Rain Ends

I woke surprisingly early feeling fully rested and ready to get up. Perhaps a flashback to my days in NYC where rising at 430am was commonplace. Mindy heard me stirring and brushing my teeth. She asked if I realized the time just before I slipped out the door and headed down the stairs. Yes dear. I told her that I just couldn’t sleep any longer.

Glanced outside just before putting on my exercise shoes. And once again, it was raining, now for the 5^th day in a row. Oh boy! After 55 sit-ups I remembered that I ought to start the coffee maker manually otherwise I wouldn’t have coffee until something like 540am.

I checked the weather as well as a few other online activities. It was just like it had been for most of the week, rainy and 62 degrees. Expecting it to let up sometime during the day, however. A look ahead shows a chance of rain through my birthday but was with a much smaller chance and warming temps. At the time, forecasting 80 degrees for Sunday.

It was still early when I finished push-ups – 450am. I spent quite a while playing around online, including adding pictures to my most recent blog posts. I walked away from the PC at 550am to meditate. I took Mindy her coffee a tad early – 605am. I shared that it was still raining.

Back downstairs for a stretch, I was through by 615am. In fact, I was ready for my run early too. I set out around 620am, or about as early as I’ve hit the running trail from home in quite a while. Like most other runs this week, it was raining, but only very fine rain drops. That was still enough to wet me from head to toe by run's end. I ran the usual trail – 4.1 miles. It went by quickly with my mind racing over work related matters.

Leave early, home early. Mindy wasn’t even downstairs yet. It was just before 7am – 659am to be exact. I poured some juice and gathered the extras for my lunch. Once Mindy came down she went to work making breakfast and lunch right away. She seemed to be in a crusty mood from jump. I did my best to help out, feeding Eiknarf and then washing the egg pan.

Neither of the children were too enthused about getting up and ready for school, although Bella had a little bounce in her step once she got downstairs. However, it didn't last. It was gone once we started practicing her spelling words. She’s usually all over hem, but on this occasion she struggled and even refused to practice until she was in tears. Still not in the best of moods, Mindy advised both kids that their bedtimes would be moved back to 830pm since they’ve both been dragging lately. I’m afraid that did little to improve Bella’s immediate disposition.

Mindy soon left for school after confirming that I would be meeting her at the Honda dealership right after work so we can have that airplane engine noise coming from the Pilot looked at. I headed up for a shower at 733am.

Meanwhile, I was determined to have a better day than I had on Wednesday. For whatever the reason, it was hard to feel motivated Wednesday. Haven’t had a day like that in a while. Mindy guessed it the gloomy weather taking its toll.

I was downstairs and ready to go by 755am. I put the finishing touches on my lunch. Earlier, I had asked Bella to make sure that her room was in ship shape and to be downstairs by 805am. She was down even sooner, and shared that her room was taken care of, It was a mess earlier. I reminded her that her mom would not be pleased if she found it a wreck.

We don’t leave the kids much wiggle room at all relative to their bedrooms. Beds must be made and all clutter picked up and in its place, including dirty clothes. Staying on them is sometimes tough, but it’s far better to pay the price when their young so they develop good home hygiene habits for later. Both do a decent job, although Jacob much better than Bella when it comes to doing it without be constantly reminded.

We headed for the bus stop at 810am. For the time being the rain had subsided. The bus was along a few minutes later. It was only Makayla. Lillian was still out with a cold.

Eiknarf and I walked out front. I was certain neither of the children walked her before or after breakfast. She went both in short order. By the time I left the house it was 824am.

After filling up the Honda the day before, I had already put 75 more miles on it after my trip all the way around I-270. I arrived at work around 840am and was quickly situated.

I stayed busy all day long deciding not to leave the office for a formal lunch break. As usual, I did take some time for myself and ate my packed lunch around 1pm. Attended a web based live training class put on by one of my new peers. It was informative.

Before I knew it the work day was about over. I talked with brother Bob around 430pm. Turns out, he was just picking up dad from the hospital and taking him to the nursing facility in Arlington. Good timing. Said he was behind me the entire time the night before on I-270. He got home a couple minutes after me. Shared more details than I had about the crash that caused it all. Apparently a semi jack knifed, caught fire, and busted through the concrete barricade.

Talked with Mindy a few minutes later firming up our plans to meet at the Honda dealership around 530pm. To accommodate our agreed upon meet time, I planned to leave the office near 5pm. Mindy also shared that Jacob was eating my leftover Chipotle. I wasn’t pleased as I was looking forward to enjoying what remained. Told her I’d have to resort to hiding my food. For whatever the reason, Jacob seems to want whatever I have, whether it’s leftovers or personal requests from the grocery.

