Giggling Techies

The CPD helicopter makes emergency landing on Sullivant Ave.

Knowing that I'd be working from home, I slept in until almost 610am. And that was after falling asleep the evening before somewhere close to 7pm, or when Mindy took Bella to gymnastics. I woke briefly a time or two but each time drifted right back to sleep before gathering enough energy to get up. I felt rested once I shook off the lethargy that often accompanies such long bouts of sleep.
The coffee was done brewing, all I had to do was whip out sit-ups and curls before enjoying some. I stepped out onto the deck to drink in the early morning sky. It was fairly dark. though I could see daybreak on the horizon. There were numerous starts overhead, the first completely clear morning in a while.

I sat at my PC enjoying coffee while at the same time logging into to my work laptop. I did a brief meditation and stretch around 730am then headed out for a run. It was only about 64 degrees so I wore a short sleeved running shirt. I ran the full 4.1 miles. It was an enjoyable run in crisp, clear, late summer air.

Home by 810am, I poured a 2nd cup of coffee then got right to work. I started to make some eggs around 915am but remembered I had a 930am call I needed to join. I turned the stove off until the call was over. I took care of several other small items just ahead of a 930am call, including heading out on the deck to empty the dehumidifier. I started to water the deck flowers too, but only got about half way through before it was time to join my call. By then, Mindy was awake and enjoying coffee on the deck.

The call went reasonably well and lasted about 30 minutes. As soon as it was over I went out on the deck to spend a few minutes with Mindy ahead of getting some breakfast and getting back to work. She planned to take Jacob to his new school to get his locker, class schedule, and picture taken. I think the two of them left near 11am.

I had another busy day working from home. The day flew by. I had my hand in a number of escalations but thankfully I was never overwhelmed all at once. Mindy and Jacob were home around 1230pm best guess. Mindy headed off to school to work on her classroom while Jacob headed out to play. Bella hung in her room after having me make her a dippy egg around 1115am. She didn't come down again until she got a text from Makayla alerting her that she was home.

I took a shower during the mid day. Mindy was home from school around 3 or 4pm. Mindy confirmed plans to make pasta for dinner. I suggested she add the leftover hot Italian brats to the Marinara sauce. Said she would. Mindy left a VM for my dad inviting him to join us but hadn't heard back. I guessed that he went to the casino. It must've been around 5pm when dad returned her call sharing that he would indeed be over for dinner. I worked right up until 545pm, involved in a late escalation for the last 45 minutes of the day. Dad arrived just as I was finishing up with work.

We chatted from the kitchen table shortly before dinner was served. In addition to the pasta, Mindy made a fresh garden salad and warmed some fresh Italian garlic bread. I was a clean platter. Both kids were quick to finish their dinners then run off to play with friends. It was nice not to have to run either kid anywhere. Dad stuck around talking with Mindy and I until sometime after 7pm. Dad shared how his one year knee replacement follow-up appointment went. The Dr said he was doing great! I asked if he was ready to give snow skiing a try? Mindy shared her recent breast cancer scare. I shared the in and outs of my call to XM radio to once again attempt straightening out a seemingly endless comedy of errors.

After dad left Mindy and I opted to go on a neighborhood bike ride, her suggestion. It had been sunny and warm all day, in fact almost 9 degrees earlier, but by then it had cooled considerably and clouds were moving in. Dad shared that a cold front was headed our way and strong storms were just to our west. He was right. When we headed off on our bike ride rain looked eminent. We rode approximately three miles, pretty much taking my weekend run trail, only backwards. It was an enjoyable ride.

Back at the house it was nearing 8pm. I was much looking forward to watching NFL preseason football on FOX beginning at 8pm. The Bengals were playing the Falcons. The Vikings weren't playing until Friday night. Just as the game was about to star, Jacob came in from playing with Evan. Not only was the Bengals game televised, but the Browns game was on too. I asked Jacob which game he wanted to watch, though I knew he would choose the Browns. Mindy spoke up when I said, Bengals it is! In reality, and Jacob concurred, we'd bounce back and forth between both games. It just what guys do. That's what we did for the next couple hours. We watched preseason football. Both the Browns and Bengals were playing pretty well, too. It's rare that the two of them win the same week, though the Bengals made the playoffs last season. Most surprising, though only preseason, the Browns were easily whipping the Packers in Green Bay. While enjoying football, I made a Jack & Coke, polishing off the bottle of Jack David gifted me when he was here visiting in late June. I drank most of it while in the Outer Banks.

Mindy headed off to bed around 940pm offering that we could watch the rest from there. I suggested that I would be up shortly. Somewhere during the football game, Bella asked Mindy if Lillian and Makayla could stay the night and also go along to help get Mindy's class room ready for school on Friday. Mindy agreed. The girls were giggling like crazy from Bella's room for the rest of the night. At one point I told Mindy that they were likely up there texting boys from their internet connected devices (iTouch/Kindle Fire). Who's fooling who? I watched the football games into the 4th quarter, or until about 1020pm when my eyes got a little heavy.

Mindy was OK with me watching the rest of the game from bed. We bounced between the two. The Browns pounded the Packers something like 32-10. The Bengals won too, but it was much closer 23-19, I think. After we turned out the lights I seemed to get a second wind. I wasn't surprised after getting more than 11 hours of sleep the night before. I got up around 1130pm and headed back downstairs to watch a little more TV. The girls were still up giggling in Bella's room. I didn't try to stop it, I only asked that they keep it somewhat in check. I headed back to bed around 1230am.