The Woodlands & Reggae

After a slow moving work week, it was finally Friday. And once again I let myself sleep until almost 630am, in part because I planned on working from home. Downstairs I whipped out sit-ups and push-ups then headed to my PC to enjoy a little coffee and internet. I also checked to see if anything urgent came in overnight relative to work. It was fairly quiet.

I enjoyed about an hour on the PC balancing both work and fun before leaving it behind to do meditation and a stretch. I left for a run around 740am. It was cloudy and fairly warm, about 70 degrees. We were expecting a high around 80 degrees with a mix of clouds and sunshine. It was trash day, and I heard them come by just before I started out for my run.

The run went well. I was back at home around 820am. I poured another cup of coffee then headed back to my work station. I could hear Mindy up and readying for her day. She was taking all the kids: Jacob, Bella, Makayla and Lillian with her to school to put the finishing touches on her classroom and hallway. They were preparing to depart around 915am. I let Mindy know that I had a 930a conference that I needed to join and asked that she alert the kids. They left about the time my call began. She didn’t expect to be home until 3 or 4pm.

The call went well. It was the handful of escalations that followed that dominated the majority of my day. Like the day before, I took the time to fry a few eggs as well as taking care of a few other things around the house, like emptying the dehumidifier sometime mid morning. None of that took me long at all. I spent the middle part of my day working on a proactive weekly report while also dealing with those pesky escalations.

The sky cleared sometime around noon and it stayed sunny for the better part of the afternoon. Ashley called me midafternoon while on a break sharing that her car was on its last leg. Said she and her grandpa were going looking at new/used cars on Saturday. Wanted to know if I would co-sign on a loan if necessary. Said I would consider it and also tried pushing her towards new versus newer used.
As often happens on Friday’s, the late afternoon got really busy for me. I was wise enough to address all of my weekly administrative tasks a little earlier when I had some free time. I spent the last part of my work day dealing with a couple hot escalations and ended up staying engaged through the early evening hours.

Mindy and the kids were back around 4pm. Makayla & Lillian stuck around until Jimaken came to pick-up the kids for the weekend. Mindy was off to the shower shortly after getting home. We figured to be heading out for the evening, though we hadn’t yet nailed down a venue. Once the kids were gone Mindy tidied up the house, including starting a couple loads of laundry. I suggested we head to The Woodlands (formerly the Thirsty Ear) in Grandview for happy hour. We’d been meaning to check it out for some time now after numerous friends raved about the live music, quality beer selection, and happy hour pricing. I’m thinking that it was near 630pm when we headed that way.

We were fortunate and nabbed a parking spot directly across the street. The patio was darn near full and inside they had a decent crowd. There was live music playing, a one man reggae band. He was good, though neither of us are too used to beering with live music blaring in our ears. Immediately in the door we happened upon some familiar faces, Mark & Trudy, Barley peeps. Mindy palled up with them while I went to check out the beer selection. With few exceptions, all there draught pints were $2 during happy hour. We both opted for Stone IPAs and ended up snagging a couple stools near the entrance and also next to Mark & Trudy. Despite being out and about, I was still busy dealing with an escalation via my blackberry. That made it a little difficult to relax and enjoy myself. Once I ordered my second beer I was fine.  By then Mark & Trudy had moved out to the patio so they could hear themselves talk. Mindy and I opted to stay at the bar where she ordered a hummus plate appetizer.

A couple OSU engineering students took the two stools beside us. We talked with them for about 20-30 minutes eventually buying them both a beer before we left. They were interesting to chat with. Mindy and I had designs on heading to Barleys. I’m thinking that it was about 8pm when we showed up there.

Moderate crowd, but not too many regulars on hand. Mindy and I both ordered Centennials. Not too long after we got settled Thad and Monica showed up. We talked with Thad for a while. While chatting with Thad I caught a glimpse of someone that looked familiar heading out the door. It was Dan D., a former co-worker. We chatted near the exit for about 10 minutes. While chatting with Dan and his wife, Darwin came in. I joined Darwin at the bar minutes later.

I eventually enjoyed another Centennial, though paced myself so that I could drive home later. Mindy, Darwin, and I hung out until 1130pm or slight after. By then I was getting really hungry. I figured the kitchen was already closed but asked anyway. April confirmed as much but said that Zach might cook me something. No, I would never ask that he do that. Instead, Mindy and I opted to order a pizza from Minelli’s on our way out the door. Darwin stayed behind as we headed out, but figured to be heading home in short order too.

Arrived at Minelli’s to pick-up our extra-large pie just before close (midnight). We had to wait a few minutes for it to come out of the oven. Both of us were ravenously hungry. We devoured the pizza leaving less than a quarter of it for another day. It was about 1230am when we headed for bed. On my way, I quickly read the box score results from the Vikings 36-14 preseason victory over the Buffalo Bills.