Savanah Joe @ Park St Tavern ...

Barley's, Kayla & Bodhi, too

I was up at 545am after a very restful night of sleep. Downstairs I started some coffee then kicked my calisthenics into gear. I whipped out 50 sit-ups, windmills, then 50 push-ups. If my blood wasn’t flowing prior, it was certainly flowing after. I took a moment to glance skyward. Another clear morning with oodles of starts visible overhead. However, noticeably missing was the moon.

I spent about 20 minutes online while also enjoying coffee. Checked the weekend weather forecast for both CMH and Indy. Supposed to be fairly nice both days, especially Sunday. Hoping that they have the Lucas Field roof opened on Sunday. I solidified plans to work from home, so that took care of any potential time crunch. To that end, I fooled around online until 630am when I broke away to meditate and stretch.
It was 745am by the time I headed out the door for my run. I ran by Jacob and bus pals at the corner after my warm-up lap. It was warmer than it’s been in a while, a balmy 63 degrees. I wore a red long-sleeved running shirt and shorts. As I passed the elderly couple I see most mornings, they commented that they barely recognized me in red. I quickly shared that black is indeed my favorite color. I ran the full 4.1 miles. Mindy was just readying to leave for school.

Inside I fired up and logged on my laptop before digging into my eggs. For the next half hour or so I juggled work, pleasure and home responsibilities. At 810am Bella and I headed for the bus stop. Bella was in a very pleasant mood. Chrissy was at the bus stop with Makayla. Shared that Kenny left for a PA. golf trip earlier that morning. Also shared that they had to have her SUV towed in for service the night before after discovering a significant coolant leak soon after an oil change. Kenny had planned to take the SUV but had to settle for one of his work trucks. Bummer! Chrissy asked if I was heading into work later given that I was at the bus stop in running clothes. Nope, working from home. The bus showed up near 820am. Eiknarf and I took a brief walk out front before heading back inside.

I worked for a couple hours straight knocking a few big items off my daily to-do list. That felt good. Around 1030am I took about a 20-25 minutes break and headed out to tractor cut the yard. It was warm and sunny at the time, but there was a cold front moving our way about 100 miles to our west. There was a strong chance of rain. It didn’t take long to tractor cut the lawn.

At 11am I joined a biweekly customer call that lasted no more than 15 minutes. I took care of a couple escalations then headed out to the yard again, this time to push mow the remaining grass. That took no more than 15 minutes. I didn’t plan to whack or edge. I did, however, take a couple more minutes to blow away all the excess clippings. Felt good to get the lawn cut on a Friday instead of having to find a way to squeeze it in over the weekend, which was already mostly spoken for.

Involved with work until about 1-130pm when I took another break and removed two more cracked tiles, but none as bad as the one I replaced two week prior. We have about 6 or 7 more tiles with hairline cracks that I’d like to replace, but only 4 or 5 spares remaining. I Googled the maker and part number and it doesn’t look good for finding anymore. We may have to live with a few hairline cracks.

I’m getting better with the grout removal and subsequent thinset removal. That oscillating tool is simply an amazing invention. This time I used the grout removal blade to grind away the old thinset. That worked far better than trying to use scrapper attachment which is really made for softer materials like paint and caulk. I kept my shop-vac handy to quickly suck up the visible debris and dust, though I probably should’ve picked up and wore a mask to avoid breathing in all the dust.
I left the prepared area set while I took care of few more work issues. Around 2pm or so I set the two new tiles and covered each with an island counter stool so to avoid moving them accidentally while the thinset cures.

I spent the rest of the afternoon on work related issues. And with the exception of one minor escalation, most of what I did was proactive versus reactive. That’s especially nice on a Friday afternoon. Jacob was home just before 3pm. He commented right away about me still being in my running clothes. In fact, I didn’t bother taking a shower until about 430pm when Mindy took Jacob to soccer practice. Waiting to take a shower was by design, a means of physically separating my work day from my home life. I find that I miss that when I work from home. Mindy suggested that I force myself to drive somewhere, even if it’s only for a few minutes. A shower felt terrific and seemed to help some with the work to home transition. Mindy was back from taking Jacob to soccer by 510pm.

This was a Jimaken weekend so Jim agreed to pick Jacob up from soccer practice and then swing by to get Bella. Soccer practice ended at 530pm. Jimaken and Jacob came by to get Bella near 545pm. Bella was excited sharing that they planned to go apple picking on Sunday after Jacob’s soccer tournament. Jim agreed to keep the kids later on Sunday since we wouldn’t be home from the Viking/Colts game until 8pm or so.
Mindy and I planned to go out but still hadn’t agreed on a venue. Mindy said her preference was CBC. I love CBC but it’s not always my pick for a Friday. Barley’s sounded better, if for no other reason, than the opportunity/possibility to see lots of peeps. I offered that if it were dead we’d head to CBC. Mindy agreed. We left for Barley’s much earlier than usual arriving before 630pm. Just before we left I remembered to grab an empty growler.

The main lot was near capacity with the exception of the create-a-space spot, which I often shy away from to avoid getting hit, bumped or scraped. We parked in the back 40 instead. While Mindy made small talk with Crista on the patio, I headed into the bar and grabbed two bar stools and then ordered a Centennial. Mindy quickly joined me and ordered a Russian.

Not even halfway through my first beer Mindy suggested we go ahead and eat. I didn’t resist. We agreed to share some sauerkraut balls and a brisket quesadilla. I haven’t had their sauerkraut balls in probably more than a year. Often times my stomach can’t take them. Darwin joined us at Barley’s around 830pm, best guess. I ended up drinking, I think, four Centennials before it was all said and done. I was surprised when it came time to leave for home that Mindy wanted instead to go meet up with nephew Joe in the arena district. I’m pretty sure that she had only the one beer. She was driving.

We parked in the North Market parking lot forking over $10. Yikes! We weren’t sure where the Park St tavern but knew where Park St was. We wandered around the area taped off for the brew fest. Mindy lead us to the Park St Patio where we wandered inside and out looking for Joe. While Mindy was in the bathroom I celled Joe learning that we were at the wrong venue. We needed to walk back to the south a block to the Park St. Tavern. OK, I remember this place. It used to be a jazz bar 8-10 years ago. They had a $5 cover charge but opted to let Mindy and I slide in for $5 for the both of us. Cool. They had a live band and a thick crowd (the place is small). We easily found Joe and his friends. He was there with California Chris, his roomate Chad and his parents. There were others as well.

Mindy went to fetch us both drinks. I was giddy when I learned that they had Bodhi on tap! But not only that, Kayla, a former CBC server, was there and tending bar. She’s model pretty. Can’t recall the band’s name, but they were playing some fun music from the 70s and 80’s (Bowie, Ramones, etc.). I enjoyed two Bodhi’s during our stay. I’m guessing that it was closing in on 1130pm by the time we left for home. And once at home were quick to head to bed.