One Hot Summer Night

Though I haven't seen you for something like 20 months, I still love you.
             Happy 29th b-day Courtney
                                    &
                   Happy 24th Joe-Joe

After more than 10 hours of sleep, I was up for work at 520am. As expected, I was still a little groggy, no doubt a byproduct of almost too much sleep. Otherwise, I felt fine. On my way downstairs I realized I didn’t do any coughing through the night and didn’t feel the need to blow my nose. It’s the little things.

I glanced out back. It was clear, but awfully humid. There was moisture covering all the windows/glass. I had sit-ups and push-ups out of the way by 540am. I took my coffee out onto the deck where I encountered a yard full of geese. Dammit! I went for my BB gun and fired off a few rounds. After they scattered, I headed back inside to my PC and coffee.

It was already warm, 72 degrees. Expecting a high of 85 with mostly sunny skies. I read the Daily OM then did a brief meditation. Without giving it any thought, I went from meditation to prepping for my run. I forgot to stretch. I didn’t even think about it until I was stretching my hamstrings on the front stoop just before taking off. It was early, only 615am when I headed off into the warm humid morning air.

I ran the full 4.1 miles again without encountering much if any traffic. It was a good run. I was back at the house ahead of 7am. Don’t know that that happens too often. Like the day before, I got busy right away cooking my breakfast and prepping my lunch. For some reason, it took quite a bit longer than usual. It was 730am by the time I finished my breakfast and was heading upstairs for a shower, although I did head out to fire on the geese a second time. They just keep coming back for more. They’ve made the back half of my yard darn near unusable. There are hundreds of piles of goose crap lying around.

I took Mindy a cup of coffee before getting in the shower. And after I was showered and dressed she got up and headed downstairs with me. I’d temporarily forgotten about her hair appointment. She asked if Eiknarf had been out. Nope. I also shared that I don’t really have time to take the dog out, make my lunch, and cook my breakfast.

It was almost 750am, I needed to leave if there was any hope of getting to work near 8am. Mindy asked if I had time to have coffee with her on the deck. No. I explained my goal of being at work by 8am. She didn’t seem pleased. Just before heading to the garage to depart I walked back to the kitchen where Mindy stood and gave her a hug.

It was a nice drive in. Thought about stopping for gas having just under a quarter tank. Last second I opted not. Should’ve though. Gas was down to $3.19 per gallon. Arrived in my office at 808am.

I spent most of my morning working on gaining access to work related tools and systems. Around 1230pm I left for a formal lunch break. Drove to Hatfield Hyundai to test drive the new 2012 Sonata. I looked over the 8-10 new Sonata’s they had out front then headed inside to find someone who could assist me with the test drive. There I met Vince Miller, a nice middle aged fella. He got me all squared away to drive the 2012 Sonata Limited. It didn’t appear that they had one in black on black, but then again, I wasn’t test driving a color. I wanted to see if it handled as nice as it looks, and if all the positive press is warranted.

As I pulled out of their lot I heard a phone ringing. It was their version of Onstar. An operator asked me how she might assist me. I told her that I was simply test driving the car and didn’t mean to initiate a call. I then asked how I might’ve done so. She asked if I adjusted the rearview mirror. Yes I did. On closer inspection, there’s a red phone button just to the left of where I grabbed the rear view mirror for adjustment.  Ah hah. Probably in a bad spot.

I put the Sonata through the ringer racing the engine and taking lots of curves out

Norton Rd

near brother-in-law Todd’s place. In fact, I made my turn around in his subdivision. I enjoyed the ride, but noticed a lot of the interior features seemed almost oy like (think cheap plastic). The last thing I want to do is choose a new car for price alone, saving a few thousand now only to regret it later. That weighed heavy on my mind as I finished my test drive. Mechanically it handled well.

Back at the dealership, I found Vince and we talked about the car. He shared mostly what I already knew. Hyundai’s come with the industry’s best warranty: 3yr bumper to bumper, 5yr limited bumper to bumper, and 10yr powertrain. Hyundai has financing available too, but their current rate for their 2012 inventory is 3.9%. I made mention that Honda just announced 0.9% on all their vehicles through July 4^th. To give you an idea, that equates to about a $40 a month difference on a 60 month term on a $30K loan. In other words, I could spend $2K more on a Honda and get the same payment.

Though I headed to Hyundai excited about the Sonata, I left somewhat worried about long term quality. It seems to me they’ve dumped lots of money into the design/looks but cut corners on the interior trim thus why they can sell their comparable car for $2-3K less than Toyota and Honda. If and when I buy a new car I don’t want to have any worry about quality despite having a warranty.

I headed back to the office after being gone just over an hour. Right away, I grabbed my packed lunch from the fridge. I ate cheese and fruit, but skipped opening a packet of tuna. Didn’t want that strong fish smell to emanate down the hall giving rise to my presence.

I spent the afternoon taking another technical training course online. The course was the toughest yet. I finished the material around 430pm and tested immediately after. I blew through the first 9 or 10 questions without any trouble. However, I knew I blew four of the next five and failed by one question. Crap! That’s a first. I reviewed some of the material again real quick then opted for the allowable second chance, which pulled a mix of new questions along with some I had the first go round. This time I passed getting 14/15. Yeah!

I spent the last 20 minutes of my day organizing myself for Wednesday. I left for home at 505pm. Mindy called as I was heading to the elevator. We talked until I got to my car where I excused myself from the conversation so I could drive with both hands. Mindy and the kids were with her friend Tara and Doug boating/skiing on Lake Choctaw. Said they were presently at the house having dinner but heading back out afterwards. Asked if I wanted to join them. No. Lastly, she shared that they had Eiknarf with ‘em too.

The house was clean and quiet. I went through my usual paces prepping coffee for the next day and rinsing my lunch containers. The backyard was full of Canada geese. Fed up with them, I headed out with my BB gun and shot them 5 or 6 times at close range. We repeated that same process at least three different times. They leave but come back for more 15-30 minutes later.

While outback, I noticed that counter to Mindy telling me she watered all the flowers, several were wilting/drying out in the brilliant sunshine. Dang it! I turned on the water spigot and watered all the backyard pots, bed, and baskets thoroughly. Her Hydrangea looked as if it might not recover but it slowly did – thankfully.

Back inside, I spent about 90 minutes editing and publishing several recent blog entries. I had the last 10 days written but unpublished. I’m thinking it was near 8p when I finished and decided to dedicate the rest of my evening to reading. I finished my Deepak book and picked up where I left off in my latest Brian Green book, The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes & the Deep Laws of the Cosmos. I read his first book, the Elegant Universe a few years ago and loved it. I read up until 930pm or so. I was surprised that Mindy & the kids weren’t home. And while she shared that they might very well be home late, I figured that to mean 730-8pm.

Once darkness set in I headed to bed but turned on the TV and watched a program about gold. I think it was on the History Channel. I’d seen parts of it before. I heard Mindy & the kids come in around 10pm. Mindy started a load of laundry and sent the kids to ready for bed almost instantly. Suddenly there was no peace and tranquility. She also wanted to chat, which I wanted no part of. Instead, I headed downstairs to watch TV in peace until I could fall asleep. Sleep came over me around 11pm. That’s when I turned the TV off and headed for bed. Good night Canada geese. You go now!