-up at Aarrow. I got his VM. I tried his desk phone next. Same thing, VM. Crap. I wasn't daunted. The Trooper was running poorly, but I had the technique down pat. Shift into neutral at each stop and then ever so lightly depress the accelerator to avoid stalling. That served me well. As I got closer to Aarrow, the check engine light went out. Are you frikin kidding me? I tested the trouble by completely releasing the accelerator. Of course, it didn’t stall. Now, I was praying for trouble. Even though the light remained out, it started running rough and wanted to stall as I sat in Aarrow’s lot waiting for my peer, whom I finally made contact with a few miles back up the road. He was already on his way to fetch me. I made sure to take my prior two receipts inside, not to imply poor workmanship, but rather to show an obvious trend. Not only has this happened three times in five years now, but each incident occurred around the same time of the year. I think it hardly a coincidence. Dave & Dean, the owners, are twins. They took note of the past receipts and said they’d call me. I asked that they quote me a price on fixing my passenger window, too. Ken and I headed out to his waiting pick-up then headed towards the office. Work was about on par with Wednesday minus the additional responsibilities of my boss. That was a welcome reprieve. I expected a call from Aarrow sometime during the day, although Dave informed me when I called to see about taking it in that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get it fixed on Thursday. They never did call, and I was stranded at work without a car or a planned ride home. I didn’t think too much about it, knowing I could call my dad if necessary. Late in the afternoon my boss offered me a ride home and said I could work from home on Friday, too so I wouldn’t have to worry about arranging another ride in. That sounded good. As it was, I ended up catching a ride home with one of my engineers who goes right by my place anyhow. I kept the option of working from home in back pocket, but after careful consideration didn’t think I would. The house was quiet, but why wouldn’t it be? I was the only one home. Mindy had parent conferences and the kids were with Jimaken until 8pm. I took a few minutes to snack and decompress then collected all of our 2009 tax documents and started compiling our tax return. After about an hour I took a break and unloaded the dishwasher and put my ski pants and jacket in the washer. They both needed it, especially the ski pants. I was about done with the taxes, but already knew I wouldn’t submit the final product that night. Instead, I’d submit it over the weekend. I finished the taxes around 715pm. I then went through my mounting pile of mail. By 730pm I was completely caught up. I tuned the TV to NBC for viewing the night’s Olympic action later. I returned to my PC to write Wednesday’s blog entry. The kids got home very close to 8pm. I allowed them time to decompress, knowing how important that time is to me, before starting their showers. Jacob went first. As you might expect, he’s a little more self-sufficient than Bella. For him, all I do is start the shower. For Bella, I had to get her towel, panties, and PJ’s out and ready. At least I don't have to shampoo her hair anymore. We started watching the Olympics as soon as they were bed-ready. Mindy got home around 830pm, or just as we were settling in. She was happy to find the kids ready for bed and the dishwasher ran and put away. I am a modern marvel! We watched Lindsey Vonn and the rest of the women skiers compete in a combined event – slalom and downhill. L.V. bit it in the slalom portion and was DQ’d. Later, we watched the women's snow board half pipe event. But after watching the men the night before, the women were a disappointment. It's pretty clear that the women are eons behind. The event was won by a cute Australian. Many of the American women crashed. In fact, we woke Bella after letting out a big gasp at one’s failure. Mindy and I hung on the sofa until 10pm. By then I had already begun to drift. We headed up to bed.