Dimmable CFLs

I was up a few minutes early, but not enough for me to feel like I had a lot of extra time on my hands. I hit the go button on the coffee maker then glanced outback to a clear sky. I grabbed my inside running shoes then started calisthenics.

It didn’t take long to finish both sit-ups and push-ups. Sandwiched between the two I jumped on the internet long enough to get the weather forecast and read some headlines. It was clear and warm – about 70 degrees. Expecting it to be in the 90s later.

I enjoyed some coffee while reading the Daily OM. It was 605am in a hurry. I soon started meditation and stretching. Both went well. It was just after 630am when I headed out for a run. It was a ideal morning for a bareback run. I ran the full 4.1 miles. The trash truck was just pulling up in front of our house as I turned the corner towards the north running away from our house. It’s one of the rare times we’ve had a full can since we started recycling.

Mindy packed most of my lunch, which saved me about five minutes I’m guessing. And five minutes in a lot of time when you count on every minute like I do.  I made a cheese omelet for breakfast. It was exceptional.  I headed up for a shower around 735am.

I took Mindy coffee. She woke as usual.

I showered and dressed quickly. Mindy asked if I had time for coffee before leaving for work. Yes. I had about ten minutes. We hung out on the deck. Mindy thought that she and the kids might go to Zoombezi Bay. It would be an ideal day for it, for sure. I left for work around 810am, the first time driving the new Accord to work. And yes,  I was still a tad nervous driving my brand new car.

I headed off carefully, being extra cautious at every sign, stop, light, and lane change. Arrived unscathed. Parked out in the depths of the lot not minding the long walk in at all. A few others do the same.

My boss was back from a week’s vacation. He stopped by early on just to chat, but not for too long. I spent the lion’s share of my morning creating/working on customer facing reports. Time flies when I immerse myself in data like that.

Mindy called or texted at some point sharing that she and the kid ended up heading out to Tara and Doug’s on Lake Choctaw. Apparently the Zoombezi Bay plans fell apart.

Come 115pm I sorely needed a break so I headed off to Home Depot to get new spot lights for the kitchen. I parked at the fringes of their parking lot protecting my new car best I could. I browsed several aisles before making my way to the light bulb aisle. There I toiled over which bulb type too buy, eventually settling on CFLs. I was all set to buy a box of 6 on sale for $13 when a sales associate stopped by and asked if my spots were on a dimmer. Yes. Said I’d need another style then. Of course the dimmable CFL spots are far more costly - $7 each to be exact. She also mentioned that I should consider buying a CFL/LED dimmer switch, but said my existing simmer should still work. Hmm? I skipped buying a new dimmer and went with the four new CFL spots only.

By the time I headed back to my car, the sky was looking as scary as it has all summer with some of the darkest clouds yet – purple and black with lots of layers moving in fast from the north/northwest. In fact, Mindy texted sharing that it looked like it might storm there. Word had it that 80 mph winds and hail were heading our way. I wasn’t too concerned about the rain and wind, but was concerned about hail. After all, this was my new car’s first day on the job. I briefly considered hurrying home and sheltering my new car from the storm and any potential hail. But being just around the corner from the office, I decided not to do that and instead drove back to work taking a chance that it wouldn’t hail on my new car.

I headed back to my office, and at last glance out a nearby window, I could see the wind picking up like crazy. After another ten minutes passed I went to a north facing window after hearing several others gawking at the weather outside. It was raining so hard that visibility was near zero. One guy said he thought he saw/heard hail. I could only cringe and pray.

I headed back to my office doing my best to cast it out of my mind. What else could I do?

Mindy texted m a gain asking if the car was OK. Wasn’t sure. They were pulling out of the lake at least briefly. Said it wasn’t raining much at all out there, but then again, there out there a ways.

The storm might’ve lasted about an hour. Soon the sky brightened but remained mostly cloudy. However, the sky no longer looked threatening. I decided to wait until the end of the day before heading out to see my car.

I wrapped up my day around 530pm and headed out to my car. Thankfully, no damage. I was obviously a tad concerned. Called Mindy. She was already home. Didn’t expect  that. Said by the time they were ready to head back out to the lake it was after 400pm so she and the kids decided they better just head home. Besides, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees too. It was in the low 70s after the storm passed.

Mindy had dinner on the stove when I arrived home – tortellini, one of our kids favorite dishes. Wasn’t quite ready.  I changed into comfy clothes ahead of dinner and checked some email too. Mindy called us for dinner around 615pm. I ate as much as I could, but filled up fast. I left a little on my plate. My stomach was packed full and subsequently left me crazy sleepy. I struggled through sinner clean-up but soon after finishing up made my way to the reading chair in the family room.

I started to read, but only as a sleep aide. Quickly, I was off to la-la land. It must’ve been about 7pm when I drifted off to sleep. I didn’t wake again until almost 9pm. Sometime during the late evening it began to storm again and continued even after we all headed for bed. I felt good but still a little disoriented. I poured a glass of iced tea and took to my PC. During most of my nap, Mindy and the kids were off with the neighbors.

I spent about an hour writing in my blog while the kids readied for bed. Come 10pm I was still tired so right after tucking in the kids I headed right for bed. Bella told me she was afraid of the storm. I assured her we’d be OK, and offered that she could join us if it got really bumpy in the night. That seemed to appease her. Mindy was reading with the light from her night stand. Didn’t bother me in the least. Good night lightning!