Deer Me!

                                                                   
I was up somewhere close to 530am and quickly engaged in exercise. I whipped out 50 sit-ups, 40 windmills, then 50 push-ups. The sky was mostly clear and we were expecting a high near 50 degrees. At the time it was around 40 degrees.

I did meditation and stretching immediately after calisthenics. However, I am not so sure about keeping it that way. On one hand, it ensures that I have ample time for meditation, but my body is used to heading out for my run immediately after a stretch. Felt awkward going from meditation and stretching to coffee and internet. We’ll see where it goes. I woke Mindy between stretching and coffee.

Didn’t spend much time online at all. Left for my run around 635am. Ran the full 4.1 miles. Felt good. Back home around 715am, Bella was quick to ready the pug for a walk. She seemed to have an extra bounce in her step. The dog and I were out for about 8-10 minutes. Not too long. Back inside, Bella helped Mindy get breakfast on the table. She was in a really good mood. Mindy & I joked that she finally got the sleep she needs. Mindy left for school around 730pm.

Enjoyed my eggs then headed up for a shower. Opted to wear jeans. Why not? It was Friday. Downstairs again by 8am. Bella was calling for me to come downstairs quick. According to her, there were deer in our backyard and she was watchign quietly from the deck door. Yep, I snatched up my camera, watched, the stepped out onto the deck to sneak a couple photos. They were quite young. Appear to be adolescents, who only recently lost their dots.

ok a few minutes to throw together a lunch before heading out to the bus stop. Bella and I headed out around 810am. We met Chrissy & Makayla there. Chrissy asked about our holiday party. Said she was watching Blaine, Lillian’s little brother, that night. Planned to bring him over. Bus was there by 815am.

I paid a couple bills online before leaving for work. I threw the Time Warner bill on my backpack. Noticed that they stuck a $7.50 late charge on my account as well as raising the rates once again. They went up last spring too. They must be stopped!  I hoped to find the time to call them that afternoon from the office.

Got to work and settled sometime around 9am. Had an escalation needing my attention right away. Got that on track fairly quickly. I was able to dedicate the rest of my morning to proactive tasks. Talked with my boss mid-morning. He was noticeably stressed over a customer call he was recently on. Offered my help if necessary.

Left for lunch around 1pm. I made three stops. My first stop was the Hilliard-Cemetery Kroger for some Jack Daniels. That was a quick stop. Next, I headed across the street to the Klean-a-Kar for a carwash. This time I did just the basic for $7. Did a good job. I took advantage of the complimentary vacuum, too, though there wasn’t much dirt/grit to vacuum out.

My last stop was Target where I picked up a few things, including almonds (rosemary & black pepper), crap sacks, and two jugs of windshield fluid. Made all three stops in less than 50 minutes, and was back at the office before 2pm. Took care of another escalation mid-afternoon, and then spent the rest of my afternoon on administrative stuff. Left for home at 455pm.

Called Mindy a bit into my drive home. We talked until I was at the Trabue/Wilson Rd traffic light. Arrived home by 515pm. Mindy already had the house looking nice, the counters completely cleared of clutter. That usually helps calm me. I asked what are plans were. I was a little surprised when she shared that her plans were to go after party food. No Barley’s? I shared my desire to go. She offered that I could wait for her to get back and then go, or take Bella with me. But Bella’s been on an anti-Barley thing lately. Says she hates going there. Mindy left for Giant Eagle & Wal-Mart around 530pm. Jacob went with her. Bella stayed home with me. Well, actually she went next door to play with Makayla.

With an hour or two of quiet time, I updated my blog for the past week. I even had time to go back and add pictures to the prior week. Bella came home to check in around 7pm. She was in tears. Said Tessa bit her face as she ran out the back door towards home. I checked it out. There wasn’t even a mark. I hugged her. She asked if she could head back. I suggested she wait for her mom to get home. Mindy & Jacob were home by 720pm. She had a lot of food to carry in. She complained about how much she hated Wal-Mart. But almost in the same breath she praised them for their low prices. She was a bit worked up over their lack of the giant deli subs we like. She wanted 6-8. They had 2. When she asked if she could place an order and pick them up Saturday afternoon they apparently told her no, because she would have to give then a 24 hour notice.

Bella was still being fussy/whiny. Mindy asked if I still was planning on a Barley’s outing. Nah, decided not. Instead, I would stay in and relax. We warmed the 2 Wal-Mart subs for our dinner on the pizza stone. We temporarily removed the lettuce and tomato. Sometime during dinner we determined that Bella left her bike and jacket at the neighbors. Mindy asked that she go get them but that she couldn’t stay. For some reason, she was too embarrassed to go back after them and then come home. Jacob seized on the opportunity to tease her about incessantly. Soon, she was in tears. Oh boy!

Jimaken called around 830pm to make arrangements to pick-up Bella the following day for a Xmas shopping spree. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but Bella and I already had plans to go to Aspen Ski & Board to look for new ski attire. We talked about watching a movie but couldn’t come to an agreement. I ended up tuning to an episode of The Universe that I DVR’d earlier in the week. I enjoyed the program along with a Jack & Coke.

Mindy was off to bed fairly early. Must’ve been around 945pm. I stayed downstairs, where I soon fell asleep on the sofa. I didn’t head up to bed until almost 1am. Of course I had to turn off all the Xmas lights first.
Coming Soon!

Hunter I am Not

 

basement prep work

I slept well, but woke once again around 4am. However, this time I was easily able to drift back to sleep, finding my groove for another 90 minutes or so. Knowing I was working from home, I didn’t stress over being out of bed right at 530am. I slept in for a few extra minutes, waking for good around 540am. Soon, I was downstairs engaged in calisthenics completing sit-ups, windmills, and curls. Already near 6am, I went ahead and delivered Mindy’s coffee next. I then returned downstairs where I did meditation and stretching ahead of coffee and internet. Felt great.

It was 625am before I poured my first cup of coffee. By then, I was craving some. Finally in front of my PC, I got logged onto my work laptop. Time was moving fast. I quickly made the decision to postpone my run until after Bella was on the bus. Didn’t want to feel rushed. It feels good having an hour or so of early morning leisure time to do whatever I want. I opted to download photos and browse the new Hero3 HD again.

With me working from home, Mindy caught a break, too. She didn’t have to make my breakfast or pack a lunch. She left for school near 730am as usual. I took care of a handful of work related issues before bus stop time. We headed out with the pug near 810am. Dressed in my running clothes prompted Chrissy to ask if I was off work again. Nope, just working from home.

The bus showed up near 820am. Soon Eiknarf and I headed back home. I checked in with work. Thing s were quiet. I headed off for my run. I ran just three miles, just like I do on most work from home days. I was back around 9am and was soon back at my work station with a hot cup of fresh coffee. Yum!
I had an 11am & 415pm calls to join. 11am came around quick. The call seemed to go on forever. I had very little input. Just as well. I was expecting Mike O. around noon. But noon came and went. Just as I was beginning to wonder if he got caught up on something else he showed up with his tools around 1240pm.

With little fanfare, we headed for the basement to look at what I wanted done. Mike wasted little time loosening the make-shift clamps holding the set-run in place to the bottom of the floor joists. A month or so ago when we briefly looked at it, he thought there might be enough slack in the run to move it into the rafters (between the joists). However, after moving it as far as we could it was quickly apparent that there wasn’t enough length. Not a problem. Said we’d have to cut it and splice in a section. Thought he had enough pipe at home. He left for five minutes to get it.

Before cutting into the line, Mike moved the Freon to the AC condenser unit outside, effectively vacating the set-run of any gas. We then headed to the basement to cut the existing line and prepare it for soldering in about a 2’ section on each side – 3/4” and 3/8”. Mike worked pretty fast. Shared that the copper we were using is called ‘soft’ copper as compared to water system copper. And while Mike is a fireman by trade, he’s also a heating and cooling guy. Knows his stuff and has an awesome set of tools. Heating & Cooling is something I know comparatively little about. He did it professionally before becoming a fireman. Even after becoming a fireman, he continued working for the same HVAC company part-time for a number of years.

Had the new section soldered in quickly. Made double sure we had a good seal by doing a cool water test, then a soap bubble test. Has a large dental-type mirror to look at the top of the pipe. Cool idea! All good. He cleared the lines of any moisture before reintroducing the Freon from outside. He checked for leaks afterwards too. Good to go. The only thing left to do was to insulate the splice section. For that I would need to run to Home Depot or Lowes and pick some up. I planned to do it Friday at lunch. Mike reiterated how important it is to insulate the pipes. If you don’t they’ll surely sweat. And since I plan to drywall the ceiling, we would have a mess in a relatively short amount of time. Understood!

Mike wanted no money. Instead, he suggested perhaps some beer. I gave him $50 anyway. I appreciate the help and know how much my free time is worth. I’ll probably pick-up some beer for him too. I soon got back to work. Mike wasn’t gone 10 minutes when Jacob was in the door home from school. Man, time flies. He did his homework real quick then asked if he could head outside. He was halfway across the backyard when I hollered for him to come back and get the jacket Mike left in the basement.

Bella was home from school around 4pm. Almost immediately she started sucking up. I had no idea why until she hit me up. She reminded me of our discussion Tuesday evening, when I shared that I might be willing to sit at her gymnastics class for the entire 90 minutes just so Makayla could go watch, too. Not wanting to disappoint, I agreed. That made them both happy. Not only was Makayla already over, but Emily was too. They were playing Wii.

