Bru & Barleys

I woke plenty rested. Was up darn close to 530am. Downstairs, I disabled the security system the turned to morning calisthenics. Whipped out sit-ups, windmills, and push-ups. The coffee had just finished brewing. Great timing. Poured a cup then headed to my PC.

Checked the weather. It was 30 degrees. Expecting the high to climb above freezing later. Still concerned about the SD memory card I ordered 12 days prior for my new GoPro. Can’t do much without the card. Checked the Amazon shipping status again. Still showing shipped but not delivered. I priced the same card at Best Buy just in case I got another one of those emails from Amazon sharing that the shipment was returned as undeliverable. Bestbuy has the card for the same price. Had I done my due diligence upfront, I would have made the purchase there.

Woke Mindy near 610am and dropped off coffee. Headed downstairs again this time to meditate then stretch. Spent about 15 minutes between the two, and both went really well. Dressed for a run and hit the pavement somewhere close to 640am.

Ran 4.1 miles comfortably. No aches or pains. Blessed to be so healthy. Mindy asked me to start the Pilot when I got back to the house. While doing so, she corralled the pug and leash. I didn’t notice until it was a tad too late that we were out of poop bags on the leash. Dang it! Had to leave her poop in a neighbors’ yard.

Mindy was about to leave by the time we got back to the house. Reminded her about the Alarm Force guy coming at 4pm. Bella and I both had eggs, though hers were scrambled while mine were fried. Headed up for a shower near 745am. Downstairs again by 805am. I hurried through lunch prep but didn’t have enough time to completely finish before heading out to the bus stop with Bella.

Bus arrived pretty quick, even ahead of 815am. Didn’t have the pug, she was too busy eating when we headed out. Had a number of things to finish up before leaving for work. I finished packing my lunch and inventoried my work backpack to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything important. Didn’t seem to be. Left for New Albany at 835am.

It was a fairly easy cross town drive, no traffic jams to slow me down. Arrived just before 9am. Got a good parking spot directly in line with the long walk to the building. Had some minor laptop issues. Had to go through the login in process twice. Wasn’t settled until after 930am. I really need a new machine!
Our weekly 10am call went fine. Short and sweet. Got involved in a number of escalations, but nothing to dramatic. Left for lunch around 1pm with planned stops at Kohl’s and Target. Headed to Kohl’s first. There I picked up a gift card for Lindsey’s fast approaching birthday. Headed Target next. There I stopped and talked with Mary Ann, who was just shutting down the pharmacy for their lunch break. Talked for 10 minutes or so. Always a pleasant time talking with Mary Ann.

Picked up a few different items: two types of almonds: plain and coffee/mocha, chewing gum, and a birthday card for Lindsey. Gone about 50 minutes, I headed back to the office. Worked until 445pm when I packed up for home. Mindy and I texted back and forth, starting with Mindy asking if we were going out for dinner. Probably. Reminded her once again that Alarm Force was to show up at 4pm. She remembered and was almost home. Apparently called and said he was running behind. Still showed up before I left work. Called Mindy once I was safely on I-270 for home. Discussed dinner options. I suggested a stop at the Bru even though we know they’re not serving food. Figured to make two stops just as we did a week ago.

Arrived home around 525pm. The kids were already gone with Jimaken. My micro SD card finally arrived. Hooray! However, still waiting on my new Viking’s jersey. Mindy said Bella was a bear, thinks she’s getting sick. I opened the coffee/mocha almonds. Man, are they good! We readied and left for the Bru near 555pm. Traffic was somewhat slow, but it generally is that hour of the day. We took 5th avenue from Riverside to High St again. Mindy asked why the funky mood on Monday while skiing. The topic dominated conversation all the way to Bru.

Didn’t realize it at the time but Middle west distillery is just behind the Bru. They’re the ones that distill the OYO vodka and whiskey. Looks like a neat place. A slightly larger gathering at the Bru, though they’re still in their soft opening phase. Talked at length with Gavin, co-owner. Said they expect to have their formal opening either end of the month or first week of Feb. Lots still to do: signage, food offerings, etc.
He bounced some of their food ideas off the two of us all the while we enjoyed beers. This time I tried their IPA – not bad. In turn, Mindy went with their Milk Stout. We enjoyed our visit and conversation. I had two beers, Mindy only the one. We left to go after food near 7pm still not 100% sure where we were going. Ended up at Barley’s.  Mindy called Jimaken on our way there asking if he would keep the kids until closer to 830pm. He agreed.

Sat at the bar, of course, and Janet was tending. We ordered a Centennial to share. I ordered K.C. wings, Mindy ordered chicken & noodle soup and bread. Wings were scrumptious. Mindy said the soup was good too. Talked with Kent &Kurt briefly. We left Barley’s for home around 810pm. Mindy and I made a friendly wager on whether Jimaken and the kids would be waiting at home. She won. They weren’t there and showed up about 5 minutes later, just as she stated.

Bella was eager to catch more of American Idol. Apparently she started watching from Jim’s place. While they tuned into Idol, I played around online. A few minutes later after getting into my PJs, I joined Mindy and Bella in the family room to catch part of the Idol despite saying minutes earlier that I wasn’t going to get sucked into it this year.

Bella was beckoned to bed at 930pm. She asked me to please DVR the rest. I think it went on until 10pm. I fell asleep for a short while downstairs but joined Mindy in bed around 1030pm. I slept quite soundly until 115am. I woke with a little case of acid reflux. I got up and chugged water, but that didn’t help. I eventually headed to the kitchen for a small glass of milk. That did the trick. Now wide awake, I played around online for almost an hour before heading back up to bed near 230am.