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.