Mindy got home between 4-430pm. Sometime during the day Ashley sent a couple pictures of grandkid #5, Averie. Cute! Mindy said she got it too. Stayed plugged into work even past 530pm, though only loosely attached after that. Mindy made the girls pasta with pesto for dinner. Both Bella and Makayla love it. It was about 535pm when Mindy called Chrissy to make sure that it was OK if Makayla went to gymnastics with Bella. Chrissy was just getting home and wanted to check with Kenny. She called back a minute or two later. Nope, wanted her home. Off she went. Bella was sad. I agreed to take her and watch practice anyway. At the same time, Mindy and Jacob were heading out Xmas shopping.

We took 270, which turned out to be a mistake. Traffic was backed up from the second we were on 270 and I could see that it was backed up all the way to Georgesville Rd exit. I ended getting off at the Broad St exit heading east and taking it to Georgesville Rd. That saved us some time but it was bumper to bumper the entire way too. Bella was stressing, worried that she was going to be late to practice.

We arrived at 602pm. Her instructor was just walking in at the same time. I told Bella that I was running over to Lowes real quick but would be back in a jiffy. Traffic was tight getting there too, but it’s just around the corner. I found the pipe insulation I needed for the AC set-run. I picked up a 4-pack of CFLs for the light fixture over the island. First time I’ve seen them for a small-based socket.

Headed back to the gym. I took my book, blackberry and Galaxy in with me. As usual, folks were hogging more than one seat in the viewing area. I watched for a while but then headed to the admin area just outside the gymnasium where there’s a table and chairs available. From there I read and worked. Bella came out twice on break. I headed to the gym again for the last 15 minutes. This time I got a seat.
Practice was over promptly at 730pm. Kelly (her instructor) came up to let me know that she was RSVP’ing to our Xmas party Saturday night. Oh good! Bella and I headed for home. Bella was in a strange mood, especially after I denied her request for Wendy’s. She went on and on about how boring her mother and I have become as we age. Said we never do anything fun, like Kenny & Chrissy. I asked for examples. She shared that Chrissy always takes the girls shopping and that Kenny hunts. I suggested that she and I could go hunting. Went as far as to tell her that she and I would go out and buy guns on Saturday. Of course I didn’t mean it. A hunter I am not. By the time we arrived home, Bella managed to work herself into tears. Really? More than anything, she was still angry that Makayla wasn’t able to go to gymnastics with her. Mindy said she was over tired too. Probably.

Bella headed off for a shower, and I searched the pantry for popcorn. I was hungry having eaten only a small plate of pastas for dinner earlier. Couldn’t find the popcorn. Our pantry is ridiculous these days. Way too much stuff and in total disarray. Needs a heavy purging. In fact, the top rack recently collapsed in the back. Told Mindy that we need to evacuate the top shelf and the one just below so it can be fixed. She eventually came over and found a new box of popcorn on the very bottom. I looked there, but had no luck. That alone should make clear the problem.

I popped the popcorn then enjoyed it while playing on my PC. I made the mistake of checking work and got sucked into a problem needing my attention. Spent about an hour dealing with all that. By taking care of it then, it saved me the trouble Friday morning. Bella came down after her shower wanting to share some of my popcorn. She was in a far better mood. However, by then the popcorn was almost gone. She asked me to pop more. Sure, why not?

I popped more popcorn then helped Jacob study for a history quiz on eastern religion (Hindu & Buddhism). I was pleasantly surprised to find that they’re being exposed to such diversity. He seemed to know most of the terms and was at least somewhat familiar with what they meant. I ended up heading to the sofa and at first tuned to the Thursday night NFL game on the NFL Network. But I just wasn’t that interested. Instead, I went to our DVR menu and tuned to the three episodes of The Universe I DVR’d on Monday or Tuesday night. Cool!

Mindy and Bella headed off to bed just before 10pm. Bella was actually in her room before Mindy. Once again, I stayed up watching TV, fully expecting to fall asleep on the sofa. That’s exactly what happened. I woke around 1030pm and headed for bed.

2Xmas Ale Vacation

Just as I have all week, I woke again around 4am then struggled to get meaningful sleep afterwards. I wasn’t tired, either, though. I finally gave up and got up for keeps at 520am. Figured an early start was good for what ails me.

Manually started the coffee then whipped out morning calisthenics. I went to the PC with coffee in hand at 540am. We’re on the front end of a warming trend but it was still cold that morning, somewhere close to freezing. I spent quite a bit of time online but when I walked away at 605 it was for good. I delivered Mindy’s coffee then headed to the family room for meditation and stretching. Both went well. I felt no crunch for time. I dressed and left for a run just after 630am.

The sky was clear and the full moon hovered just above the rooftops to the NW, beautiful! I kept my eyes fixed on a pairing of stars in the SE sky even as dawn gave way to the sunrise. By the three mile mark, the dimmer of the two was no longer visible. I later learned that what I was seeing was Venus and Saturn. Saturn being the weaker of the two. I ran the full 4.1 miles and felt terrific throughout. It was trash day. I pulled our can back to its resting place before heading back inside.

Inside, I waited patiently for the pug. She finally came down and we headed out. We weren’t gone long. She took care of her business fast. I volunteered to start/warm the Pilot. First time all season. Before Mindy left for school, she asked about our Xmas party. It’s not my preference to host one but if it meant that much to her then she should go ahead and do it. She wants to have it this coming weekend. Seems a little early for a Xmas party, but she didn’t want it to interfere with MRM’s opening day, which is the following weekend, though it’s not looking too promising.

She left for school around 730am. She made me cheesy scrambled eggs, and a whole lot of them. I wasn’t sure that I could eat it all, but did. I enjoyed a little fresh fruit too. Headed off to the shower near 740am. Was ready and downstairs by 8am. I asked Bella to take the pug as we headed out for the bus so I could start and warm the Accord. Met Kenny & Makayla at the bus stop.

The bus was there around 815am. Like we often do , the pug and I walked out front for a couple minutes before heading back inside. I tied up a few loose ends then made sure I had everything I’d need to work remote. I stopped for gas and a Powerball ticket (jackpot $580 million) at the Circle K. The Accord took 15.5 gallons at $3.43 per. Got 21.1 mpg last tank. Not very impressive.

Drove across town making pretty darn good time until I got to the 270N entrance ramp off 670. First time that’s ever happened. Turns out, there was a fresh fender bender just up ahead. The traffic loosened up after just a couple minutes of slow going. Parked at 859am. It was a chilly but lovely walk inside. I was very happy to find the money clip for my wallet still setting on my desk that I use only once a week. I found it on the office floor last week and without checking, figured it was somebody else’s. It wasn’t until I got to Swan Cleaners last Friday evening that I realized it was my own. Not sure how it slid out of my wallet, but I do have a hole in the wallet pocket of the jeans I wore that day. Of course, the cash stayed put. Only the clip slipped out.

I was logged on and settled by 915am. We had our usual 10am call, though there were no urgent issues to review/discuss. Mid-morning, Mike O. sent me a text asking if I wanted to move the AC line in the basement the following day at noon. I sent a yes text back quickly. I needed to make plans to work from home. Should be able to start framing once that’s done.

Kept busy all morning, working on proactive stuff mostly. At 1pm I left for lunch and went to the Kohl’s a mile or so up the road simply to check out girls ski jackets and pants. The idea being to see if they might have attire suitable for Bella, since her stuff needs replaced this year, too.
It was well attended, body’s in almost every aisle I attempted to walk through. I absolutely hate that feeling! After some friendly guidance, I found the girls winter wear. Their selection was somewhat limited to 3 or 4 color combos, pricey, and made somewhat cheaply. And Despite steep markdowns, I’m betting we can get much better stuff for about the same money at Aspen Ski & Board after figuring in our discount. I looked at some running stuff on my way out. I bought nothing.

I’d been gone only for 25-30 minutes. I headed back to the office anyway. Like most Wednesdays, I grabbed my lunch in route to my office. I ate my food while digging back into work. Had a systems issue arise. We agreed to have a 3pm call to discuss and hopefully resolve it. Meeting went well and like I hoped, we developed a work around requiring no changes on our end.

Stayed busy until about 510pm. Head for the parking lot soon after. It was already just about dark. Waited until I was safely merged onto 270 before calling Mindy. She shared that we were having a special dinner. I guessed tacos and was apparently wrong. But I only guessed tacos because that’s what she talked about making the night before. Told me that Courtney had her baby sometime during the day. Lindsey apparently sent her a text indicating as much. We didn’t talk long. Mindy said she needed to get off the phone and focus on dinner.

Arrived home around 550pm. Noticed Bella’s bike parked in the middle of our front yard. That’s odd. Inside, I asked about it. Said she’d get it later. No, Mindy insisted she bring it in right then. She rolled her eyes and headed out to address the problem. There was no denying that we were having some sort of fish for dinner. I could smell it immediately in the door. She asked if I wanted sea bass, salmon, or both. Sea bass. Yum!

While grabbing something out of the fridge in preparation for dinner, I noticed a couple Southern Tier 2Xmas ales in the fridge. She picked up some of that at Whole Foods too. Dinner was excellent. The sea bass was top notch. She made sea scallops, too. Turned out pretty good. There were only a enough for each of us to have two.

Bella & Mindy suggested we would watch a movie together after dinner and clean-up. Jacob reminded us that the Buckeyes were playing Duke (basketball). Wasn’t sure what time the game started though. I wasn’t too concerned about watching. Finished dinner and clean-up by 645pm. Mindy & Bella decided that we should watch Xmas Vacation, a can’t miss family favorite. Sounded good to me.

