Chilly Rain

I slept a few extra minutes in an effort to fully rid myself of a bad case of the sleepies. Waking tired seems to be the trend of late. I’ll chalk it up to winter. I was out of bed and downstairs by 540am. Once again, it was cloudy. And amongst the morning’s silence, I could hear the familiar pitter-patter of rain against the roof & windows.

I proceeded to knock out 50 sit-ups and then poured coffee and played on the PC for the next 15-20 minutes. The weather forecast was calling for significant rain all day long with the high eventually climbing well into the 40s. Nothing close to the winter-like conditions I was hoping for.

Meanwhile, the weekend forecast is still teetering on the edge, with Sunday looking like the best ski day of the two. Delivered Mindy’s coffee near 615am. Back downstairs for a stretch and meditation a few minutes later. Both went well. During meditation I could hear the intensity of the rain increase as it beat against the roof and skylights. And judging by the radar that I glanced at earlier, it wasn’t going to let up anytime soon either.

The current temperature was 34 degrees, so for my money, the running conditions would be about as miserable as they get. I dressed wearing full winter attire and headed out the door near 640am. It wasn’t long before I was soaked through and through, including my shoes after running through a couple unavoidable puddles. I plowed right through, though, not worrying about the rain. Once you’re wet, you’re wet. It doesn’t get any worse. Duh! I ran the full 4.1 miles, and it went by pretty fast.

Mindy had a towel waiting for me at the door, but I tossed it aside figuring there no point in toweling off before walking the dog. She brought me the leash and dog next. Eiknarf and I headed out the door before she had an opportunity to realize that it was raining. She tried renege once she realized it was raining, but I wouldn’t allow it.  I started Mindy’s Pilot along our way down the drive. She apparently got the message and took care of her business in a hurry. We scurried back inside.

Soaked to the bone, I took a few minutes to strip out of my wet running clothes tossing them in the clothes dryer. I put my wet running shoes on the bay window heating vent. I was soon back in my dry PJs. That felt great. Finally, I could relax and enjoy my breakfast. By then, Mindy was on her way out the door for school. Bella enjoyed a Pop-Tart while I ate my fried eggs. It was 740am by the time I finished eating and headed off to the shower. I reminded Bella that she needed to take care of hair, teeth and socks.

I planned to make another trip to a customer’s site, so I dressed accordingly and wore my brand new Bostonians. We normally have our staff meeting at 9am, but because we needed to be at the customer’s location for a 10am meeting, my boss moved the staff meeting up to 830am. I told him I would have to join remotely from home since I needed to get the kids on the school bus. I then planned to head straight to the customer’s locale after our meeting/call.

Because it was still pouring rain, the kids and I decided to wait out the bus from the cover of our garage. Kenny and the girls walked down and waited with us. Wouldn’t you know, the bus was late – real late. It was 827am when I told Kenny that I needed to go in to jump on a conference call. He willingly stuck around to see the kids onto the bus. The bus showed up near 830am. Kenny closed the overhead garage door and cut through our house to get out afterwards. Thanks Kenny!

The staff call lasted no more than 10 minutes. I didn’t plan to leave the house until 910am at the earliest. I poured a second cup of coffee then played around on the internet for a while. As planned, I left the house at 910am with my umbrella in tow. Despite the crappy weather, I still took 670 east. That worked out fine, and I got to New Albany near 935am.

My boss called my blackberry just as I was walking in. He was on campus but at another one of their buildings, though I didn’t realize it at the time. I went looking for him in the cafeteria where he said he was waiting but couldn’t find him. I eventually bailed and headed to the assigned conference room, which was a challenge to find in and of itself. Good thing I allowed lots of extra minutes.

This was our quarterly review meeting and it started a few minutes late. No biggie. My boss made it there just in the nick of time. My turn to present came 2^nd, and about 5-10 minutes into it. As usual, I was a little nervous, but did fine delivering my section. I even threw in a little humor. The meeting lasted no more than 30-35 minutes. I hung around to socialize for a few immediately afterwards but was on my way back to our main office by 1045am.  It was still raining at a good clip as I made the long trek out to my car.

