Big Numbers

7,000,000,000,000m
585,000,000m
93,000,000m
186,000m/s
240,000m
8 minutes
1.30 seconds

I woke from an extremely dreamy state near 540am and quickly headed to the master bath shaking my head along the way in an attempt to free the imaginary cobwebs. I felt like I needed more sleep and that was after already sleeping more than 9 hours.

Once downstairs, I decided to sofa surf for a while. I laid down and closed my eyes but couldn’t really fall asleep. Instead, I laid there resting my eyes for perhaps another ten minutes before getting up for good. I whipped out sit-ups, windmills, and curls. By then it was 6am and time to wake Mindy. I poured two cups of coffee and delivered hers upstairs. She asked that I turn off the ceiling fan, crank up the thermostat, and make sure Jacob was up. Check, check and check.

It was 605am when I finally sat down at my PC. I didn’t spend a whole lot of time there, perhaps about 15 minutes. It was 67 degrees under clear skies. We were expecting a high around 85 degrees. It was again warm enough to run without a shirt. I did meditation and a stretch over the course of the next 10 minutes. The stretching went particularly well. I wished Jacob a good day at school as I headed out for my run.

I ran the full 4.1 miles with little discomfort in my hamstrings. I was still somewhat careful about overdoing my stride. I’d call the sky transitory, the time between daybreak and sunrise. It won’t be long now before my initial mile is shrouded by darkness, probably by the end of September.

Was back home by 720am or close to it. Mindy shared that she’d already walked the pug. As I organized myself for breakfast Mindy was already heading out the door for work. She reminded me that it was date night and said she wanted to visit CBC. Yes dear!
I enjoyed some cheesy scrambled eggs. There were plenty left for Eiknarf too, but rather than give her those, I fed her the risotto ball egg bath leftovers that I microwaved then stored on Sunday afternoon. I stowed the cheesy eggs for the following day. During breakfast Bella and I talked about all the stuff we learned from the Science Channel the night before. I quizzed her on the distance from the Earth to the moon, the speed of light, the distance from Earth to the sun, and the time it takes for the suns light to reach Earth. I joked that she would likely get extra credit for billowing out these facts/stats in science class. Her only retort was that I was crazy!

Off to the shower near 740am. It didn’t take me long. Once again, I weighed myself right after a shower – 179.1 lbs. Dressed and ready by 755am. I spent the next ten minutes prepping my lunch and tidying up the kitchen. Bella ran out to the bus stop right at 805am. Like most morning’s, I was a few minutes behind. I headed out around 808am with Eiknarf. Met Chrissy at the bus stop. She asked about Jacob’s soccer season. We learned that both he and Makayla will be at the same soccer tournament over the weekend in Dayton, though at different times. Jacob’s first game is Saturday at 815am. That means they’ll need to leave the house by 630am. Yuck! It’s a Jimaken weekend so he’ll need to manage all that. Chrissy said she and Kenny plan to split up the duty since Makayla has two Saturday games, one at 945am and then 615pm. Seems like a bit much for youth soccer.

Bus was pretty much right on time. I let Eiknarf sniff out front before finally heading inside around 815am. I did some final prep and clean-up then enjoyed another quick cup of coffee before leaving the house for work around 830a.
Arrived at my office near 850am and was completely settled and logged on just after 9am. I walked down to chat with my boss but he wasn’t anywhere to be found. I sent him an email. Not 10 minutes passed before he showed up in my office. Said he was busy using the facilities. We talked through a couple issues and then he made me aware of a meeting taking place in one of our posh conference rooms with a VP. He asked that I make a showing. Sure.

I worked on a few small tasks ahead of that meeting. As it turned out, some of the parties weren’t in yet so there was little value in me hanging out. After about 15-20 minutes my boss must’ve read the angst on my face and excused me from the meeting. I thanked him on my way out.

Not sure what time it was when an unrecognized number rang into my personal cell phone. I didn’t dare answer. Whoever it was left a VM. I checked it a few minutes later. It was St Mary Magdalene calling about Rocky. They left no other word beyond asking me to call back. Nope! I needed to stay focused on work.

I tinkered with the idea of taking a formal lunch break around 1pm, but any hope of that was dashed when I was reminded of a 1pm call with a customer. Crap. The call went fairly well, better than expected. It ended, however, with me having a couple more to-dos. I took care of those new to-dos immediately after the call. I don’t like having too many dangling tasks hanging over my head.