Jacob eventually joined us for the movie, too. Great movie. Hard to believe that it’s 23 years old now. In fact, it oozes late 80’s (hairstyles, clothes, etc.). We laughed as though it was our first time seeing it. Mindy & I each sipped a 2Xmas ale through the movie. I like it.

After the movie, I turned the TV to NBC to catch the Xmas tree lighting celebration from Rockefeller Center. Once that was over Mindy and the kids were quickly off to bed. At the time I was wide awake and certainly didn’t feel ready for bed. I opted to hang downstairs a while longer. It wasn’t even 15 minutes before the sleepies hit me hard. Turns out, that was about the same time Bella crept downstairs for yet another bedtime snack even after Mindy insisted she be in bed asleep by 9pm. I headed off to bed with Bella still sheepishly snacking in the kitchen.

What stopped the Bubonic Plague?

 

Jacob's art project. He was so enthused! We're still not sure what it is.

Slept decent, but once again woke around 4am and then struggled to get any meaningful sleep thereafter. I finally fell back asleep and ended up waking late around 555am. Even though it was planned, I didn’t sweat it too much, especially since I wouldn’t be leaving the house for my dental appointment until 9am. Didn’t make any sense to drive into work first.

I whizzed through exercise then delivered Mindy’s coffee. I didn’t have even a taste of my own until I was back downstairs. I still planned to run early, but figured to me about 10 minutes behind schedule. I enjoyed coffee and internet until almost 630am. I need my time regardless. I’m thinking that there might be some advantages to doing meditation and stretching right after calisthenics and before coffee and internet. That way if something needs to be trimmed, it’ll be internet. Meditation and stretching are much too important to shave time there. We’ll see where this notion goes.

By the time I wrapped up meditation and stretching it was already 645am. Jacob was downstairs making his breakfast and just about to head out the door to catch his school bus. Glaring, was the fact that he was wearing shorts, t-shirt, and thin windbreaker type jacket, certainly incongruent attire for the below freezing temps (it was 29 degrees and spittin’ snow). I was dressed and just about to head out the door for my run right behind Jacob. I diverted upstairs to say goodbye to Mindy since she would almost certainly be gone by the time I returned. I also mentioned that we need to have Jacob wear more than shorts and a t-shirt. She agreed. I headed out for my run. The bus was just pulling up as I ran by.

There was a strong, chilly breeze blowing in my face from the NE. Felt wintry. The light flurries continued throughout the run. Felt good throughout the 4.1 miles. Mindy was long gone by the time I got back home. I leashed up the pug and headed out for our walk. It was something like 745am when we got back. I decided to hold off on a shower until after seeing Bella onto the school bus. I did a little work from home leading up to bus stop time. We headed out at our usual time.

Chrissy asked if she could send Makayla down on Wednesday morning so she could run Jake to an early doctor’s appointment. Yeah, sure. No problem. She asked if I was off again. Nope, just showering late. The arrived around 815am. I walked Eiknarf out front for a while before heading back inside. I was off to the shower by 820am.

It didn’t take me long to ready. Was back downstairs working on my lunch by 845am. I warmed my car. And while it was cold, there wasn’t any frost on the windows. I left for Dr March’s office at 855am. I was behind a wide-load semi almost the entire drive east on Trabue to Riverside. He was turning left just like me. I opted to avoid him and take Cambridge to Tremont and north through Arlington. It was a nice drive.

Arrived by 910am. Colleen and Heather greeted me immediately in the door. Took me back right away. Cool! Haven’t seen Heather for 6 months. We exchanged small talk before getting down to business. I wanted her to be aware of my loose crown before starting the cleaning. She checked it and said they already had chair time set aside for me with Dr March after the cleaning. She assured me that he’d take care of it then. She checked it too, and her opinion was that the underlying tooth structure into the bone was what was loose. In other words, she didn’t’ think it was the crown itself. I doubted it, but then again, I’m just the mouth owning the tooth. She took the usual bite wing Xrays and then a special Xray of the tooth in question. We looked at the results together on the computer screen. Bone and all looked fine. The post looked good, too.

She proceeded through the cleaning. Took about 20-25 minutes. I fiddled with my crown afterwards and could almost pull it off. She asked that I not do that. I only did it to show that it was the crown that was loose – not the underlying tooth. She walked me to Dr March’s chair. Dr March soon greeted me along with Laura, his longtime dental assistant. He quickly determined that the crown was loose. Eventually prying, pulling it off. I got a terrible taste in my mouth after it was out. Bluck! Said the underlying tooth as well as the crown looked good. All we needed to do was reglue it. However, before regluing, they applied a fluid to disinfect the underlying tooth and then some etching fluid that had a strong acidic taste.

Was glued back on in a jiffy. He said he wanted to file, sand it down a little. I wasn’t sure what he meant. While waiting on the glue to cure, he started on the rear of my right eye tooth where I complained that my tongue catches. That took no time at all. He then went back to my crown to remove any excess glue and then used the polishing wheel to smooth off the work area. I was done by 1020am. Left with my goodie bag stopping in the bathroom in building hall way. I was a little taken back at what he did to my crown. Filed it down alright. Took away the natural rounded look that blended well with the neighboring teeth. I decided against stomping right back into Dr March's office. Figured I needed more time to check it out. Sometimes a sudden, unexpected change looks far worse than it is.
I headed off to work in New Albany where I was asked to join an 11am meeting with one of my customers. I had accepted the meeting request as tentative not knowing how long I'd be at the dentist's appointment. Took Tremont to Kenny then Henderson Rd and finally 315N TO 270. Made good buzzing around to the Morse Rd exit, and arrived to the meeting with 10 minutes to spare.

The account manager picked up City Barbeque. Folks were slow to partake, but almost all eventually did. I held off. A peer asked if the smell was too tempting. Nope, not at all. My will power is much stronger than that. The meeting was a planning session for 2013, and more specifically, how we might refine processes. The meeting lasted for the full 1 hour and 45 minutes. There was another regular Tuesday meeting just across the hall that I don't routinely join, but because I was on site, I decided to join it too. That meeting went a full hour. Before I knew it was 2pm.

I left right after the meeting and headed back to the office arriving around 23pm. I walked over to see if my boos was in. He was but his door was just shy of being completely closed. I didn't bother him. I wasn't settled for more than five minutes when he called me looking for some information. The call was brief and ended with him asking me to join him on a 5pm conference call. I disdain end of the day conference calls but agreed willingly. He's awfully good to me.

The afternoon went quick. I called Mindy to let her know that I would almost certainly be a little late getting home after joining that 5pm call. The call went until 540pm. Took me another 10 minutes to tie up loose ends. Left for home at 550pm. Called Mindy, who was on the road to drop Bella at gymnastics. Said we'd eat dinner as soon as she was home. Said dinner was a surprise. Said Bella wanted to speak with me. She asked if I would drive straight to her gym in lieu of home and sit with Makayla all the while she practiced. Apparently Mindy told her that Makayla couldn't stay without a parent being there and it wasn't going to be her. I refused too, but offered we could plan it for another evening. She quickly proposed this coming Thursday and then asked for a promise, which I refused to do.

Arrived home around 605pm. As for dinner, it was on the stove. Looked like Mindy put a new twist on her chicken, pasta, and pesto dish. Smelt really garlicy this time. I took a few minutes to prep Wednesday's coffee. Soon, Mindy was back home and quickly served up dinner.

Makayla was with her and also stayed for dinner and beyond. The pasta was delicious. Mindy was going to the teacher store after dinner, for what I am not sure. Makayla opted to go with her. And then last second, so did Jacob. It was 645pm when they left. Mindy said I needed to pick-up Bella. OK. I played around online for a few minutes before heading out. I left the house at 710pm. With most of the construction out of the way, I got to the gym really fast. Was there by 720pm. Got to see Bella practice her back flip on the trampoline several times. Every flip she turned while I was present was crooked.

Practice went a little beyond 730pm. No worries. Predictably, Bella asked me to tune the car stereo to WNCI on the drive home. Sure. I let her listen to a couple songs but then switched back to Xmas music just before arriving home. Bella was excited that Makayla was still at our house. They played for a while before Makayla headed home.

Jacob was off to his room to do homework. Bella hung out both up and downstairs. I tuned the TV to the History Channel watching three episodes in a row of Mankind, the story of us all. I saw about half the program a week or so ago, but found enlightening even for the 2nd time. Very interesting learning about the bubonic plague, how it was spread, and the magnitude of its impact. Mindy watched part of it with me again, but peeled off for bed before 10pm. I stayed up until 11pm and past, captivated by the well-produced series.

Savoring my Chocolate Pie

 

Savoring my chocolate pie

I woke around 4am tossing and turning after having bad dreams. Once awake, my thoughts turned to several foolish and dangerous mistakes that I made in my youth. Not sure the correlation but the thoughts kept me from falling back asleep until it was almost time to get up. I fell back asleep around 510am, which left me only 20 more minutes of precious sleep. I woke for keeps at 534am and was downstairs a few minutes later.

I glanced out back and towards the sky. It was mostly cloudy. I pushed through calisthenics completing 50 sit-ups, 40 windmills, and 50 push-ups. The push-ups got my heart racing. Coffee was ready. I poured a cup then headed to the PC. I checked the headlines and weather. It was 37 degrees with an expected high near 44. The week shows a warming trend. We’ll be in the 60’s by Sunday and then the warmth is expected to stick around for a few days. Even though the next couple of nights will be in the mid 20s, it doesn’t look like MRM will be making any snow for the looming warm-up. In fact, their website is already predicting that the opening day originally set for Dec 8th will have to be moved further out. 

