Sunshine Daydream

Obliterating what should now be considered habit, I was up and out of bed near 525am. It was Friday and my last day of work until October 22nd. That felt really nice and served as motivation for the entire work day. Downstairs in a jiffy, I completed the usual Friday calisthenics. Outside it was cloudy and 44 degrees, or almost 10 degrees warmer than the morning before. A heat wave so to speak. I checked the weekend weather forecast, which for Columbus looked awesome, partly to mostly sunny with highs in the 70s. I checked the forecast for Cleveland, too, since that's where we'd be spending the lion's share of our weekend. Glad I checked. It wasn't expected to be quite so nice up there. Expecting wind & rain Saturday evening with temps at least 10 degrees cooler. Yikes!

I woke Mindy just after 605am then returned to the computer but left myself plenty of time to meditate and stretch ahead of a run. I headed out the door at 636am. And while it was considerably warmer than the past few mornings, there was a chilly breeze blowing in from the N/NE, which is somewhat unusual. I ran the full 4.1 miles without any pain though my legs not feeling as lively as perhaps I would like. The past couple of days I took Ibuprofen or Naproxin. That always makes a difference.

I glanced at the clock as soon as I was back from my run. It was 719am. Bella was at the breakfast table and Mindy was toting school stuff out to the Pilot. I leashed up the pug and headed out for our walk. Mindy met up with us on the bridge across the street from the house. After a quick hug she was off to school. I microwaved my eggs for 12 seconds then enjoyed them along with some watermelon and strawberries. Headed for a shower near 740am.

I wore jeans and a black button-up casual dress shirt. I left it untucked. Man, am I cool, or what? I packed only a banana and some nuts. Thought I might slip home for lunch and cut the lawn, time and weather permitting. Bella and I headed out to the bus stop at 810am where we met Chrissy & Makayla. Shared that Mindy and I would be leaving Saturday morning for Cleveland and wouldn't be home until Sunday afternoon. Went on to share that Lindsey and the boys would be staying at our house while we were away.

The bus arrived on time, or maybe even a few minutes early. I let Eiknarf walk out front a few more minutes enabling her to pee and second time. I left for work near 835am arriving about 15 minutes later. As usual, the lot was populated to a lesser degree than any other day work day.

I added to an already constructed to-do list, then jumped right in. Thankfully, there wasn't anything pressing to divert my attention away from my proactive to-do list. I stayed busy until a scheduled call at 11am. I was the only one who joined. I remained on the bridge for 20 minutes or so in a muted mode all the while tackling other tasks from my list. I looked up at 1120a and realized the bridge was still engaged. Oops! I terminated the call.

I chatted briefly with my boss. Other than he and I, there weren't too many others in the office on our floor. I kept plugging away at my to-do list until 230pm. By then I had everything taken care of. The only task that remained was the 430pm call that a peer scheduled. Oh boy! At 255pm I crafted my vacation out of office message and set it to kick in right at 5pm. I then recorded an out of office message on my desk phone then packed and left for home. I planned to spend the next 60-90 minutes taking care of my lawn chores before joining that 430pm call from home.

I arrived home near 310pm. The weather was ideal - about 57 degrees and sunny. The grass growth has slowed significantly over the last week thanks in no small part to the three nights in the low to mid 30s. It still needed cut, however. Jacob was already home from school and practicing saxophone in the family room. He kept playing while I changed into my running clothes. I quickly headed out to the shed and pulled out both mowers, the tractor and push. I did the tractor piece first.

I decided to set the mowing deck to 3" instead of the usual 3.5". There was a fairly thick blanket of leaves out back, but they were dry so I was able to mulch them as I mowed. I finished the tractor piece in about 35 minutes. I checked my Blackberry before doing the push piece. I missed a call from an account manager. Sure enough, he sent me an email too. Really? It's late Friday afternoon and I was just about to be in vacation mode. I decided to finish the lawn before calling him back. Finished the push mowing in less than fifteen minutes. By then Mindy and Bella were both home. I took a couple minute break from the deck where I chatted briefly with Mindy then returned that work call. His ask was rather trivial, something I considered low priority. I still had 20 minutes before my call. I decided to do the blower piece. Finished that in 10 minutes or less. At 420pm I headed in to my make shift work station and joined the call 5 minutes early.
The other two participants didn't join until just after 430pm. The topic was somewhat benign but I played along to keep them both happy. They were both sending emails back and forth throughout the call. Our call went past 5pm, the time I set my out of office to kick on. One of them commented that they received my out of office. Yep. They're both in Chicago, which is in the central time zone.

