Head in a Cloud

Woke right at 530am and made sure I was out of bed and promptly downstairs. My goal was to stay on schedule and be at the office no later than 845am since the training class was slated to begin at 9am sharp. Completed exercise then enjoyed coffee until 605am. I delivered Mindy’s coffee then promptly moved on to meditation and stretching. Finished both of those at 625am. I rolled the trash can to the curb before dressing for a run. Judging by the neighbors full cans, he hadn’t been by yet.

It was still pretty chilly – 42 degrees – but the forecast called for a high of 75 and nothing but early weather for the next ten days. That was definitely a welcomed forecast. By the time I headed out for my run it was 740am.

It was cloudy immediately out the door but the promise of sunshine later remained. I ran the full 4.1 miles. Mindy was in the kitchen making last minute work preparations when I returned from my run. We actually had a few minutes together just like old times. She was giving Bella the business for dragging tail most likely brought on by staying up too late. I gleaned that Mindy caught her up screwing around in the middle of the night. That’s Bella!

I headed out with the pug. We were gone our usual 8 minutes. Mindy was ready to leave by the time I got back to the house. She had no sooner walked out the door when Bella asked what maw-maw did to her when she was a kid. I chuckled to myself but then reminded Bella that her mother only had her best interests in mind and that she needed to follow directions and avoid trouble. When she headed upstairs I reminded her to take care of her morning tasks: feed the pug, brush your teeth.

Packed my lunch, cooked and ate breakfast. Headed off to the shower at 748am. It’s been a while since I have been able to say that. I was showered, dressed, and ready for the bus stop by 806am. We headed out a few minutes later avoiding a few light sprinkles by hanging out under the rim of Trena’s garage. Chrissy remarked that it wasn’t supposed to rain. I shared that the sunshine was coming along with much warmer temps. The bus showed up near 815am. The pug and I headed home.

Took care of a few quick tasks, including pushing the hibiscus pots back out onto the deck and uncovering the flowers that Mindy covered the night before. I left the house before 830am.
Arrived at the office near 840am but wasn’t exactly sure where the training class was being held so I headed to my office first where I could log on and check.

Darn, the training was set-up on floor 2 just around the corner from the main entrance. I undocked my laptop and headed that way. Most of the class participants were already in place but there were at least 10 seats still available. I grabbed one in the front row and spent the next 10 minutes getting logged on to the network.

This was a 2-day training class on the ‘cloud’, which is one of the hottest buzz words in telecom right now. With few exceptions, I was at least somewhat familiar with everyone in the class. All totaled, about 25 of us. The presenter knew the material well and did a good job varying his delivery thus keeping my full attention. We took hourly breaks and lunch at 1150am. Asked us to be back at 1pm. Others invited me to join them for lunch, but I had errands to run. I ran to the bank to cash a check and then to Home Depot to get a new bulb for my halogen desk lamp. It’s been difficult to see my keyboard keys early mornings without the benefit of my desk lamp. A black desk and a black keyboard doesn’t lend itself to easy viewing without it. It died Sunday.

By lunch time it was sunny and warming nicely, though quite breezy. It was in the upper 60s, which felt marvelous after three straight days in the 50s. I was back well before 1pm and used the extra time to catch up on a few work issues and emails even though officially I had a peer covering for me.

The afternoon session went fast, though I hit a proverbial wall around 3pm. For the next 30 minutes I had to fight the urge to sleep. We wrapped up around 420pm. Because a few of my remote peers were in town for the training, my boss asked if I planned to join the team for dinner. Oops! Somehow I missed the email. I guess he sent it early Saturday morning. I declined for Jacob having soccer practice and Bella having gymnastics. I called Mindy, who encouraged me to go anyway. Nah.

I headed home and logged onto my laptop with plans to catch up on any emails I might’ve missed throughout the day. Once 5pm came around I tried putting work aside and being present with the family. We hung out for about half an hour before Mindy left to take Bella to gymnastics.

While Mindy was away, I was pulled into a mini crisis at work by the guy who covered me all day.
I wasn't pleased but had little choice. I sucked it up and dug into the matter best I could. Using leftovers, Mindy whipped up chicken wraps when she got home from dropping Bella. The wraps were yummy! By 6pm the breezy conditions from earlier were a thing of the past. It felt more like a summer evening, about 75, still and sunny. Very nice.

That work issue followed me all evening. I was committed to joining a 9pm call to help the customer. To temper some of my frustration, Mindy agreed to go after Bella leaving me to focus on work. She was back home before 8pm and we spent about 20 minutes together enjoying the lovely weather from the deck. I headed in again to prepare for that 9pm call.

Between the call and then a couple to-do's immediately after, I was up and working until almost 1030pm. By then Mindy was already in bed, and I could barely keep my eyes opened. I was more than ready for bed.