Will You Please Go Now!

I was up several minutes early again. It was 520a. I felt a whole lot better but still under the weather. I brushed my teeth, grabbed my running clothes, and headed down to the kitchen. I glanced out the back door. It was cloudy. Blah!

I filled my eyes with drops, started coffee, fetched my exercise shoes then headed to the living room. I completed 55 sit-ups with relative ease then popped up and into my nearby PC chair and checked the weather and headlines. It was 64 degrees, the first morning above 60 degrees that week. The forecast called for partly cloudy skies and temps near 80. A chance of strong storms too.

I headed to the family room and completed push-ups. They went a little easier too. I took that as a sign that I was on the mend. I poured some coffee next. Eiknarf was sleeping upstairs with one of the kids. For the time being anyway, I didn't need to walk her.

I took my time enjoying coffee, meditating and stretching. I headed out for a run around 625a. I was determined to do the full 4.1 miles. I wore long running pants and a short sleeved running shirt. My head was still full of snot. That was quickly apparently as I set out on my run. I could feel it bouncing around in my head.

Run went well. Back home by 710-715a. I started my eggs right away. In lieu of my daily English muffin , I warmed a couple pieces of leftover french toast. Breakfast was really good. Hit the spot. The orange juice cut nicely through the 'cold slime'. I could hear Eiknarf cooing from upstairs. She could almost certainly smell my eggs. Unfortunately they were gone.

I went up and fetched the pug and took her out for a walk. During our walk I decided that I was going to work from home. Given that I was ill and spending most of my time doing online training, there was next to no benefit to driving into the office. For some reason, that decision left me feeling liberated.

Back at home I logged onto my laptop and sent a note to my team and soon-to-be ex-boss letting them know that I'd be working from home. I downloaded the next training class too. It was around 8a. Sometime around 815a the doorbell rang. It was Jake, Makayla, and Lillian. Mindy told me the night before that we'd be watching them for the first half of the day, or until their grandma was home from church.  Suddenly working from home didn't seem that wise of a choice. Our house was extraordinarily noisy for the next hour or so until the kids headed outside to play around 9a. It was hard to focus with all the noise.

The class I chose to complete was a long one, but also one that I enjoyed. I completed a little more than half the material then paused for a break. The sun was out and I really wanted to soak in some sunshine. I did a small yard chore.  I trimmed the weeping mulberry tree and then dead headed some of the Blue May Salvia. I wasn't out there long, maybe 30 minutes.

Back to work. I spent the next hour closing out my direct reports timesheets then sent a note to my peer letting him know that they were caught up. He's on vacation this week, and when he gets back next week they'll become his directs. I thought about taking lunch and going to the Hyundai dealer to test drive the Sonata. I knew Mindy wanted to leave to run some errands around noon, but she was headed to the shower at the same time I was. I deferred to her and decided to skip the test drive until we return from vacation.

Mindy left around 1130a. She reminded me that Marylyn, the neighbor kids grandma, would be over around noon to fetch 'em. They were outside playing, so they weren't a bother at all. I continued on with my training class and the follow-up test. I did fine. Yeah!

It wasn't long before Marylyn arrived to fetch the kids. Must've been about 1215p. After they were gone I spent about an hour packing and organizing for vacation. After packing, I made a sandwich: roast beef and swiss. It was gooood!

Mindy was home around 2p. Unlike most days when I work from home, this day was moving like snail. I mentioned that to Mindy. She felt the same. I'm thinking it was around 3p when  big storm broke loose complete with lightning, strong winds, and heavy rain. Like many recent storms, it didn't last too long but dumped a large amount of rain in a short period of time.  Our gutters looked like a waterfall.

The kids were in and out all afternoon. It was Thursday, so the kids were going to dinner with Jimaken. We were expecting him at 5p. Mindy and I planned on visiting Barley's, this the first day of Hop IPA-alooza 2011. If it wasn't for the that, I would have nixed the visit.

I took a shower around 5p. Another strong storm rolled through just before hand. It rained really, really hard. After my shower I headed to the garage to turn off the irrigation system for the night. No need to water Friday morning.

 Jimaken arrived around 530p. Said he drove through a wicked storm loaded with hail. Hmm? For once, we didn't get any hail. After the kids were gone we prepared and left for Barley's. I'm thinking it was 540p when we left the house. The sun was out again when we departed.

We called granddaughter Kaileigh while in route. It was her 10th birthday (June 16th). I left a VM earlier along with a birthday song. This time they answered. We talked for a few minutes then made arrangements to drop off her gift on Friday afternoon. She sounds so mature.

Parking was at a premium, but we were fortunate enough to get one of the few remaining spots in the main lot. As she often does, Mindy stopped on the patio to say hello to some familiar faces. I said hello but headed on inside. A decent crowd was gathered in the bar area. I struck up a brief conversation with Wufus & Tom, the Mary Kay guy. Mindy joined me a minute later. Shared that Justin informed her that he and Joe are no longer dating but will remain friends. I wasn't too surprised.

Justin stopped by a few minutes later to share an update on Diedra. Said she's doing a whole lot better. Diagnosed as bipolar and now on the correct meds. I glanced over the Hop IPA alooza beer offerings and selected the CBC Bohdi, but was quickly informed that it wouldn't be on tap until most likely Friday. Crap! There were many other tempting offerings but I went with the old tried and true, Centennial. Mindy had a Russian.

The twins, Ken and Kurt came in shortly after us, as did Linda and Scott Pansing.  We took the small table closest to the bar. Mindy and I both ordered food. She went with a salad topped with warm meat. I went with the Thursday special, a smoked reuben. It's always good. I ordered a second beer, too, this time a Bell's Hop Slam. With my cold still impacting, my taster was out of order. I could detect the overwhelming presence of hops but missed the strong pine and citrusy flavor. And just as we usually do, we had a fun conversation with the twins and Tom.

Our food arrived a little bit later. I ate only half my reuben as well as the fries. I opted for one last beer, too. They were going down easy. I decided to behave and have a CBC IPA. After all, I had to work on Friday. Mindy made me ware when it was 730p. I had about half a ping remaining. I finished it in a hurry then picked up the check. Mindy had just the one beer and planned to drive. We ended up at home five minutes or so before the kids.

After ten minutes passed, we all walked down to the neighbors to see how they packing was coming along. As expected, they were in aggressive packing mode. Kapil was, of course, there too. We confirmed Friday departure plans, including loading both sets of golf clubs in my Thule. I hope both sets fit. I drank only ice water.

We hung with the neighbors until about 915-930p. Even though he said he'd see me again on Friday, I said my goodbyes to Kapil just in case I miss him. He won't be in town when we return. Again, he's moving to Sacramento. Mindy agreed to let the kids stay for another ten minutes as she and I headed home. I played around on the computer and ate some lime flavored Tostitos. The kids were home as agreed - ten minutes later.

Before another half hour transpired, all of us were in bed. Eiknarf was sleeping with Jacob. Bella was reading an assortment of Dr Seuss books when I tucked her in. Said she also enjoys my favorite Seuss book, Marvin K. Mooney. Good night Marvin!