Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Tussle 4 Tressel

I slept really good, and half expected to wake Tuesday feeling extra groggy after taking the Nyquil just before bed. But actually, I felt pretty good. Still had a cold, though. It was a few minutes ahead of 530a. As soon as I made my way downstairs my Droid alarm sounded. Once and for all, I disabled the alarm function. I glanced out back. Skies were clear. I slipped into my exercise tennies and headed to the livingroom where I completed 55 sit-ups. I checked the weather and played on the PC next. It was 30 degrees. Expecting a high of 52 later in the day. After push-ups I enjoyed some coffee. Frankie was back to her usual self. Didn’t seem interested in getting up that early. Remained in her pen while I started meditation. But just as she often does, she came running once I sat down on the floor. I gave her some brief lovin’ but then encouraged her to go find her toys. Works everytime. I didn’t take Frankie outside until I had completed both meditation and stretching. I took her out front. That proved far more fruitful, although Mindy warms that there’s some goose poop out there now too. She was much quicker about taking care of business while out front. Back inside, It was 625a. I took Mindy some coffee and allowed Frankie to follow. I was looking forward to running in my new shoes. I was surprised to see the date marked on my last new pair – August 2. That means I ran in them for slightly more than 7 months. I typically go about 5-51/2 months. Hmm? Since I switched from Nike to Asics my feet don’t start barking at me after 41/2 months. Very telling. I really like the Asics. Thanks should be given to the fine folks at Front Runner, who convinced me to give them a try. As I always try to do, I tied my new shoes a little looser on my feet than normal to allow my feet some extra room. Doing this for so many years now, I know what works. I ran the full 4.1 miles in total comfort. Didn’t think too much about my shoes throughout the entire run. I think that’s telling enough. Back home, I started Mindy’s Honda. She in turn had my eggs ready and waiting. I asked if there was any pseudoephedrine in the medicine chest. She didn’t think so. I planned to get some later. Can’t stand having a runny nose/wet head. We loosely discussed the evening plans, this being Bella’s gymnastics night. Leftovers again. No worries. I headed to the shower soon after Mindy departed for school. I was back downstairs ready by 745a. I used the time to pack my lunch. I packed fruit, cheese, and banana. Forgot to pack a salad. Dang it! The kids and I headed out at 757a. Pretty morning. The pugs barked incessantly at the kids’ bus driver. I think the bus door scares them. As the bus pulled away, Frankie and I headed towards home. She relived herself in the yard before going inside. It was still only 805a. I rushed through a few small tasks then headed out the door. On the radio, OSU football coach, Jim Tressel was making national headlines for reportedly with-holding pertinent information regarding his players’ involvement in the memorabilia for six months prior to it coming to light. Big news! I almost headed for my old office but caught myself shortly after exiting the elevator. Wrong way! Busy day, and I was feeling even worse than the day before. Many folks told me to go home, my boss included. But here’s the thing. I’d rather be sick at work than at home, unless of course, I’m dizzy and absolutely have to lie down. At lunch time I headed out again. That’s three days in a row counting last Friday. This time I headed to Home Depot and then Target. At Home Depot I bought a back-out kit, super glue, and a drill bit. At Target I refilled my Dexilant prescription and bought some pseudoephedrine and a bag of rubber bands. Between the two stops, I was gone for an hour. Back at my office around 2p, the first thing I did was eat my lunch. And because I forgot to pack a salad, I ate a can of tuna fish. I was really hungry. A couple folks stopped by to comment about the smell of tuna coming from my office. It did smell fairly strong. I left for home late. Didn’t get out of the office once again until almost 550p. Talked with Mindy. She was on her way to drop Bella at gymnastics. Said she left Jacob home, but outside playing with friends. But she was already home by the time I got there. I had leftover chili while she had leftover salmon patties. Jacob had salmon patties too. What’s wrong with those two? I took a pseudoephedrine earlier in the afternoon. It was working just OK. I still felt like crap. Mindy soon left to fetch Bella. I took advantage of being home alone and thought I’d try using the back-out kit to remove the stripped set screw from our kitchen faucet. That’s why I bought it. The kit came with four different size back-outs. I tried one but it was way too small. The next one I tried seemed perfect. I followed the directions to a T. Tapped it in the stripped hollow of the allen head then placed wrench on the free end and turned counter clock-wise. It bit right away. Cool, right? No! An eighth of a turn further and the tip of the back-out snapped off in the damn allen screw. Double Great! Yes, I was pissed! How could one simple dripping faucet give me so much grief? My ego bruised, I went to the garage for my drill. I tried drilling out the screw, but couldn’t get a bit to bite into the jagged edge of the back-out tool tip. Seems all I was doing was destroying the inside of the single lever handle. I gave up in disgust. I repackaged the cheap back-out tool, a Black & Decker no less determined to take it back on Wednesday. I got all of my tools just before Mindy, Bella, and Jacob got back. After a brief chat with the family, I took to my book from the recliner. I napped for about 45 minutes. Felt terrific. I woke around 830p and headed to family room where I tuned the TV to a very cool program on Natgeo that showed how all the world’s most famous mountain ranges were formed. Mindy and the kids headed to bed by 9p. I stayed up watching TV and dosing interchangeably. I headed up to bed for good at 11p.

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