Delivered Mindy’s coffee around 610am. After a quick hug I headed back downstairs, but not before taking a cursory look to see if Jacob’s bedroom light was on. It was. I spent a few more minutes online, really just delaying getting a move on. I headed to the family room for meditation and stretch near 620am. Completed both over the next 15 minutes. Dressed for a run in freshly laundered running gear at 635am. Was out the door a few minutes later.

I ran the full 4.1 miles for the first time since Friday, November 16th. Did three miles for nine days in a row. My legs felt good. In fact, everything felt good save for my loose crown. Actually, though, it didn’t hurt at all, Instead, it just bothered me knowing that it was loose. I plan to call my dentist since I already had my 6 month appointment scheduled for Tuesday. How convenient.

Back at home around 720am. Eiknarf was slow to deliver herself to the bottom of the stairs. Little wonder. She had a full week where she was able to sleep in and didn’t get her first walk until bus stop time. Just as I was about to give up waiting and sit for breakfast, she came calling. I reversed my plans then headed out the door.

Bella and Mindy were having breakfast when the two of us got back. However, it wasn’t long before Mindy headed off to school. Before heading out, she reminded me that it was a Jimaken evening. Wondered if I wanted to go out. I didn’t think so, but would reserve my final decision for later that afternoon. Was off to the shower around 740am. I asked Bella, who was already upstairs, if she had the iPhone. Yep.

I wasn’t downstairs again until 803am, a few minutes behind my usual pace. I still had enough time to finish throwing together a lunch before heading to the bus stop with Bella. We leashed up the pug and headed out around 810am. Met Chrissy & Makayla at the bus stop. Among other things, I asked how things went after I left for home Saturday night. I headed back home with the pug around 820am. Before leaving, I ran the dishwasher and enjoyed another quick cup of coffee.

Got to work around 850am but it took me a while to get logged on and settled. The first thing I did was remove the out of office messages from both phones (desk & blackberry). Things were pretty quiet in my wing. I think I was the only one actually in the office. It was a three internal conference call day, one for each of my assigned accounts. The three calls were scattered throughout the day, and there were no real surprises. However, I was covering for a peer who was out the entire week on vacation. I had a couple issues of his to deal with too. I was caught a bit off guard and it took me a while to get the information I needed to give an effective response.

I didn’t bother taking a formal lunch break, but did eat all the while keeping bust with my to-dos. Talked with Mindy late in the day. We agreed to stay in for our Jimaken night. I actually was able to leave the office a little early. Left around 445pm. Arrived home a few minutes before Jimaken showed up to pick-up the kids.

Once the kids were gone Mindy reheated leftovers for dinner. We both had roast beef, stuffing, and risotto. She reheated green beans too, but I didn’t want mine. The roast was better than ever. Yum! Mindy headed out after dinner to pick-up stuff for a class room science project. Not exactly sure where she went. But it was just before 6pm when she left, and by then I had the kitchen cleaned up too. It was nice to have the chores done so early. I was looking forward to some play time.

Earlier that day at work, I redeemed several recognition awards points that I’ve amassed over the last couple of years. I had enough for a $200 Amazon gift card. I emailed the redemption url to my home address and tried printing it out. Having printer issues again. Can’t get my PC to send a job to my printer without it erroring out. I fooled with it for more than an hour in total. Tried reestablishing the wireless connection which seemed to be good. I reset my router and RR modem too, just to eliminate that as the cause. Ultimately, I completely deinstalled the HP printer software from my hard drive then did a reinstall from original CD. That did the trick. I’ll admit, at the outset, I almost lost my cool but caught myself and made the decision to work through the problem calmly. I’m proud of the way I handled the problem. It was simply a matter of avoiding the usual stimulus/response. Roof!

Once my printer conflict was resolved, I played around online a little. Checked some Cyber Monday prices. Didn’t seem to be any lower than they were last week. I’ve been looking at the new GoPro Hero3 HD – Black camera. It’s a total toy. The new model not only has higher resolution but also comes with a wi-fi remote control on a wrist band. This is a feature missing on previous models. You can also purchase and add on LCD screen that adapts to the camera back. However, if you have an iOS phone, you can run an app that plays the video on your phone via wi-fi. Too cool! Of course the reason a screen isn’t native to the camera in the first place is to keep it as simple and light as possible. Pricing out the new device with all the options I’d want puts the price up around the $500-600 range. Yikes!

The kids were home around 8pm. Mindy was back around 720pm. Was thinking about watching MNF but opted to do some reading instead. Didn’t even turn the TV on. Mindy headed to bed around 930pm. She asked if I’d be joining her anytime soon. Soon, dear. I read about 14 pages of Super Brain. I’m liking the premise. Bella came down for another snack just as I was ready to head off to bed. I asked that she turn off any lights before heading back up to bed. I joined Mindy in bed around 1030pm.

Gamblers Synonymous

Woke feeling pretty lucky! Wasn’t out of bed until almost 8am. Headed downstairs where I started a pot of coffee. I skipped the Starbucks, not wanting to deal with the clogged carafe issue again anytime soon. I checked the weather. It was sunny and just below freezing. Expecting a high in the low 40s later.

Enjoyed two cups of coffee ahead of my run. No one was up when I headed out the door around 920am. Ran three miles, just like I do most Sundays. Easy run. Back at home just before 10am. Still nobody else up. Spent more time on the computer updating my blog. Mindy was finally up around 1030am. Both kids remained sleeping for some time.

I didn’t have anything planned until 1pm when we planned to make our first visit to the new casino. According to Mindy, Lindsey and the boys were coming over near noon to do laundry. I made Mindy & I peanut butter toast for breakfast. I had two slices.

Sometime around 1130am I headed up to our room to fiddle with the new TV, and attempt to fine tune the custom picture controls more to my liking. I prefer warm, vibrant color. It’s the same for both TV and photos. It took some doing, but I eventually figured out the deep menu without referencing the owner’s manual. By the time I finished the picture looked really good to my eye. I went ahead and took a shower.

Before I could head back downstairs, Lindsey and the boys were over. They had Olivia with them too. Both Mindy & I had temporarily forgotten that she was coming over, too. Just as I finished my ready, Mindy was just getting started. I headed downstairs with all the kids. Olivia and Landon reminded me that I promised to push them on the tree swing yesterday. Yikes! We headed outside. I took my camera too.

I pushed them both numerous times. In the past, Landon has always been the sweet quiet one. He’s still really sweet, but man is he ever getting loud. He was even louder than Olivia, who’s never been afraid to be heard.  It was all in good fun, and probably a good thing for Landon. While we played on the tree swing, Jacob & Rocky were tossing football. I eventually begged off from the tree swing to play with those two.

I was all-time quarterback until my arm got sore. My trigger finger is still an issue too, and throwing and catching a football hurts. Yikes! It wasn’t too much longer before dad showed up. We chatted for a few while waiting for Mindy to finish her ready. Lindsey already agreed to keep an eye on all the kids in our absence. We anticipated being gone for about 2 hours. We left for the casino at 110pm. Dad drove.

Dad parked us in the attached parking garage. Shared that he was already at the casino that morning and won a few bucks, too. Lots of people. Most appeared older than I. Beyond being in a gambling boat in St Louis, this was marked my first time ever in a real casino. I was happy just walking around watching, taking in all there was to see. Lots of video. Screens of all shapes and sizes. Dad quickly pointed a couple rendezvous points, which would serve me well later. Not a lot of straight lines, I’m assuming by design.

I didn’t get an uplifting feeling watching the masses gambling, Instead, I felt a little depressed. No one had a look of euphoria on their face. I remember feeling that same way on that gambling boat in St Louis I n the late 90s. Dad pointed out an older woman on a slot machine that had just hit. The money sound it makes when it’s a winner seemed to go on forever. Dad suggested that she won quite a bit. Still, even as she cashed out, she showed next to no emotion. Perhaps because she was still down for the day. Who knows?

Dad & Mindy eventually found a couple slot machines they wanted to play. By then, I didn’t think I was willing to part with even a dime. I told those two that I was going to walk around and catch some of the Vikings game I saw on a giant screen the other side of the casino. In retrospect, I guess I didn’t do that good of a job noting exactly where they were.

I found a clearing next to one of the many casino bars with direct view of a 15’ video wall showing the Viking game. At the time the score was 10-3 Bears but the Vikings were in the middle of an impressive drive. Looked good until they got into the redzone. Driving to the 2 yard line, they had to settle for a field goal attempt. The field goal was blocked. I’d seen enough. I slowly walked back to where I thought I left Dad & Mindy. Found them nowhere. I soon determined that I was not in the right area. I redirected my attention to the rendezvous points and regained my bearings. Found them a few minutes later. Mindy had lost $20. Dad, of course, was up about $10. I kidded him about having the ‘booger touch’.

We walked around a while longer until dad happened upon another machine he said he liked. This one was a $1 machine, meaning the minimum wager with each ‘pull’ is $1. Mindy took a seat at the machine next to Dad. He played for a while until his winnings were up to $60. Meanwhile, Mindy lost another $20.  I kidded them that I was up since I hadn’t spent a dime. I told myself that I had to play some, just to say I did it. Just wasn’t ready right then.

