Friday Night is Barley's Night

By the time I woke, brushed my teeth, grabbed my running and made it down to the kitchen it was 540am. I failed to prep coffee the night before so that was my first order of business. Once that was done, I launched into calisthenics - completing both sit-ups and push-ups in the space of about ten minutes.

I then took to my PC where I checked email, headlines and weather. It was a balmy 71 degrees, so I planned to skip a running shirt all together. Not only that, the day's high was expected to approach 97 degrees under mostly sunny skies. Funny thing is, Monday's high isn't even expected to reach 70 degrees with a low of 50. That's quite a contrast.

It was just after 6am. I had to quickly decided whether to meditate and stretch and then deliver Mindy's coffee, or simply do it then. I chose the latter. It was 606am when I sat the coffee on the her overpopulated night stand.  After a quick embrace I was back downstairs to meditate, stretch, and ultimately run.

I glanced at the stove-top clock just before heading out the door. It was 633am. The temp was ideal for a shirtless run. I was most appreciative of the lovely summer weather. It won't be long before I am bundled in the winter garb. I caught a glimpse of the gorgeous burnt orange sunrise just ahead of the 3 mile mark. Awesome! The last mile towards home was a breeze.

I considered watering the that pesky strip of grass before heading in but decided not. Instead I headed directly inside where Mindy was putting the finishing touches on breakfast. Bella was having a fried egg, too, although hers was purposely cooked to harden the yoke - a preference of hers.  Mindy asked Jacob to take Eiknarf out and apparently he did, though somehow I missed it. Mindy soon left for school, and Bella gave Eiknarf what remained of her egg. I headed off to the shower.

After replacing the batteries and cleaning my trimmer's blade with rubbing alcohol, it's working much better. I was shaved, showered, and dressed by 750am. I was downstairs putting the finishing touches on my lunch a couple minutes later. And like I do many Friday's, I packed my iPod. I also checked my credit card statement online. I couldn't remember if I had a balance or not. Nope, just my recent running shoe purchase. I won't have to pay that until early October. Cool! Just before heading out, Mindy texted asking me to give Jacob two Advil and a purple window pane.  Who knew they packaged that stuff now. Oh, wait. It was a purple Triaminic strip.

The kids and I headed out at 810am. I was thinking about driving the BM'er, but there's nothing fun about driving the convertible in 100 degree temps. I opted not. At the bus stop we met the neighbors and talked about weekend plans. Learned that Kenny will be out of pocket most of the weekend, and Chrissy's taking the girls, Bella included, to a sleepover at her friend Julie's place. Still haven't spent any time beyond a quick hello with Kenny since late July golf.

The bus arrived around 815am and soon the kids were off to school. Eiknarf and I headed back home, me still thinking she hadn't yet relieved herself. She did a lot of sniffing but nothing else. I was reluctant to head inside but had little choice. I couldn't stay out there indefinitely.

Secured the home then headed off to work arriving sometime near 835am. The 6th floor halls seemed almost barren. Not a lot of folks milling about. Once I got settled and found everything under control, I got busy on my to-do list which included finalizing the last of three NYC expense reports, submitting a few time-off requests, and following up with payroll on a pay issue. I used the new online chat option and it worked flawlessly. Felt good to get those personal issues out of the way, though I still have 6 vacation days I have to schedule or I'll lose them at the end of the year.

Checking my calendar, I had a 2pm meeting I needed to join via conference bridge. To that end, I left for lunch earlier than usual - 1235pm.  I drove to Lowes to checkout a few things on my list. I didn't necessarily expect or plan to buy anything. I'm due for another haircut after only 4 weeks thanks in part to having it cut a little longer last time, but I wasn't really prepared to do that today. I headed directly to Lowes.

In Lowes, I looked for the Hot Shot ant traps Mindy likes but found them no more. I also looked at grass seed and bagged top soil. I can't let autumn go by without doing a little lawn repair. Should be able to get what I need for under $40 (seed, soil, fertilizer). Lastly, I checked out deck stain again, still not 100% sure whether we'll go solid or semi-transparent, let alone color. I'll bet I spent a solid 45 minutes walking the aisles of Lowes. Time to head back to work.