As I was leaving their lot I decided that I would make a brief stop at the Easton Macy’s so I could look again at their wool jackets that were marked 50% off last week. There was a couple that really caught my eye. I got a parking spot within 40 feet of the entrance, and the coats were just inside that door. Cool! I think I tried on three different jackets. One in particular, a Calvin Klein, fit really nice. I decided not to buy it though, betting that they’ll be marked down even further, and perhaps another 20-25%, next month. I know all too well how Macy’s works.

Headed back to the office taking 270S back to 670W. Arrived at the office around 1130-12noon. I had two conference calls I needed to join, one at 1pm and then another at 2pm. The hour before the first call went fast, and I got quite a bit done in the short amount of time leading up to it. As it turned out, I didn’t have enough time for a potty break between the two calls. Literally went right from one to the other. The leader of the 2^nd call (also the project mgr) never joined. But because the project in question impacted my customer directly, I took over and lead the call best I could. The way I saw it, I had little choice. That call ended at 305pm. I updated the timeline and sent it to all the concerned parties.

By then it was near 4pm. Mindy called about that time, too. I shared how my day suddenly seemed to be dragging despite being so busy and not getting to the office until almost noon. She shared her desire to make pasta & meatballs for dinner. I was OK with that. Shared that I would call once I was on my way home. She said Lindsey was waiting at our house when she arrived home.

Ended up at the office until almost 530pm. I felt good as the work day ended having accomplished almost everything on my daily to-do list. It was still raining, by the way, and the temperature was still above 40 degrees. Blah! I called Mindy to let her know that I was on my way. She was busy with dinner so our conversation was rather brief. I arrived home by 550pm. Looked like dad was there for dinner, or at least a minivan similar to his was parked out front. Sure enough, it was dad. Unless I’m mistaken, I hadn’t seen him since New Year’s day, though Mindy and the kids have. He’s gotten them off the bus a couple times recently, but left before I got home.

Dad asked if I had heard from mom recently. Yes, and as a matter of fact, I received an another email from her that day sharing her most recent malady. Not only is her knee replacement bothering her, but her carotid artery is an issue now, too. Will be having that checked in the coming weeks along with having her knee/leg stretched. She also shared something about having a new doctor, and that she doesn’t care for him/her. Not sure if she was referring to the knee replacement surgeon or primary care. My thinking is that she should drink a lot of water, stretch, and get daily exercise. That might fix much of what ails her.

Asked dad about his recent river boat gambling trip winnings. He won $2K and he’s still stoked about it. I suggested that he buy an airplane ticket to Oregon with some of the money. We had an enjoyable dinner. The pasta and meatballs were really good. Mindy shared how she customized the sauce. Bella ran off upstairs to play with Makayla after dinner. Jacob hung out with the three of us in the kitchen while I managed the clean-up process.

Mindy was telling dad that it was Bella’s adoption day this coming Saturday, which eventually morphed into how/when I entered Bella’s life at such a young age. Dad, in turn, began sharing stories about when he first met Sheila and then their first dates and such, much of the focus centering around Shawn being just a baby at the time. Honestly, I found the stories a bit creepy.  

Dad hung out until near 715-730pm. Both Mindy & I headed upstairs to change into comfy clothes soon after he left. The kids and Mindy were much looking forward to yet another night of American Idol. For me, watching Idol night after night gets old. Feel like I am wasting time.  So to address that, I spent the majority of the hour between 8 & 9pm on my PC. I should’ve spent the time editing/updating my blog but didn’t. Instead, I read about the Vikings stadium push and Joe Pa’s funeral.

As 9pm neared, I poured the first pint from the growler of Centennial that I bought last Friday night and then joined the family for the end of Idol. Saw that next week’s auditions are from Portland, Oregon. We watched The Finder immediately after Idol. As usual, watching a TV program put me to sleep.  I woke for about the last 20 minutes and got a 2^nd wind. Of course, by then Mindy was ready for bed. She wasn’t happy that I opted to stay up a while longer. Wanted me to join her in bed.

After tucking in the kids, I made a bowl of cereal – Cookie Crisp. That hit the spot. I’d been craving some for a while. My appetite finally satiated, I dosed again from the sofa. When I woke I headed for bed. By then it was darn near 11pm.