We walked around a while longer until Dad said he was going off to another one of his favorite machines. I found a bathroom then nabbed a complementary soda. I told Mindy I wanted to play the $1 machine where I watched dad play earlier. When we found it, a woman was just getting up. Couldn’t tell if she was up or down. I sat and slipped a $20 bill into the machine then opted for the button press in lieu of the lever. I lost my first ten pulls in a hurry. I began to question the logic of throwing money away. However, that same instant, I remember thinking that I was being negative and forced myself into a positive frame of reference on the spot. No kidding, my very next pull, I won $38. I stopped immediately. Thought for a second about playing more but opted not. Instead, I cashed out. Took the $10 I hadn’t yet pulled as well as the $38 in winnings (received a $48 voucher). I was satisfied and in a good place. Hey, I won on my first try.

We went and found dad who was just finishing giving back the $40 he’d won earlier. Didn’t seem to phase him. Mindy asked if I had a $1, wanted to try one more pull. I didn’t. My dad quickly pulled a $5 from his wallet and told her to spend it all. She put it in the machine next to his. Bang. Gone! She lost $45 in our short time there.

We’d been there for about 90 minutes. It was 3pm. We were ready to go. Dad guided me to the cash out machine where I inserted my voucher and out popped my winnings! Because of that positive experience, I’ll go back. We headed to the parking garage and headed for home.

Mindy planned on taking Bella to the mall but not before reheating all of Saturday’s leftovers. She invited dad to come back for dinner after he dropped us. He respectfully declined for having other priorities. We thanked him for the guided tour. While Mindy got the croc-pots fired up, Lindsey asked if she could go grocery shopping while I kept an eye on the kids. Yes. She left even before Mindy and Bella.

I ate a few snacks and watched some NFL action. I finally saw an update on the Vikings/Bears game. It wasn’t pretty. Vikings were losing 25-3. Oh boy! So much for imposing our will. I eventually took up refuge on the sofa where I took a brief nap. Watched the Browns/Steelers. The Browns were leading for most of the game, but that’s been fairly routine this season. The problem for them has been holding that lead.

Mindy and Bella were gone for the two hours she predicted they would. By their return, I had started on my new Chopra/Tanzi book, Super Brain. They were back around 5pm. Mindy started prepping dinner almost immediately. Lindsey soon begged off for home to put away her laundry. We started eating dinner around 530pm. For my money, the roast and sides were even better than they were on Saturday. Lindsey was gone through most of dinner, not getting back until somewhere near 615pm, or just about the time we all started dessert. Lindsey ended up taking a carryout dinner home. She and the boys left around 7pm.

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and readying ourselves for a return to work and school. We tuned into SNF at 830pm at Bella’s prompting. Because of my late afternoon nap, I felt well rested. Bella and I stayed up until almost 11pm. Mindy was off to bed around 10pm.

Football Food Famlily & Friends

Was up between 730-8am. Glancing out back it looked wintry & cold. There were even some snow flurries. I started a pot of Starbucks coffee then played around online. Went for coffee 10 minutes later. Once again the Starbucks clogged the coffee maker making for a bit of a mess when I pulled the carafe away from the bay. Dang it! Took me a few minutes to get the mess in check.

Headed back to my PC with coffee sometime after 8am. Not only was it Michigan week, but we were also hosting some family members for TG later that afternoon. I planned to bake a chocolate pie and make risotto. I felt a little stress thinking about all that needed to happen.

Mindy was up and downstairs shortly before I left for a run. She had two of our crock-pots out, each hosting a large beef roast. I headed out the door around 920am. It was blustery and cold, far different from the blue skies and warm temps we enjoyed for most of the week. However, this weather was more fitting to the season as well as the Michigan OSU game. I ran just three miles for the 8th day in a row. Plan on getting back to my regular schedule beginning Monday.

Entered through the overhead garage door back at the house. Before even heading inside I put the aluminum extension ladder against the apex of the garage in preparation for hanging the lighted Xmas wreath. For some reason I was thinking it was stowed in the garage attic, but it wasn’t. Instead, it was in the basement. Frustrated with having to replace the incandescent light sets so often, last year we bought an LED set. Still, I tested the wreath before running it up the ladder. Really? It looked like half the bulbs were out. Dang it!

I tried the flicking the bulb trick on most of the lights that were out, but to no avail. Indy heard me dropping a couple ‘F’ bombs in frustration. This was the very reason I went with LEDs. I could either unwrap the LED set from the wreath and troubleshoot or go get another new set. I decided to at least give repair a try.
Anybody who’s messed with an old artificial wreath knows that they lose lots of needles much like a real tree/wreath. What a mess! After I had the 100 LED light set completely removed, I tested it once more. Still half the set was out. I took the light set inside where it was warm.

I opened the fuse slot exposing the two fuses. I thought I would replace them both since that would be the easiest fix. However, I couldn’t get the old fuses out no matter what I did. Mindy took a stab at it too. OK, let’s be smart about this. I went to the garage and got my volt/ohm meter. Dead battery! Dang it! Replaced the 9v battery then checked the fuses still in the plug. Both fuses were good. At least I knew they weren’t the problem. Asked Mindy where my baggie of spare Xmas bulbs was. She had it out for the hallway tree the day before. Sure enough, I put the two spare LED bulbs in there last year. Smart!

I decided to do the replace one at a time trick, starting at the very end. Long story short, the repair was easy. The 2nd bulb from the end was the problem. The filament was completely broken away from the bulbs shaft. I felt good about the easy fix, but had already wasted more time than I really had for such things. Still, I wasn’t about to leave a project half done. I wrapped the set around the wreath making sure to wrap it evenly while hiding the wires as best I could. Checked it again before running it up the ladder. All good!

Once in place I installed the timer in the garage. It’s an old fashioned mechanical timer that works like a clock. I had to monkey with it like I do every year making sure it was on and then set at the right time. I then run through the on/off cycle to make sure that it works as planned. Finally done with the wreath, I hooked up the front porch tree to the day/night timer as Mindy requested. That was far easier and went without incident.

I cleaned up the mess the wreath made on the garage floor then headed inside to get crackin’ on the chocolate pie and risotto. Mindy had a few things already on the stove too, but we coordinated our efforts earlier so that we would end up in each other’s way. I’m thinking that it was close to 11am. Having made a chocolate pie only three weeks prior, I was a bit more on top of the process and far more organized this go round. I got out all the ingredients I would need ahead of time as well as all the necessary bowls and measuring devices. I was well prepared.

Once I had the concoction cooking on the stove, I rolled out the pie dough that I made last Tuesday. I rolled it directly on the granite sprinkled with flour. I took a couple breaks to stir the chocolate filling and then baked my homemade pie dough at 400 degrees. I had the three egg yolks separated and ready for the combine once the mix was a boil. I checked my pie dough and found that the sides were inexplicably collapsing on themselves. Appeared to be shrinking far more than it should. Mindy recognized that as not enough flour in the dough. I agreed with her assessment simply from handling it. Seemed too moist & gooey. Wasn’t much I could do then accept carefully raise and press the sides against the pie dish with a spatula. That worked well enough. Crisis averted. Mindy showed me on the pie dough recipe where her it says to add more flour as necessary. Of course my question was, how do you know when more is necessary?

The funny thing is, I told her Tuesday that I thought I would add an extra ¼ cup of flour to each pie dough next time. Truth is, I never even read the back of the pie dough recipe index card. The filling recipe calls for taking about a half cup of the chocolate mixture and blending it with the 3 egg yolks before returning it to the entire batch. That went flawlessly this time.

The baked pie crust now cooling, I put the filling in the fridge to cool for a couple hours. And because I had a good system going, the mess was minimal this time. I was able to start on the risotto right away. It was 1150am and right before kick-off.

I worked on the risotto through the first half of the football game then put the completed concoction in a small crock-pot just to keep it warm. Jacob and I watched together from the family room. The Buckeyes took the early lead but then seemed to go soft. Happened a lot this season. The game was close throughout the entire first half. We took the lead three times in the first half alone but trailed at halftime 21-20.

There was much less scoring in the 2nd half, and while our offense continued to sputter, our defense rose to the occasion, playing perhaps their best ball of the year. How timely! I think Michigan turned the ball over three times in the second half. We could only turn those into 6 more points, leaving at least 10 easy ones on the field. Yikes! Still, that was enough to win again, which unless I’m mistaken is 9 out of the last 11.

I was just about to pour the chocolate pie filling into the cooled crust when I looked over the recipe card once more. On the back, down at the very bottom I discovered what I left out the last time. The last line says to add another tablespoon of butter and 1-1/2 tablespoons of vanilla. That’s a step I skipped completely last pie. I softened the butter, mixed it with the vanilla then beat it into the cooled mixture. Turned it silky smooth and gave it even more flavor. I left the completed pie in the fridge to continue cooling.

Expecting folks to show up around 4pm. We got a call from brother Tommy earlier sharing that he was ill and wasn’t going to make it over. The same could be said for Shelly and Kaileigh too. My mom couldn’t make it either. Her knee was too painful. All of sudden, it appeared we made way too much food. But that’s OK. Dad, Ashley, Lindsey and the gkids showed up. Ended being up just 10 of us.

Asked Lindsey if she would go after Powerball tickets at Circle K. I bought her and Ashley one too. That night’s drawing was for a whopping $325 million! Lindsey wanted to run to M&S carryout, convinced that would be where the winner’s sold.
Even though everybody showed up around 4pm, we didn’t plan to eat until about 530pm. The larger of the two roasts needed more time to cook anyway. Dinner was a hit. Everything turned out fine. Sometime during dessert, Mindy & I made plans to go to the new casino with my dad on Sunday afternoon. We’ve been wanting to check it out but neither of us have a clue when it comes to gambling. We settled on 1pm. We were very excited about the idea.

