Big Fat Printer Problem

I was up near my scheduled wake time of 530am. It was another clear, cold looking morning as evidenced by the thick frost covering the cars and just about everything else outside. Inside the temp was just right, our thermostat set to 68 degrees. I whipped out calisthenics: sit-ups, windmills, and push-ups. My back and neck felt great. I did my new targeted stretches just the same.

Sat down at the PC with coffee near 550am. Had plenty of time to play before heading upstairs again to wake Mindy near 610am. Downstairs I spent a couple more minutes online, double checking the temperature which was a chilly 27 degrees. The high was forecasted to approach 50, and it looks like we'll stay in this pattern for a while (sunny and near 50 during the day with night time lows close to 30).

Meditation and stretching were next. Both went well. I prepared to head out for a run starting at 635am. Probably out the door before 640am. I ran the full 4.1 miles feeling good from jump. Any chilliness was gone just a few minutes into the run. Mindy had already started the Pilot by the time I returned to the house. I had to wait for the pug to come to the bottom of the stairs. She was still in Bella's bed when I first reentered. Our walk was brief but fruitful.

Mindy was just walking out the when I got back to the house. Bella showed me that she had $40 of her own money set to take to the book fair. I was surprised with the amount. I hollered for Mindy to make sure that she knew how much she planned on spending. Yep, she knew. Said she was buying the latest (2013) Guinness Book of World Records. It alone is $30. OK. It's her money and she does love reading those books. As a kid, we loved it too, although I'm guessing the version we had to be many years outdated. It really never occurred to me that it was annual publish back then. Perhaps it wasn't.

I dashed off for a shower near 740am. At the same time, Bella headed up to her room. We met again downstairs near 8am with me spending a few minutes throwing together a lunch. My customer was hosting a Thanksgiving luncheon and invited me to partake, but I didn't really want to eat like that. I was torn. I planned to take my veggies, fruit and nuts.

Bella and I headed out near 810am. We met Chrissy and Makayla at the bus stop. Chrissy shared that Kenny was off so he could attend his cousins funeral. As I understood, he passed away from ALS. We chatted briefly after the kids were on the bus, but parted ways still before 820am. I returned to the house with the pug where I enjoyed a little more coffee and started the dishwasher.

Made sure I had everything I needed to work remote then headed out to warm the Accord at 830am. I waited 10 minutes for the windows to clear. I remembered I needed gas, too, so I planned a stop at Circle K where I also planned to buy a single Powerball ticket for Wednesday night's drawing. The jackpot was sitting at $185 million! We've been playing for the last three or four weeks. I just know that we're going to win it really soon!

The Accord took 14.8 gallons. Didn't get more than about 21 mpg last tank. That might be the worst mileage yet. Not entirely sure why. However, come to think of it, perhaps warming the car most mornings has something to do with it. Traffic was a bit slow through downtown, again a byproduct of the recent traffic pattern change on 670 east. I made to the office by 905am and was inside and at my desk by 915am. Customer came by a few minutes later to share that we would in all likely hood cancel our 10am call. Said she'd send a confirmation email. I got busy and 10am came and went. I got a ping from a peer asking if I was joining. I retuned quickly that the call was canceled. He quickly shared that he was on with the customer. :)

