Some of that Holy Music

I wasn’t up until 550am, or right after Mindy’s alarm sounded. I had some disturbing dreams that had me tossing and turning most of the night. I didn’t feel as though I got the deep sleep my body seemed to be craving. At first I thought that I failed to prep coffee and became a little frustrated with myself for not doing so, but while brushing my teeth I remembered that I actually had.

Another cloudy start to the day, number 6 in a row. I pushed through morning calisthenics, completing sit-ups, windmills, and curls. I took Mindy her coffee before enjoying any of my own. I asked if Jacob planned on going to school. She said not. He asked that she wake him up just before she left for school. Still foggy, I headed back downstairs for some coffee of my own.

It felt heavenly to sit at my PC with coffee. I hung there until 630am when I felt motivated enough to trudge forward with the rest of my morning routine. I did meditation and stretching, not finishing up until almost 645am. And by the time I was dressed for a run it was after 650am. I decided to head upstairs to say goodbye to Mindy since she’d almost certainly be gone by my return.

It was below freezing for the first time in a while. I think it was 29 degrees. I ran the full 4.1 miles without incident. Felt really good. Sure enough, Mindy was gone by the time I was home. It was close to 735am. I took the pug on a brief walk. She seemed as eager as me to get back inside for breakfast.

There were scrambled eggs on the stove. During breakfast I made the decision that I was working from home. After eating I fired up my laptop and sent my boss an email sharing as much. I took care of a couple simple issues before getting too involved in my work day. And I headed to the bus stop with Bella at 810am.

Chrissy volunteered to take the girls to Beacon Ambassador day on Wednesday morning. I thanked her for the kind act. According to Bella, they’d need to leave around 8am. Back at the house I decided to postpone a shower until much later and instead poured another cup of coffee and got busy with work.

Ended up busier than I planned, with a few new unplanned escalations landing on my desk. Had to invoke my boss’ help on one particular issue. I don’t like to the do that but was left with little choice. I took a break mid-morning and called the Alarm Force guy leaving a message for him to call me back. He called back within 10 minutes. We talked for about 20 minutes, our call culminating with me ordering their service. A lot of little details they don’t tell you upfront, and for good reason. Might scare potential customers away. For one, you’ve got to register your system with the local police department, which also requires a fee. I felt much better getting that taken care of.

Worked for another couple hours before taking what amounted to a lunch break. I woofed down a burrito and then spent about an hour or so putting together photo packages for my daughters and Gloria. Over the past few days I built a distinct album from the past year’s photo collection for each of them trying to find a few quality photos from each month. Today’s goal was to edit each photo for a 4”X6” print. And going from experience, I altered the lighting in each and every photo, too. For some reason they always process/print darker than they appear on the computer screen. It’s a tedious process, and one that isn’t finished in one sitting.

Very busy afternoon. At some point Jacob was up and in the kitchen, however only briefly. Said he felt a whole lot better. Just as quickly, he headed back to his room. I was very busy through the afternoon working on escalated issues, not having even a minute to spend on my to-do list. However, at 4pm I prioritized my own stuff avoiding any and all outside distractions in order to finalize Wednesday’s customer facing presentation. Felt really good to get that taken care of.

Bella and Mindy were home between 4-430pm. At one point Bella had Mindy on the phone and tried handing it to me. I wouldn’t take the call so not to be distracted from the task at hand. Shortly after 5pm, I was pretty good about putting work aside. I spent a few minutes interacting with the family but then dug back into my holiday photo task all the while Mindy toiled with dinner – chicken and noodles. I was able to get albums edited for Ashley & Lindsey. Still have Gloria’s to do.

I still hadn’t taken the time to shower. Just before dinner (around 525pm) I dashed off to take one. When I made it back downstairs for dinner, Mindy had a change of heart. Decided to run Bella to gymnastics before we sat down for dinner. Not a problem. While she ran Bella to the gym, I wrote a blog posting. I also reviewed the day’s headlines. The markets were up. That was welcome news!

Mindy was back home around 610pm. She quickly dished up the homemade chicken & noodles and mashed potatoes. And man, were they ever delicious! I had two helping of chicken & noodles. We were done with dinner and clean-up by 640pm. Not long after that Mindy & Jacob headed out shopping. I asked if she planned on picking up Bella after gymnastics. She didn’t. I still needed to do the deed.
I spent the next 20 minutes editing more photos for the Xmas albums. I had to be careful of the time. It flew by as often happens when one immerses into a given project.

I looked up and realized that it was already 716pm. Yikes! I needed to bolt for Bella. However, there was a small problem. I needed gas. Crap! I stopped at the Circle K for a fill-up, and in my haste I put my card in upside down which then locked me out of the pump with a see attendant message. Great! I wasn’t going inside. I pushed several buttons until it finally reset and allowed me to try again. Finally. The Accord took 15.9 gallons. Paid $3.19 per.

Made it to the gym right at 730pm. It’s not like it would’ve been a catastrophe if I were late. Bella is perfectly capable of walking home in the cold if necessary. OK, kidding. The gym is opened until 9 or 10pm. Even in my rush, I remembered to grab Kelly’s plate, the one she brought the bourbon soaked brownies to our Xmas party on. She was in the office on my arrival. We chatted for a while after I handed her plate back. She’s more fun than I originally assumed.

Bella and I headed for home. She asked that I crank the Xmas music playing on the XM radio. It’s called Holly, but Bella calls it “Holy”. Too funny. Within the last few weeks they’ve changed the traffic pattern on 270 N for the ongoing construction. As a result, we missed the early exit to the 70 entrance ramp side. We ended up having to exit on Roberts Rd and then back track a little. Not a huge time difference.

Mindy & Jacob weren’t yet home when Bella and I arrived. Bella asked that I top off her chicken & Noodles with some fresh and then reheat the entire plate. I did some more photo editing while she ate. Mindy & Jacob were home a few minutes later. Around 845pm I tried tuning into the History Channel only to discover that it was inexplicably missing from the line-up along with a few others not normally tiered together. Tried everything. Learned that ESPN was missing again too. Dang it! I called Time Warner service. Being after hours, I’m guessing it was an off-shore group - barely spoke English. Still Evring was most helpful, and tried completely resetting out main box. Nope, didn’t work. He then tried ‘boosting’ our signal, but that didn’t work either. Said we’d need a service call. Great! Offered Thursday morning, but we both would be at work. He then offered Saturday to which I barked is disagreement. I suggested Thursday evening. He agreed to 4-5pm, Thursday.

While I toiled with Time Warner, Mindy headed off to bed. I watched TV of some sort until 10pm while also enjoying a little popcorn. I was still agitated over the Time Warner thing. Headed to bed minutes later. Mindy was still awake. I shared the details of the Time Warner service call. She figured to be home but would have to double check the times of her Thursday seminar.