Everybody left before 7pm. In fact, by then we had the house back in order. Mindy expressed that she was tired and stretched out on the sofa for a nap. At the same time I suggested we walk over and visit Pat & Lisa, who were hosting their immediate family TG dinner that afternoon too. Mindy decided to walk over with me. I pocketed a White Rajah. Mindy wanted nothing.

Much like ours, it was a small gathering, only with fewer gkids – only one, Oscar. Pat proudly showed us how Oscar can now walk. Just learned. The funny thing is, when he falls, he stands right back up without any help. Doesn’t even use his hands. Instead, all legs. Too cute! We visited with the Shultz family for about an hour. We headed home shortly after the start of the Notre Dame/USC game. At home, I suggested we walk down to the neighbors. While Mindy was able to make an appearance earlier, I wasn’t able. I wanted to say hello to some of Kenny/Chrissy’s family. Mindy agreed. We walked down there next. Jacob opted to stay at home. Bella, of course, was already there playing with Lillian and Emily.

Some of Kenny’s work peeps were there, as were neighbors Teri and Mike. But the others either already left or hadn’t yet arrived. Chrissy already had quite the beer buzz going. The Notre Dame game was whirling on the tube, and fixated on it was Mike and Evan. They’re huge N.D. fans. I asked who he liked more, OSU or N.D? N.D. Hmmm?
Kenny’s cousin, Laura was there with her husband. He’s from Southern California and consequently a huge USC fan. He hardly had an opportunity to cheer as N.D. took the early lead and never relinquished. It was really loud, between the game and all the hooting and hollering. Mindy didn’t stay too long. She begged off for home and bed. She was about to fall asleep even before we visited with Pat & Lisa. Bella, Eiknarf and I stayed behind. Teri joked that I was allowed to stay. I didn’t mind. I laughed!
Rare for Kenny, he had out a half gallon of Jim Beam. And while I brought two Xmas ales, after drinking one, I switched to Beam and ice – no mixer. I had two of those along with a bunch of yummy football snacks they made available. I toyed briefly with the notion of getting hammered and hooting it up late into the night but ended up thinking better of it. I switched to water instead. Bella, Eiknarf and I headed home near the end of the 3rd quarter. Mindy was already in bed, but that I completely expected.
I tuned into the rest of the N.D. game, which they won. They and OSU are the only unbeaten teams in the country. They’ll almost certainly be going to the BCS championship game while the Buckeyes’ season is done. After the game I tuned to SNL, but fell asleep before it hardly got going. I woke on the sofa around 1am and headed for bed after turning off all the Xmas lights (tree and mantle).

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah

It was a work day. I was up near 530am after a decent night’s sleep. As much as I enjoyed my time off, I didn’t mind the idea of working. Something fulfilling about getting up early, exercising, and doing a run all before sunrise. I enjoyed the quiet, though I could hear the TV in the spare room where the boys were sleeping. They kept it on all night.

I finished my pre-run routine by 625am. I dressed and headed out the door near 635am. It was raining and surprisingly warm, according to Yahoo, 53 degrees. The forecast called for dropping temperatures throughout the day and snow flurries by night fall. I was comfortable through the run. The rain stopped completely soon after heading out.

Back home shortly after 7am, I prepared a few eggs, including one for the pug. The boys joined me downstairs while I was eating. They asked for some coffee but I refused. I walked the pug then fed her the egg I had set aside. Seeing both me and the pub enjoying eggs, the boys asked for eggs too. I really needed to get to the shower but went ahead and made the boys a plain omelet. Landon asked for peanut butter toast too. No problem.

I headed off to the shower after reminding the boys to stay quiet while watching TV. They agreed. By the time I was out of the shower, they were giggling just outside our bedroom door. Mindy wasn’t amused. She wanted more sleep. I insisted they follow me back downstairs and uphold their end of our bargain, which was to watch TV quietly until Mindy was up.

After making sure that I had everything I’d need to work remote, I left for New Albany around 825am. I also remembered to take the new Civic finance contract they asked us to sign. According to the Germain Honda finance manager, the folks at Honda Financial had a problem with the way the dealership aligned the numbers on the previous version. I planned to drop it off on my way back home later that evening.
Traffic was extremely light crossing town, but about normal once on 270N. I arrived by 850am. There was somebody else in my office. I politely asked if he planned to be there all day. Had that been the case, I simply would have found another temporary work space. He insisted that he would move on. He vacated less than 5 minutes later and I set up for a day of work.

Being Black Friday, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I checked my Blackberry a few times earlier and there were no concerns or issues directed my way. I cleared out several hundred emails that came in through the week and dealt with a non-impacting escalation in the first hour or so. After that it was pretty quiet, which is right on par with last year’s Black Friday.

I called the Germain Honda Finance guy late morning to share my plan for dropping off the new contract. I asked how he planned to handle the soon to expire 30 days tags. He agreed that this was their bad and that if the title wasn’t sent by next Tuesday, he would cover the cost of new temp tags himself. Fair enough. Told him that I’d be in around 5pm.

The jacket I dropped at Swan Cleaners the Friday prior was supposed to be ready too. I called to confirm it was ready and then get their hours. It was there and ready for pick-up, but the kid shared that they planned to close at 5pm. I wasn’t sure I would be able to get there by then, especially since I had to stop at Germain Honda on my way home first.

There was lots of holiday food made available for the employees. I opted to stick with what I packed – all healthy stuff. I had some carrots, nuts, fruit and cheese. Earlier in the day I was craving more coffee but never caved to the desire. Took care of everything that crossed my plate through the day. By far my easiest work day in a while. I talked with Mindy later afternoon advising of my planned stops. Wasn’t sure what time I’d be leaving.

All was quiet and everything on my to-do list was done by 4pm. I left for home at 410pm. I’d heard a few others talking about how brisk and cold it was outside. What a shock! It was near freezing, windy, and spitting snow as I made the long walk to my car in the back lot. Leaving the campus traffic was tight, but once I was on 270 I could tell that it was a holiday. On a non-holiday, traffic at the Sawmill Rd exit can be backed up for as much as a mile. I worried that might be the case then too. After all, Sawmill Rd is a major shopping artery.

Lucky for me, there wasn’t a back-up at the exit. I made it to Germain by 430pm. I quickly found Marcello, the finance manager and handed him the signed contract. He reiterated his intentions to FedEx it that evening and have the title by Tuesday for Lindsey to pick-up. I repeated our plan and asked if he agreed. Yes. Fine. I wasn’t there more than five minutes. Looked like I was going to make it to the Mill Run Swan Cleaners before 5pm after all.

Called Mindy between my stops. She shared how the rest of her afternoon unfolded. Took the boys to Target to pick-up some Xmas things. Jimaken brought our kids home around 3pm. Said that the boys (Jacob, Evan and Rocky) had some issues. But it was nothing she couldn’t handle. She shared that Bella would be spending a couple hours that evening at Chrissy’s so we could go see Mark Pansing at Barley’s. He’s in town from Arizona.

Traffic was full speed all the way around to Hilliard. Arrived at Swan Cleaners by 445pm. Checked the new zipper while the kids completed the sale. Yep, works like new! That was $10 well spent.

Rather than head back to 270S, I opted for the back way home taking Old Dublin Rd to Trabue. Arrived home near 5pm. Saw Bella out walking Eiknarf as I pulled up the drive. She was wearing my jacket and shoes and had an entire roll of poop sacks unrolled from the hard plastic storage boot attached to the leash. Before heading inside, I walked towards Bella and the pug to give her some help. Bella!!!! She took the dog. I took the trail of poop sacks and the spool. I wound all the bags tightly back onto the spool then headed inside. Man, was it chilly!

Lindsey had already been there to pick-up the boys. She got off earlier than originally expected, too. Bella had Mindy heat up a mini frozen pizza for her dinner. She made quick work of the pizza and then headed down to the neighbors. Mindy asked for help lugging the pre-lit Xmas tree up from the basement. I helped her get it set up, too. It doesn’t take but a minute or two. It’s almost like an umbrella.

While Mindy messed with the tree, I did some writing in my blog. And soon after Mindy readied for our night out, she walked down to talk with Chrissy. I was ready to go by the time she returned, which was somewhere close to 630pm. We chose to let Jacob stay home by himself. He likes having that trust, and so far he’s been really smart with it. We didn’t expect to be gone for more than 2 hours.

Got a close parking spot. Wasn’t really that crowded, though I didn’t really expect it to be either. Typically isn’t day after TG. Greeted Mark near the bar’s entrance. Wow, he’s lost a lot of weight. Said he’s staying very active – biking and hiking. I believe he’s been out there for three years now.

I opted for a Barley’s Xmas ale. It was good. Talked with the twins, Kent & Kurt, for a little while. They always have an interesting story. Mindy was at the bar talking with some geeky looking guy for a while. She ordered a hummus plate, which we shared. I headed to the bar for a 2nd beer and was informed that it was on Jim B., who had already left so I couldn’t thank him. I ordered a Centennial.

Mindy promised Jacob we’d bring home some chicken tenders. We ordered them around 840pm. In somewhat of a role reversal, I had to pry Mindy from the bar around 850pm to head home. She picked up the tab.

