The First Snow Fell

I slept as long as I possibly could without putting on due pressure on my schedule. I finally rolled out of bed around 545am. I was sleepy/groggy through brushing my teeth and sit-ups. It was snowing lightly but it wasn’t sticking to anything but the deck furniture and cars. The lawn, drive and walk were snow free. I finished my usual Tuesday exercise regimen then headed to the PC with coffee. I spent just a couple minutes checking the weather before heading upstairs to wake Mindy. Before forgetting, I took our trash can to the curb. Looked like many skipped putting it out. I checked their online link. Nothing about canceled service.

It was 35 degrees with gusting wind, sleet, rain and snow. You take your pick. Looking at the radar, it was snowing heavy to our south and east in West Virginia, just as they predicted it would. The forecast called for rain mixed with snow but no accumulation.
Spent a little more time on the computer then did meditation and stretching. Jacob came down in light soccer sweats dressed for school. I suggested that he dress warmer. Without any back talk, he headed right back upstairs and changed into jeans. I later told him that what I really meant was that he would need/want a heavier jacket. He said he planned to wear a hoodie underneath. I dressed warmly for my run wearing a winter weight wicking shirt, jacket, gloves and ear covers.

The run was actually very fun in all the winter elements (wind, sleet, snow, and cold). The snowfall picked up towards the 4.1 mile run’s end. In fact, it was sticking to me and the ground. I happened upon the trash truck making his rounds. At home I was surprised to find Mindy already gone. Bella was waiting at the front door with the dog leash and a towel. She was very excited that it was snowing. She immediately celled her momma to let her know that I was back from my run safely.

The snow fall intensified during the dog walk and immediately. It looked like a full blown winter storm at times. I hollered for Bella to come look and also snapped few pics. Very cool! By the time I was done eating my eggs, we had almost an inch of snow on the lawn. My work day plans were to head to New Albany to work from a customer’s location – they’d have me twice this week. I’d be conducting a training session at 1pm. I decided not to rush my prep. I figured I would let the weather settle down a little before leaving for work.

I was still showered and ready by 8am and spent the time before the bus stop packing my lunch. Bella suggested we wait for the bus from the garage. By then it was back to a combo or sleet, ice, rain and snow. Eiknarf wanted no part of the weather. She actually hid under the kitchen table when I shook her leash. 

I took my camera and got a couple shots of Bella making snowballs in October. Eventually Chrissy and Makayla walked down and joined us in the garage. The bus didn’t show up until 825am. Once Bella was on the bus I enjoyed another cup of coffee and poked around online for another 10-15 minutes before finally heading out. By then the weather had improved. There was a gap in the precipitation. I headed off to work taking 670 east.

I arrived around 915am, and as soon as I parked my boss celled sharing that he needed some Hurricane Sandy impact info STAT. I told that I had just arrived and needed to get settled but would send what I could as soon as possible. I was working out of an entirely different building on the customer’s campus. That meant I didn’t have a specific office to set up in. My plan was to find my peer, Alicia and see where she thought I might be able to get situated. I found her without any problems. She suggested I take the office next to hers. Sure. I was set up and logged on by 945am.
My first order of business was taking care of my boss. Spent about 30 minutes getting the Sandy impacts to him. Spent the rest of my morning working in a quarterly report for another customer. Most of my effort was spent cleaning up data for a reporting tool. As it was, it was generating errors and therefore unfit for my report. Yikes!

The morning went pretty fast. Alicia invited me to come have lunch with her and a few other work peeps that were also working onsite. They were meeting in the cafeteria. I declined. Instead, I wanted to stay focused on the data clean-up project until our 1pm training session.

Albeit difficult to stop right in the middle of some serious progress, I set aside what I was doing right at 1240pm and headed up to the assigned conference room allowing myself 15-20 minutes to get set-up for the training. The training was similar to what we/I did last Thursday morning except with another group of employees. Like the presentation the week before, the session went well - a success. We finished up around 230pm, and I headed back to my make-shift office continuing the data clean-up effort.

I walked to a common area where I could have a little privacy and called Mindy. She shared that Bella wanted to skip gymnastics and instead go to dinner with her dad and Jacob. Mindy wanted my opinion. My thoughts were that it was a mistake to miss gymnastics, but Mindy ultimately decided to let her skip anyway. She suggested making beef & noodles with the leftover roast, now about a week old. Sounded fine with me.

I wrapped up work around 5pm then headed for home taking 270. It was an uneventful drive, traffic not an issue at all. Arrived home around 545pm. The house was quiet and clean. The kitchen smelt of beef & noodles. I'm guessing it was close to 6pm when Mindy and I sat at the table for a quiet, relaxing dinner. After dinner Mindy ran to Target, but for what exactly, I can't recall. I suggested she take a few extra minutes and return the 4 pair of jeans she bought for Jacob at Kohl's that didn't fit. Reluctant at first to commit to making a 2nd stop, she ultimately decided that it made sense. After all, they're right across the street from one another. She bought him 4 pair of 29X32s but they were apparently too big around his skinny waist.

While Mindy was away, I did some reading. She was gone for about an hour. She and the kids were back pretty much at the same time. The rest of our evening was uneventful - a little TV and sofa time. As usual, Mindy headed to bed early, somewhere close to 9pm. I stayed up a little later than the others, joining her somewhere close to 10pm.