Favorite State

I was up at 525am after perhaps the soundest sleep I've gotten in the last couple weeks. Felt excellent. It occurred to me during exercise that there just might be a direct correlation between taking a 500mg Naproxen shortly before bed and quality sleep. I remembered, too, that it was a Todd Rundgren day. Mindy & I had tickets to his State tour show at the LC pavilion for later that evening. That elevated my spirits higher than they already were.

A thunderstorm rumbled through during the overnight. It was still cloudy but the rain was pretty much gone. It was fairly warm too, a balmy 68 degrees. Enjoyed coffee and internet until it was time to wake Mindy. Stretch and meditation were next. Both went reasonably well, though my meditation of late hasn't been as thorough as it needs to be. I left for a run around 635am, running the usual 4.1 miles. Great run.

Mindy was still at the house when I returned, but not for long. As soon as she left, I got busy making breakfast and packing my lunch. Bella and I headed out at our usual time - 810am. The bus was there on time. I took care of a few loose ends before leaving the house, including listening to more of Todd's new CD.

I was soon off to work, but not to the main office. Instead, I was working from New Albany since I was in training all day Wednesday. It was supposed to be another decent day but with a chance of storms. I opted to not drive the BM’er. Left the house near 845am taking 670 east. Thankfully, the traffic wasn’t a problem at all. I listened to ESPN on XM. All the talk was about Saturday’s Power Ball drawing, now forecasted to be $500 million. Note to self, buy a ticket. Arrived in New Albany around 910am. Beautiful walk into the office, already near 70 degrees and sunny.

Once I was logged in and settled I went in search of the director so we could catch up on a few things. Because it wasn’t my regular onsite day, we didn’t have any meetings or calls planned. I stayed focused and busy all morning. Left for lunch around 1pm and headed to Lowes where I bought a couple more big beautiful zinnias. I wasn’t gone that long, only about 30 minutes. Still, getting out in the lovely weather and milling about the Lowes nursery was therapeutic.

Once back at the office I grabbed my packed food from the fridge and got back to work. I had a very productive afternoon and subsequently the time went by quickly. Leaving the office, my mind was flooded with work issues, but I did a more than remarkable job burying those thoughts since this was a Todd Rundgren night. I called Mindy once I was safely on 270. We discussed the evening’s logistics, which included dropping Bella at gymnastics before leaving for the concert. My dad was then expected at the house by 730p to intercept both kids after their extracurricular activities. Jimaken was taking Jacob to soccer practice.

I made good time barreling around 270, getting home by 525pm. Mindy asked if it might make more sense for us both to take Bella to gymnastics and then head straight to the concert, which according to the tickets would start at 7pm. Why not? We both changed clothes and then left to take Bella by 540pm. As is always the case, traffic was tight the entire drive to gymnastics. We took the back way because the freeway is always a no-no that time of day. We dropped Bella a couple minutes ahead of 6pm.

Destined for the LC Pavilion in the Arena district, we took 270N to 70 E to 670 E eventually exiting at Neil Ave. Any concern for heavy traffic going that way was for not. Smooth sailing the entire way. We parked in the North Market parking lot. Figured it was centrally located to many bars and restaurants as well as the concert venue. It was only 615pm. I suggested Barley’s Ale House #1 or the North Market. We opted for the North Market. Neither one of us had been there for years.

We did a full loop of the indoor market checking out the food and beer offerings. We ended up getting gyros at the Firdous Express, a Mediterranean place. We ate outside under the cover of their patio. Nice! After woofing down our gyros we ventured over to the Park St Tavern to have a beer. Our ex-CBC peep, Kayla was working. Haven’t seen her since the end of September. We were hoping they’d have Bodhi on tap but Kayla reported just running out. I opted for Great Lakes Rye of the Tiger IPA. Mindy went with Nugget Nectar. We talked with Kayla the entire time. Learned she’s a poly-sci major. It was 7pm. We headed after just one beer.

Fairly long line waiting for entrance. I guessed they only recently opened the doors. The crowd appeared shockingly old to my eyes. I can only guess that I appear that way to others too.  Interesting how we view ourselves as compared to others. The line moved swiftly. Inside the venue by 715pm. We checked out the t-shirt offerings at the door. Mindy offered to buy me one, but I didn’t really care for the design/selection. We headed to the bar where we surveyed their draught beer offerings. All bad! We opted for booze instead. I ordered a Jack & Coke while Mindy ordered a Rum and Diet. We went and found our seats which by design were in the last row at the end. Turned out, however, they added a few more seats moving us in about 4 or 5 chairs. No biggie.

We sat for a while talking and people watching but then got up to use the restroom and then walk around. We never did sit in our seats again. Spotted a couple Barley’s peeps and spent a while talking with the two of them. We stood just behind the last row of seats center stage. I’m guessing no more than 150’ from the stage. The show started very near 8pm with Todd playing Imagination, the first song on his brand new CD. It was just three musicians – Todd, a drummer and a bass player. Todd, of course, played guitar, keyboards and vocals. There was a lot of prerecorded background stuff mixed in too.

The music was fantastic, and Todd’s voice was spot on. The presentation was top notch, too. Bottom line, the show ranks right up there with some of his very best, and most of the tunes he played were from his last three CDs. Still relevant after 4 decades. The new stuff has a strong techno influence. His encore included Can We Still Be Friends & Hello It’s Me, but juiced up with a flavorful techno beat. Very cool!

I did notice a couple couples leaving apparently in disgust, shaking their heads in disapproval. They must’ve come expecting Todd to play his old stuff. I left fulfilled and I know that Mindy loved it too. I think he’s finally won her over too, this her fourth T.R. show. The show was over by 940pm. We headed back to our car. Mindy had a decent buzz after two or three rum & Cokes to go along with the glass of wine she had before leaving the house and then the beer at Park St Tavern. She was texting her teacher pal Shelly, who was at Brazenhead. Asked if we could go meet her. It wasn’t until she learned that they were at the Dublin Brazenhead that she recanted. We headed home where dad was watching the kids.

Arrived home by 10pm. Kids were already off to bed after watching the American Idol finale. Bella shouted over the railing that so and so won. We chatted with dad for a good 15 minutes before we thanked him and he left for home. I took a couple Advil more as an insurance policy. But Mindy, I guessed was going to have a rough start come Friday morning. 