As agreed, I was able to get out of the office just after 5pm. Traffic came to a complete halt as soon as I entered I-270. On no! Not again. Lucky for me, it started moving again right away. I stayed in the fast lane until I neared the

Georgesville Rd

exit. At that point I had to get into the berm lane for a right turn, just like folks have been doing for years.

Mindy was already waiting at the dealership. When I pulled in she brought some groceries to the Accord. Bella was right behind. Jacob was at soccer practice with his daddy.

The Pilot was already pulled into the service bay and she had already discussed the issue and given them the keys. I headed on in anyway wanting badly for one of the service writers to go for a ride with me. Can’t remember the kids name, but I suggested that I didn’t want to have to keep bringing the Pilot back if they didn’t hear the noise. I wanted to point it out to them. He agreed, so once he freed up he jumped in the passenger seat of the Pilot while I drove. Mindy and Bella hung back at the dealership in the Accord.

I could hear the airplane engine-type noise starting even as we crept out of the lot, but knowing that it gets louder at higher speeds, I chose not to say anything until it was totally obvious. The Honda guy, however, indicated that he could hear something up front right away too. I happily concurred but promised that it would get much more prominent. I worried only that it might not do it for some reason. After all, there are times when it decides to stop.

As we increased speed it didn’t disappoint. The Honda guy was all but certain it was a bearing on one side or the other. He liked the logic I used, putting it in neutral and revving the engine, which had no impact on the noise intensity. We both agreed that pretty much eliminated the engine and the transmission. As expected, he suggested the tire thing, saying it a possibility, but the further we went he became even more certain that it was a wheel bearing. He sounded as hopeful as I that that was it, so we could get it fixed and move on. He assured me that it would be under warranty since everything is covered for 3 years or 36K miles. Honestly, I hadn’t given much thought to the mileage, but it’s already at 33.5K. We’ll very likely hit 36K before Xmas. Good thing we’re getting it taken care of now.

We weren’t gone but about 10 minutes. He thought they might even get a chance to work on it that night given that they’re open until 12 midnight. Asked if he could call that late if necessary. Yes, of course. Mindy, Bella and I headed for home around 6pm.

Mindy had a roast in the crock-pot that had been cooking all day. I seasoned it and set it to low before leaving for work. It smelt terrific. Roast beef and mashed potatoes sounded great. I raved about it being NFL opening night – Saints versus Packers. In addition, Obama was giving his jobs speech at 7pm. I was looking forward to hearing that too. There’s no doubt, our economy won’t improve much more until we put the unemployed back to work, though that’s likely not going to happen without intervention.

Dinner was fabulous. I had 1.25 helpings of beef. Bella asked more than once if she could play Wii after dinner. The answer was no since we planned to watch the president’s address and then football. She did her nightly reading while I did kitchen clean-up duty. Mindy confirmed our plans to go to Shadowbox Theatre for my birthday Saturday night. She bought six tickets. We talked about going down a couple hours early and paying a visit to CBC. However, I noted that they serve beer at Shadowbox before the show starts.

It wasn’t long before it was time for Mr Obama to address congress. I’m always entertained by the grandeur of it all. “Ladies and Gentleman, the President of the United States”

All in all, I thought it a good speech and a good plan. For me, the question is twofold. Is it truly doable, and then can he get it through congress without too much change? Time will tell.

The speech lasted about 34 minutes, or till 742pm. After the typical ‘tell me what he told me’ rhetoric, it was time for football.

I really like that the NFL has isolated one game to kick-off the season with the previous season’s super bowl champ often times playing another top contender. Several musical artists performed leading up to kick-off, the last being Kid Rock, that is if you don’t count the national anthem, which was sung by Jordan Sparks, a former Idol winner (at least I think she won). She looked and sounded good.

Kick-off was close to 830pm. The Packers quickly marched down the field scoring a TD. They weren’t done either. They followed that with another and then another. It was 21-7 after 1 quarter. The Saints weren’t dead, however. They got hot too, and made it 21-17 with time still remaining in the half. The Packers added yet another TD making it 28-17 at the half. I called it a night. It was 1008pm. Mindy and the kids were already in bed, though Bella was still awake. I could hear her up there thumping around in her bed.

I peeked in on her before retiring. She said she just couldn’t sleep. Reminded her to try the relaxation technique I showed her the evening prior. “OK daddy”. Good night baseball, and hello NFL!