Home just before 9pm, we agreed to walk down and see the neighbors, something we used to do almost every Friday night. It’s been a while. Jacob stayed back enjoying his dinner, but said he’d likely come down once he was finished. I took a White Rajah. It was loud at the neighbors, Teri O. had her iPod plugged into their home’s sound system. Finished my beer pretty quickly. Mindy agreed to walk home and get me another.

I’m guessing it was near 10pm when Bella asked if she could have a sleepover at Kayla’s. Mindy agreed. We hung out until about 1030pm. The neighbors invited us down for the Michigan game. Said we might stop down but that we were having the kids and grandkids over for TG. Mindy headed right to bed. I was hungry, so I stayed up a while longer eating my leftover Italian hoagie from CBC.

Gobbling the Goodies

 

Families that get toasted together, stay together!

 

 

first woke around 5am and didn’t think I’d be able to fall back asleep. Happily, though, I was able to and slept for another couple hours. I rolled out of bed for good near 735am and then quickly headed downstairs to start some coffee and exercise.

I did sit-ups, windmills, and curls. The sun was just creeping up over the horizon. It was an extremely beautiful sunrise. The coffee maker grunted and groaned as it pushed what I thought was the last bit of water through the coffee basket and into the carafe. I noticed a few dribbles rolling down the outside of the carafe. Strange?

I poured my first cup of coffee noticing that the carafe felt a bit lighter than usual. I pulled open the coffee filter revealing the culprit. It was full of water, apparently having trouble making its way through. That happens quite often whenever we use Starbucks. Of course it’s not the brand, but instead the much finer grind they sell. It clogs either the gold filter or the entrance into the carafe. In either case, it makes for one heck of a mess. I ended up with coffee on the countertop, counter, and floor. It took me a few minutes to get it under control. Not exactly what I had in mind right out of bed.

After the coffee debacle, I spent some time updating my blog. For the first time in a long, long time I proof read a couple of the entries before posting. I was a little surprised with the number of silly mistakes I found. But I'm not foolish enough to think I wouldn't make any. I write/type as fast as I think. Grammar, punctuation, word choice and sentence structure are only best effort. I just don’t have time to proof read them all. After all, my blogging serves two main purposes. One, it’s a means of documenting & recollecting my life, and it works just fine, with or without errors. Two, it keeps my writing skills honed. However, that said, I also know that it reads easier/better when edited.

Dwelling on that notion for just another moment, it’s really not that much different that the very life that I’m documenting. For given the chance, I am quite sure there are several situations each and every day that would play out much better if I only had the opportunity to go back and edit my actions. My life would certainly be cleaner – more sanitized. But doing so would strip me of my character. I think I’ll just be me. 

As usual, the time I spent updating my blog seemed to fly. I have to be careful or the day will get away from me. It was 9am before I knew it. I headed to the family room where I turned on the TV and tuned to the Macy's TG day parade. Next. I slipped into my running clothes then headed out the door. It was about 910am and before anybody else was up and stirring.

At last check just before heading out the door, it was sunny, warm, and 47 degrees. I went to the Accord to fetch my sunglasses before dashing off. Once again, I ran only three miles. I kept forgetting that it was TG. I just wasn’t feeling it. Didn’t seem like it at all. I passed other walkers, runners, and homeowners out in their yards. Only one acknowledged the special day, though all of them extended some sort of greeting.

Both kids and Mindy were up by the time I was back at the house. Mindy had the kids prepping a gift for their Maw-maw. I greeted both kids by asking for a TG hug. Jacob extended an air hug. Bella gave me a real one. Too cute!

Mindy decided to make another omelet. This time she used the leftover steak from last Saturday night's visit to BJ's. While Mindy threw together breakfast, I headed upstairs to move the heavy 32” Toshiba TV off of the armoire in our bedroom. It has to weigh nearly a hundred pounds. I requested Jacob’s help, and he did so willingly. It took some doing but we soon had it safely on the floor. Can’t recall how or who helped me get it up on the armoire. No way I did it alone. Tommy?
I quickly unpacked the new 32” LED TV. As heavy as the old one is, the new one is very light. It weighs a whopping 11lbs. I took a few minutes to unpack the screen, stand, remote and screws. I read over the stand installation instructions then headed down to eat my omelet. Mindy had me open a bottle of champagne so we could enjoy mimosas. The kids had mimosas too, only with non-alcoholic champagne. The omelet was delicious, the steak still super tender. I finished my omelet and half my mimosa then headed back upstairs to finish with the TV.

The stand looked rather simple but required a redo. The attached picture was nearly useless. But isn’t the way it is anymore? I dusted off the top of the armoire before moving the new screen into place. Actually looks smaller than I imagined it would. The additional space opens up the room a whole lot more, that’s for sure. I moved swiftly through set-up, at least to the point where the TV was in channel discovery mode. That process took about 10 minutes. While TV was doing that, I cleaned up the fern foliage that fell to the floor after moving it away from the armoire. I took the opportunity to trim away the many dead stems before moving it back into place.

Tuned to the end of the Macy’s TG parade. Great picture, but still could use some tweaking. Mindy came up to get a glimpse of the new TV, too. I hauled the box to the garage and put away the Pledge and screwdriver. I polished off my mimosa then poured a 2nd. The parade ended near noon. I tuned the downstairs TV to the guide channel to see what time NFL action was set to begin. 1230pm. With a few minutes to myself, I stepped out on the deck. It was gorgeous. And while it was only about 60 degrees, it felt a whole lot warmer.

I watched the early NFL action, some from downstairs and then some from our new bedroom TV. Meanwhile, Mindy was forever in the shower. I finally got a chance to take one around 130pm. We were ready to leave for Gloria’s near 2pm. Sometime earlier that morning, Mindy made arrangements for us to pick-up the boys on our way home from Gloria’s. Lindsey had to work Black Friday and neither Kelly nor her sisters were willing to watch the boys. Mindy was really looking forward to a rare day alone since I’d be working and the kids would be with Jimaken, but she didn't want to leave Lindsey in dire straits.

We took Eiknarf with us to Maw-maws. She was spazing out in the back seat. She doesn’t get to go on too many car rides these days. At one point I had to shew her back with my scary voice. We were the first to arrive at Gloria’s. I proposed we not take Eiknarf inside too soon. The over stimulation of the car ride suggested she needed to relieve herself. Sure enough, it was almost immediate. We carried everything in and set up the goodies in the lower level. Mindy carried the libations (wine & beer) to the garage.

We weren't the lone family members for long. Soon Craig & Jeff, and Pat & Mel arrived. I think they rode together. We see Pat & Mel about twice a year, typically @ TG & Easter. The others trickled in over the next half hour or so. All totaled, there were 20 of us. For the next couple hours we enjoyed snacks, wine/beer, and conversation. Some of us watched NFL football, too. The first game – Detroit & Houston -went into OT. Houston won. Interesting game. The Cowboys & Redskins were next. Niece Julie is a big Redskins fan. She was noticeably worked up about the game.

I had to be careful not to eat too many snacks. Wanted to save plenty of room for turkey, stuffing, and all the trimmings. I’m guessing that dinner was on at 515pm. Quite the spread. Lots to choose from. Mindy had a plate already prepared for me by the time I made it up. Thanks dear. I was careful not to over indulge. The TG fixins were delicious. I had a 2nd helping of turkey. That’s it. The dinner conversation was lively. I’m sure the alcohol had something to do with it.  Sat around the table through clean-up. It was announced that dessert would be served on the lower level. We moved that way around 630pm.

There were three options: pumpkin pie, Boston cream pie, and pecan pie. I opted for pumpkin pie. Again, I didn’t eat too much. Just a small piece slathered in whipped cream. Yum! Early on, the Redskins had an enormous lead over the Cowboys. But that evaporated as the game wound down. With four minutes to go it looked like the Cowboys might make a game of it and tie it up. But that wasn’t to be. Redskins scored a late TD to take a 10 point lead with less than 2 minutes to go. The Cowboys didn't quit, however. They kicked a field goal but couldn't get the ball back. They lost.

We headed for home around 730pm Mindy sent texts to Jimaken and Lindsey. Jimaken planned to keep our kids overnight and was heading our way soon. She texted Lindsey to let her know we were on our way to get the boys. We were home somewhere close to 8pm. All of the sudden, I found myself feeling stressed. I’m guessing it was the fact that I’d be returning to work the following morning. No doubt, a really fast 6 days! Jimaken showed for the kids around 9pm, a little later than we expected. By then, Rocky & Landon were about to fall asleep. Mindy told them bedtime was 915pm.

They headed up to bed without issue, though I'm sure that had something to with us letting them sleep with the TV on, which is something they do at home every night, so it's a battle we choose not to fight. We also let them have Eiknarf. Mindy headed to bed as soon as the boys were tucked in. She offered that I could watch the late NFL game from our new bedroom TV. That sounded good. I made sure that all my personal electronics were charging, secured the home, then headed up to bed. I might’ve watched ten minutes of football before becoming overwhelmed my sleep. I was out before 10pm.

Build-up 2 Turkey Day

I was up and out of bed near 730am on yet another sunny day. I started a pot of coffee then headed to my PC. I decided to skip calisthenics. At first I felt like a shrew, but a break from sit-ups and push-ups every now and again is a good thing. I enjoyed coffee at the PC for almost two hours before heading out for a run. I spent most of that time writing in my blog. The temperature was somewhere just below 40 degrees with an expected high of 60 later that afternoon. Very nice for late November!

Mindy was up between 9-930am. After pouring herself some coffee, she started decorating for Xmas almost immediately by starting with the curio cabinet in the livingroom. To make room for the Xmas stuff, she puts the regular stuff in the Xmas tub. I left for my run around shortly after she got started. I ran only three miles and did so almost effortlessly. I was back home around 1000am.