It was 140pm once I was resettled at my desk with my packed lunch. I ate my lunch all the while working. I joined the 2pm call as planned. Good meeting. After the call I spent an hour or so taking care of a Jimmy to-do that arose from the meeting. It was 330pm before I knew it. I had David Gilmour's On an Island and then Pink Floyd's Meddle whirling in the background through the rest of the afternoon. Nice! I was much looking forward to the weekend and a Friday evening at Barley's, something we haven't done since way back on August 5th.

I packed up for the day around 520pm. By then the building, at least my floor, was completing void of human energy. I might've been one of the last out. It was a warm, toasty walk to the car. I thought I might stop at Kroger and pick up some roses for Mindy. Haven't done so in a while.

As usual, the Kroger lot was packed. I parked in the side pharmacy lot. They had relatively few bunches of full-sized roses, but I was drawn to the more than healthy creamy yellow bunch. I checked the stems to make sure they looked healthy, too. They did. I made a beeline to the checkout line. I was in route to home a couple minutes later. I called Mindy once I was on the road towards 270. She answered via speaker phone sharing that she was just out of the shower. I offered to let her go, but she wanted to chat. The kids were already off with their daddy, though the weekend plans had changed some.

Originally, Jim was going to bring them back early Saturday morning so he could head to the opening OSU football game against Akron. But now one of his bff's, Pez, was in town and staying at his place. Pez agreed to keep the kids until later in the afternoon and would bring Bella home for her sleepover around 2pm. Jacob wanted to stay with Pez.  That would make our morning a little easier too.

I arrived home somewhere near 6pm. Mindy was still upstairs dressing/primping for a night out.  I put my lunch containers in the dishwasher then headed to my PC with a lid full of dry roasted peanuts for a snack. There, I worked on my Wednesday & Thursday blog entries that were both already underway but so far incomplete. Mindy came down a few minutes later to find her roses. She expressed appreciation for  them, of course.

I headed up to change out of my jeans and polo around 630pm. Too hot for jeans. I slipped into cut-off jean shorts complete with bullet holes and a tie-dye t-shirt. I felt enlivened in my 70's garb. :) I spent a few more minutes fine tuning my Thursday blog entry while Mindy walked down to see Chrissy. She took Eiknarf too, and left her there. Chrissy agreed to keep her for a few hours.

We left for Barley's around 645pm. As usual, Mindy invited most of our peeps via text and email. Many had other plans, but a few still planned on joining us. I didn't care either way.  I wanted some cold quality micro brew, good food, and  in a relaxing atmosphere. And Barley's generally provides all the above. 

We got a decent parking spot, one near the restaurant door and also one I hoped would protect one side of the new Accord. The bar was fairly full inside. I was greeted with a very warm welcome from some of our peeps, both patrons and employees. It's nice to be missed. And much to Mindy's dismay, they said they've missed my singing, and were hopeful for a rowdy night. Now that brought a smile to my face. Soon two of Mindy's teacher pals arrived and the three of them grabbed a barside table. I chose to stand having sat most of the day.

My first beer was their new Indie Pale Ale. It's hoppy and very bitter. I liked it much. Mindy and her peeps ordered food right away. I did not. Mindy insisted I eat this time, and I planned to, but not until my first beer was toast. Mindy ordered their special, a Cobbler sandwich.

I ate the pickles on Mindy's plate and then ordered my own food, the Cuban with bacon. While standing, a bar stool opened next to my pal Steve W., who was seated at the bar chatting with two other peeps, Jack and Leslie (two really interesting folks). There I ate my Cuban and had a second beer, only this time an Ohio Brew Kettle, White Rajah. It was so yummy. Think IPA with a hint of pine. Our conversation was stirring. Mindy was still at the barside table talking with her two school peeps. Probably the most time we've spent apart at Barley's in a long while.

I eventually ordered a 2nd White Rajah, my last beer. Mindy joined us at the bar after her friends left. We probably hung out another half hour. April said she was disappointed that I was so quiet. There's no doubt a correlation between my beer consumption and noise/fun level.

Mindy picked up our skimpy $35 tab. Not bad for two dinners and drinks for the evening. Mindy asked that I drive. Not sure how many wines she had, but probably two.  As soon as we arrived home we headed to the neighbors to fetch Eiknarf. As we suspected, everybody was down at Mike & Teri's on the patio. Mindy took a glass of wine and I took a CBC IPA.

We chatted with our neighbors for about an hour, talking mostly about NYC, 9-11, and the new WTC. Mindy and I headed for home still well ahead of midnight. We headed directly to bed. Good night IPA!