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.