The insurance claim adjuster was sitting out front in his car. Mindy said she'd already talked with him. He said he'd be back inside shortly. I hung in the kitchen to hear his spiel. His estimate was a little less than that given to us by Westway, but he agreed to make up the difference if Wayne found that he couldn’t repair the existing bumper. My only input was that we expected to be made whole, and nothing out of our own pocket. He agreed.

Shortly after the insurance adjuster left, I asked Mindy if she wanted me to take Jacob to Aspen Ski & Board to look for goggles and possibly even new ski pants and a jacket. She did. I hollered for Jacob to come with. Mindy gave me her credit card. And since ASBCO can be a bit pricey, she also gave me her Kohl’s card and a coupon just in case we wanted to stop there and check out their ski pants and jackets. Just before we left, I informed Jacob that we’d be making a quick stop at Giant Eagle’s Market District as well. I opted to remain in running clothes.

We arrived at ASBCO at 1057am. The sign on the door still read Closed but we checked the door anyway. It was unlocked. Their advertised hours were 11-6pm. We headed in and were immediately greeted and welcomed in. We went to looked at goggle first. They have at least 50 pair in a display case, but Jacob didn’t see any he liked. They’re so expensive, I insisted that he love whatever he chose. Not satisfied with any of their offerings, I suggested that we simply order online from Oakley. And actually, the pair he likes best online are half the price of those at ASBCO. The sales guy didn’t give up. Suggested we find what we liked online and call him for a price compare. Said he could order them in. Hmm? Maybe.

We looked at ski pants next. From our earlier discussions, I had a pretty good idea what he wanted – bright blue. Not my color but hey, he’s the one that has to love and wear them. I found a decent pair right away. They were men’s sizes. The smallest size in stock was a medium, which is what I wear. I didn't think they'd even be close. Jacob wanted to try them on anyway. Sure. While he headed to the fitting room I looked for a closely matching jacket.

Found a nice jacket made by the same manufacturer in the same color. I left it aside while I went to check on Jacob. After all, if we were going to spend the money on nice ski pants, I wanted to see the fit, keeping in mind the additional layers he’d be wearing with them. He gave me a little push back when I asked through the door to see him in them. But he complied. They fit pretty well while still allowing some growing room. Plus, he said he really wanted them. Perfect! The price was fair too.

I walked Jacob over to the matching jacket, which he instantly took a liking too. Once again, I suggested he try on the medium. It fit nice too. He wanted it. Together they were probably a little more than Mindy wanted to spend but we had a $50 off coupon we got from Mad River Mt. for buying a family pass. We bought both then headed for Market District just a couple miles down the road. I could tell that Jacob was very excited about his new stuff.

As one might expect the day before TG, Market District was crowded, but nothing like it was a couple years ago opening weekend when we could barely move our cart. Jacob and I were all over the store. First, I picked up two six packs of White Rajah. Then we found some Arborio rice and chicken broth for making risotto. Still not done, we headed to the cheese department where we picked up a chunk of fresh parmesan and a chunk of my favorite beemster 18 month aged cheddar. The women at the cheese counter offered Jacob and I a sample of the aged beemster with freshly baked almonds. It was good. Jacob liked it too. Lastly, we picked up two bags of Stacy’s pita chips along with two tubs of hummus. I knew we spent a lot. Heck, between the beer, cheese, and rice we spent more than $50. For everything, our total was close to $75. But you only live once!

We headed for home arriving around 1220pm. Jacob excitedly showed his mom his ski attire. She made it clear that it was his Xmas present from Santa. She stowed it in the basement and reminded him not to say anything about it to Bella, who still believes in Santa Claus. While we were out, Mindy got a lot more decorating done. She originally set aside Friday for decorating. She was feeling good about herself for being so far ahead of schedule.

Even though it was early afternoon, Jacob talked Mindy into making us an omelet. She filled it with avocado, tomato, and cheese. I asked that she omit the avocado from mine. I asked what time she planned to go after the peanut (you may recall, Bella spent the night with Gloria). It sounded like nephew Joe might bring her home later that afternoon. He was at Gloria’s house to help her prep for TG dinner. Bella was helping, too.

Jacob headed out to play while Mindy kept at the decorating all afternoon. It was ridiculously beautiful outside – low 60s and sunny. Didn’t feel anything like TG, let alone Xmas season. Opening the back door, we could hear mowers growling throughout the subdivision. Later, we made plans to have dinner at CBC.

Bella was home from Maw-maws somewhere near 2pm. She spent the afternoon helping Mindy decorate. Her friends weren’t yet home from the Justin Bieber concert. Around 330pm Bella headed out for a bike ride. She was back after just 5 minutes to ask if Mindy and I wanted to join her. I agreed. Suggested she ask her mom. Mindy wanted to go too. After all, it would be shame to let the lovely late autumn weather pass without getting out in it.

While Mindy changed into attire suitable for a bike ride, Bella and I waited out front. While waiting, Chrissy and the entire ‘Bieber’ crew passed by honking the horn. It was almost 4pm as we peddled away from the house. We made a brief stop at the O’Connell’s where Mike was out playing basketball with the boys. I talked with Teri & Chrissy for a minute or two as well. Asked about the concert. Asked Mike for help moving the AC condenser line. Said we’ll do it in the next week or two. Cool!

We headed off on our bikes. Bella was lagging a little behind. I decided to stop and wait for her. She gave us an earful for peddling so far ahead. Mindy pulled up in Darwin’s driveway and headed up to the door. I was maybe just a little surprised that she stopped and knocked. Before I could even get off my bike she was inside. I soon followed. Just as I headed inside Bella shared that she was going on without us. Didn’t want to stay and visit.

Arriving just before us was Darwin’s cousin, Beth. She’s down visiting from Michigan for TG. She had her young son with her. She seems very nice, friendly. First we’ve seen Darwin since he got in trouble. He shared the story with us again – an OMVI. Very unusual circumstances. To make matters worse, the attorney he hired hasn’t made himself available to him at all. In fact, didn’t’ even show up for his plea hearing. Sent his admin.

You know Mindy, she wasn’t about to let it go. She suggested that she would call her attorney friend Sam S. I know Sam too, from back in my early Time Warner days when he was still in law school. Mindy insisted that Darwin get a new attorney. As it was, Darwin said there won’t be any skiing for him this coming winter. Ugh! We visited for about 30 minutes. Wished the family well then peddled off.

Mindy and I took a quick lap around the subdivision – shorter than most bike rides – then diverted back to the house. As the sun sunk, it was getting a little chilly. When we got back home Bella gave us both an earful for abandoning her. She can be very dramatic!

Determined not to let the Darwin issue rest, Mindy immediately tried reaching attorney friend Sam. After trying a couple numbers she left him a VM. A few minutes later he called back. She headed upstairs to talk, presumably explaining the situation – both the OMVI and the absentee attorney. His opinion of Darwin’s current attorney was quite humorous. Told Mindy to give Darwin his cell number and have him call on Friday. To close the loop, Mindy called Darwin and passed on the information. We both agreed that he’s going to spend some money getting out of this either way. He needs to go with a reputable attorney that will do him justice. Hopefully Darwin will follow through on Friday. I think he will.

Mindy showered first. And then after about 45 minutes, I headed up to shower. We were ready to leave for dinner around 6pm. Bella asked if she could take the iPhone. We agreed. That made her happy. The funny thing is, she uses it for everything but a phone. As usual, traffic snarled near the Front St exit. CBC had nearly a full house. We got lucky, and got one of the few remaining tables in the restaurant near the back. We’ve dined at a table only one other time in the last two years.

Ally was our server. She looked familiar but I wasn’t immediately sure why. Mindy and I both ordered Bodhi’s, while the kids ordered soft drinks. It soon became clear where we knew Ally from. She transferred over from 229. She was our server there one evening late spring. I gave her a hard way to go when they didn’t’ have any CBC IPA of pale ale. However, just as she was sharing the bad news, they found a new keg of IPA. She was off the hook. 

Mindy predictably ordered the salmon. Jacob ordered the nachos, and Bella ordered the pepperoni pizza from the kids menu. I ordered two items I hadn’t had in an awfully long time – French onion soup & the Italian Hoagie. Mindy asked for some bread too. Jacob ate almost an entire loaf of bread to himself. I credit the bread as the reason he couldn’t finish his gigantic plate of nachos. I could eat only half of my order too, though. Mindy, on the other hand, was a clean platter. Bella barely touched her pizza. Said it didn’t taste right.

Mindy & I each had the one beer. And while the place was packed when we arrived, the crowd thinned dramatically just before we left. We couldn’t have been there for more than an hour. We headed home determined to watch a movie together. I suggested Christmas Story 2. Saw the previews the night before. Bella didn’t sound too enthused. The rest of us were game, though. Once at home we all changed into our PJs then I poured a fresh White Rajah. Mindy jokingly wrestled Bella to the sofa insisting that she watch the movie with us. She eventually scurried away. Mindy let her.

The movie was good, and right up the same vein as the prequel. It lasted something less than 90 minutes. Mindy headed to bed shortly after the movie. She asked Bella to get a good night’s rest. But that often means something different to Bella. She was in her room but making all sorts of racket well into the night. At one point, I dosed off on the sofa only to wake and find Bella woofing down powdered sugar donuts at the table. I’m thinking that was between 10-1030pm. I woke again around 11pm and she was gone. This time I headed up to bed.