Our 11am monthly service review was still a go, though we planned to do it without the benefit of a projector. They printed off several copies of my PowerPoint presentation. My boss was the only participant that joined remotely. At the meeting's conclusion they reminded me of the TG luncheon and encouraged me to participate. I thanked them for the invite and headed back to my desk where I quickly dug into my other to-dos and stayed focused like a laser beam for a couple hours. Around 2pm Karen came by and asked if I enjoyed the TG feast. I didn't want to lie. After a few seconds I again thanked her for the invite but shared that I just didn't want to eat differently than I do other days. She's a runner too, and was quick to share her latest kick, Insanity, a P90X-like program, only more over the top. She encouraged me to give it a look after I shared that I am gaining weight even though I haven't changed my routine or diet. After she walked away, I Googled the Insanity program. Interesting mix of aerobic, anaerobic interval training. I don't plan to spend money to buy DVDs, but may research and implement something similar on my own.
Sometime during the afternoon I received a call from the Shadow Box Theatre asking if I would be interested in 4 free tickets to Friday night's Holiday Hoopla show. my guess is that attendance is down and they're scouring past patrons for attendance. The spend once there is typically big, tickets aside. After all, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Stayed busy until 445pm when I decided to call it a day. I called Mindy shortly before I left the office. Decided not to share the Shadow Box proposal until I was home. They only asked that I confirm our attendance by Thursday evening. Mindy shared that the power was out at home, but that she wasn't quite there yet. She only knew the power was out because Bella called her in a panic. That's our Bella! Wanted to know how I felt about dinner out.
aid we'd decide once I was home, but I was pretty much set on staying home.

It was a fast drive around 270 until I got off the freeway and turned onto Wilson. Traffic came to a standstill near Golfview Woods. I could see that the traffic light at Wilson and Trabue was out. It took almost as long for me to get home from there as it took me to get there from New Albany. I was next at the intersection when the traffic lights came back on. I could see that the lights were on in our subdivision now, too. Still, relative to the Wilson Rd traffic, the damage was done. Cars were bumper to bumper both directions. Making matters worse, traffic from both directions were trying to use the chicken lane early. That caused a standstill. I didn't really mind. I was listening to Xmas music on XM radio. I remained completely calm through it all.

Made it home by 545pm. Mindy and Bella were at the table and Mindy was on the phone. I told her I saw the power come back on. Mindy asked about dinner. I was noncommittal. I quickly partook in the Stacy's pita chips and hummus she had out. Yum! I went to my PC to play while Mindy was doing sub plans on her laptop. She would be in an all day teachers meeting on Thursday and needed a substitute for her class.

Jacob hollered down asking about dinner. In turn, Mindy once again asked me. At the same time, Bella shared that she wanted to stay home. I quickly agreed to stay at home with Bella while she and Jacob went out. That's what we did. Mindy & Jacob decided to head to the Big Fat while Bella and I stayed at home. I made Bella a mini frozen pizza. Seemed odd that she wanted it frozen. :) We added a few extra ingredients (more cheese and more pepperoni). We baked it for 13 minutes. I continued to snack on pita chips and hummus. And I'm afraid I made a meal of it.

While Bella enjoyed her pizza I decided to order two more Mannheim tickets, one for my dad and the other for Glenn. I offered to buy my mom a ticket too, but she declined. No longer were seats available right next to Mindy and I, but I found two fairly close. Went I went to print the new tickets I experienced printer issues. Printer issues lead to IP conflict issues. What the heck! I fussed with the wireless printer and PC for 2 hours. By the time Mindy was home, I was all worked up over it all. The IP conflict turned into an error that said my printer head was bad. Then it locked up my PC. I was furious! Mindy kindly offered her help, but what was she going to do. I simply - and curtly - asked to be left alone. Trust me, it's better that way!

I ate some of the gyro she brought me then quickly returned to my PC. I eventually decided to reboot and also remove and reinstall my printer. After a lot of swearing that seemed to do it. Never under estimate the power of cussing! At some point Bella asked me if I was done swearing. For now. I wandered to the kitchen where I finished my gyro then went to the sofa. It was already 9pm. Damn!!! I tuned into the Science Channel, "How the Universe" watching a similar program to the one we watched the other night about comets, asteroids and meteorites. I enjoyed it much. It's like candy for the brain. Until then, Bella was watching Disney soaps and also playing on her Kindle, dream life in her world. She headed up to her room when I took over the TV. I suggested she leave the Kindle downstairs and then do some reading. Mindy quickly chimed in that she was heading up to bed and would see to it that her Kindle was confiscated.

Mindy headed for bed around 915pm. I stayed downstairs but quickly fell asleep on the sofa, waking somewhere near 1030pm then heading for bed.