I spent the majority of the late afternoon editing a 15 page support document. When I stopped for the day, there was only a couple more pages needing edited. I talked with Mindy around 4pm. Among other things she wanted to confirm our dinner date at CBC. Yes. I shared that I hoped to leave a little early for a change. She welcomed that. To that end, I finished up everything I was working on and left for home around 450pm. Traffic was surprisingly mild at that hour. I reckon I was just ahead of the 5pm rush. I arrived home at 505pm.

Jimaken’s car was blocking the driveway, there to pick-up the kids. Mindy and the kids were just coming up from the basement when I walked in. The kids handed their dad his belated birthday gift, which I presumed they had just finished wrapping in the basement. They were gone seconds later, and Mindy quickly dug into some school work laid out on the island counter. I asked what time she wanted to leave for CBC, because if she was going to be a while, I was going to water flowers on the deck. She said she was ready whenever I was. I brushed my teeth and hair and we left. It still wasn’t even 530pm.

I had a couple work issues on my mind and as a result, wasn’t in the best frame of mind. I’ve got to get better about clearing my mind of work and being present in the moment. I know this well. Doing it is another thing.

We purposefully diverted to I-71S due to a large back-up near the two downtown exits off 70E. That proved wise. Arrived at CBC a couple minutes later. The lot might’ve been as sparsely populated as I’ve seen in the past 5 years. We got a premium parking spot and pretty our pick of bar stools.  Vince and Katie were working the bar and both seemed eager to serve us. I could tell by their facial expressions that there was some bad news coming. They’re out of Bodhi! Oh no! Kate said she didn’t want to be the one to tell me. I took the high road and decided to try their Octoberfest. Mindy sampled it but didn’t like. I opted for a pint. Tastes very much like their Xmas ale if you ask me, perhaps not quite as many spices. Mindy opted for wine. Vince went on to share that it might be off the tap for a little more than a week. I only asked that they make sure and have some for my fast approaching b-day. Please!!!!!

After my beer we ordered some food. Mindy ordered the salmon and I ordered a plate of wings. We planned on taking wings home for the kids too. Bella specifically requested them. Mindy struck up a conversation with the guy sitting next to her. He was a Texas resident her working for the last year. Heading back home this coming weekend. Said he just found CBC as fell quickly in love with their beer.

While those two chatted (believe me, Mindy can chat up a storm ) I watched some of the RNC whirling on the one of the corner TVs. Lots of thoughts crossed my mind while observing, but I’m not gonna make this a political post. My wings were good. Mindy apparently enjoyed the salmon too. She ate it all. It’s her fave. For my 2nd beer I enjoyed a regular IPA. It was delicious. It’s the predecessor to Bodhi.

Mindy confirmed that I would be able to drive after my two beers before agreeing to a 2nd glass of wine. Yes. I drank ice water for a good half hour after finishing my IPA. Mindy agreed to pick-up the tab. We placed our to-go order for wings at the same time we requested our check.

Arrived home around 810pm. As I expected, Jimaken and the kids were already at the house. Jimaken was sitting on the front porch while the kids rode their scooters and skate boards. He left as soon as we were out of the car.

The kids squabbled over the wings, Jacob attempting to take over the whole batch. Mindy reminded him that Bella requested them, but she also reminded him that Bella rarely eats more than 3 or 4. That’s indeed how it played out. She ate just a few. What surprised me, Jacob ate only a few as well. There were 3 left when they both said they were done. Hmm?

By then I was already changed into my comfy lounge/bed clothes and relaxing in the chair and snacking on a handful or two of Life cereal. There wasn’t anything decent on TV. We watched a show in the History Channel called Hard Time, a program documenting an inmate’s life. Depressing.

Mindy was off to bed before 9pm. She wanted me to come to bed right them too. I resisted, wanting to stay up until I felt somewhat sleepy. She and the kids headed up while watched another program similar to the one we had just finished watching. I ended up dosing off, waking to Mindy calling my name and asking me to come to bed from the railing. I slowly shut down the house and made my way to bed.

Although I was ridiculously sleepy just before heading up, I couldn’t sleep once in bed. Mindy fell asleep lying on my chest, and when she sleeps she’s hot to the touch. I was sweating to all beat out. After 30 minutes I rolled out of bed trying my best not to disturb her sleep. I headed back downstairs and to my computer. But having surfed the internet to the end a bit earlier, I opted to watch more TV. I watched another crime show on the History Channel again until I felt sleepy. I headed back to bed around 1140pm.