We ended the call at 505pm, and as soon as it was over I considered myself on vacation, though I double checked my work emails to make sure I wasn't leaving anybody hanging. Nope! Mindy asked what our evening plans entailed. She expressed a desire to visit CBC. We hadn't been there together for 3 weeks, or when they told us that they'd be out of Bodhi for two weeks. We were expecting Jimaken to pick-up the kids near 6pm. They'd be heading to Cincinnati for Jacob's soccer tournament and would be there through Sunday.

Mindy had both kids tidy up their rooms before Jimaken arrived. Jacob gave his mom the most crap. Not sure why. It was clear that he didn't put forth any effort to get his room in the order we've come to expect. While the kids did that I wrote in my blog. Jimaken showed at 6pm sharp. After goodbye hugs the kids were off. They were excited to be over nighting in Cincy. I suggested they do the Newport aquarium in their spare time, though I didn't get the impression that either of the kids were too interested.

As soon as the kids were gone, Mindy headed upstairs to change into attire more fitting for a night out on the town. I headed up about 30 minutes later, or near 630pm to freshen up and change clothes, too. As it was, I was still in my running clothes from mowing. I told Mindy that I was OK going to CBC but that my preference was Barley's. We agreed to do CBC then stop at Barley's on the way home. We left for CBC near 645pm. We hit some traffic as we neared downtown but it didn't take too long to navigate our way off at the Front St exit. We arrived somewhere close to 7pm.

At the time of our arrival the bar and restaurant were both packed in pretty good. Once again we ran into Dave Goldstein, one of Jimaken's old attorney friends. He was there with his wife and in-laws having dinner .He joked that he and Amy were heading to Boston over the weekend and that his goal was to be her "bitch' for the weekend - do whatever she wanted. Mindy and I soon were seated at the bar where Vince quickly poured both of us a Bodhi. Kevin was there and tending bar, too. We shared that we'd likely see him at the Rundgren show Saturday night in Cleveland. We talked about it a month or so prior. In fact, he's the one that let me know about the show.

Vince fetched us some bread and risotto balls without us even asking. Awesome service! They were light and delicious. Between the snacking I did from home, the beer and risotto balls, I wasn't hungry for dinner at all. Mindy was somewhere in between. But when push came to shove, she opted for only the soup of the day, which was some chicken bisque type recipe. I enjoyed a 2nd Bodhi. Mindy had just the one and then went with water from then on. Vince gave her another half pint anyhow. :)

I'm thinking that it was 830-845pm when we asked for our check and left for Barley's. For some reason, Vince charged me for 3 Bodhi's. Said he'd get me next time. That's cool. He didn't charge us for the risotto balls or bread. Mindy tipped him well. I was fine and drove to Barley's arriving around 9pm. Unless I am mistaken, I don't think there were many regulars on hand, though Grandpa Tom & Steve were there. I ordered a Fat Head's Sunshine DayDream. Once settled, I sent Bob I. and Darwin a text inviting them to join us.

About halfway through my Daydream I decided I'd better eat. I ordered a brisket quesadilla. It was big and tasty, but I could eat only half. I ordered a 2nd beer, this time a Centennial. We didn't stay out too late. I'm thinking it was about 1045pm when we asked for our tab. I picked up this one. It wasn't too much. Just before we headed out I checked my phone. Bob I. responded that he was at the Woodlands to see a local band. Invited us up. Mindy would have none of it but offered to drop me there. No thanks. Truth be told, I was tired and didn't want to be out too late ahead of our drive to Cleveland the next morning. We were at home and in bed by 1115pm.