No Flash in the Pan

The tough part was falling asleep, but once I got there I slept pretty well, though I did wake a couple times during the night during Mindy's coughing spells. Come 530am I woke but chose to sleep in until 6am or so. And then at some point near then, I felt Mindy lay her hand on my back and shoulder. She left it there for a few seconds as if she was checking me for life, which sort of creeped me out. Sorry dear. A few seconds later I rolled out of the bed to start my day.

Downstairs I stepped out on the deck to scope out the weather. It was cloudy and mild. Next up - calisthenics. I whipped out sit-ups, windmills, and curls. Near 630am, I headed upstairs with Mindy’s coffee. Back downstairs and for the next 60+ minutes, I enjoyed coffee, work and internet. Didn’t plan to run until after bus time. Mindy slept in later than usual too, and wasn’t downstairs until 715am. I’m sure that her cold played a large part in that.

She made sure that Bella was up and downstairs before she left. She gave Bella her medicine via a teaspoon of honey. However, Instead of taking it right away, she left it lying on the kitchen table. I suggested she hurry up and take it. But instead of taking it, she held the teaspoon in her hand and started complaining about why she couldn’t/wouldn’t. And just as I worried might happen, the medicine dripped from the teaspoon onto the table. Oh boy! It wasn’t until Mindy gave her a direct order to take it right then that she complied.

As soon as Mindy departed, the pug and I headed out for our walk. By then it was already 740am. With what little time we had before bus time, I spent it playing on the internet. 755am came around fast. Bella and I headed out to the bus stop. There we met all the others. Chrissy handed me an envelope which she shared contained an invite to neighbor Teri’s 50th birthday party. It’s not until the weekend before TG.

Back at home by 810am where I promptly readied for a run. I was already dressed in my running clothes, so all I had to do was stretch. I was out the door a couple minutes later. It was 50 degrees and cloudy immediately out the door. I ran the full 4.1 miles. Felt great.

Back home by 905am, I checked in on work then headed to the kitchen to make breakfast for the pug and I. I didn’t mention it earlier, but Jacob was home ill again. Mindy planned to leave school early provided she could get a sub for the afternoon. I heard him stirring but he hadn’t yet come downstairs. The day before he stayed in bed all day long. Breakfast was behind me by 930am and I was promptly off to the shower. I was dressed and ready to head into work before 10am.

Like most Tuesday’s, the plan was to work across town. I took 670, which worked out really well. I made excellent time. Not only that, but I got a premo parking spot too – right up front. I headed to the cubical I worked from the week prior, but it was chalked full of IT equipment. I headed to the account managers cube and found it vacant. I went ahead and set-up shop right there.

I had an hour or so to take care of several small to-dos ahead of my biweekly 1130am call. That time went fast, as did the actual call. By the time it was over it was already noon. The day was moving fast. I had an hour before our standing Tuesday 1pm meeting. I used the time constructively, making even more progress on my monthly report.

The 1pm meeting was informative and beneficial. It went about 50 minutes. I spent the rest of the afternoon on my monthly report. I exchanged a couple texts with Mindy who shared that she was home and that Jacob was feeling a lot better. He was up, had eaten and was in the shower. Glad to hear that.

Originally, I thought I might leave for home around 4pm, but that didn’t happen. For one, I forgot about our weekly team call, which was scheduled for 415pm. I guess I could’ve joined from my car but I don’t really like doing that. At any rate, the call went quick. We were done by 430pm. And by the time I finished everything I was doing and then packed my gear, it was more like 445pm when I headed for home. Once I was safely merged onto 270 I called Mindy. That had to be close to 5pm. We talked for just a couple minutes, Mindy sharing that she got a Facebook message from my mom asking her to let me know that she was heading in to see her cardiologist. Mindy suggested I call her. We didn’t talk long. Shared that she got a prescription for some antibiotics.

I arrived home around 525pm. Dinner was on the stove. Since Mindy was feeling under the weather, I offered to drive Bella to and from gymnastics. I hurried Bella with prep because I saw little value in changing into home mode. Instead, I stayed in my jacket with car keys in hand while she grabbed her gear. We walked out around 533pm.

I opted to take the back way after glancing towards the 70/270 interchange and seeing a slowdown. Georgesville Rd was slow, especially between Sullivant Ave.and the 270 off ramp. Even still, I got her there with plenty of time to spare. Mindy called while on my drive back home wanting to know my ETA. I explained that I had just dropped the peanut. She apparently expected me to be much closer to home, and went on to share that with 270 now fully opened, it no longer pays to take the back way just as I had done. It took only 10 minutes to get back home. It was near 610pm when I pulled in the driveway.

Jacob was on his way down the steps as I headed inside. Mindy served up dinner while I washed up. I opted to prep my own burger. In addition to the burger, she made salad and baked potatoes. I didn’t eat my baked potato. I was full enough from the salad and burger. Jacob headed back to his room right after dinner to get busy on his homework. Mindy helped clean-up the kitchen and shared that she wanted to take a hot bath and head to bed. Really? It wasn’t even 640pm. We ended up hanging in the kitchen until I left to get Bella at 710pm. During that time we talked about the coming weekend, the kids, and a host of other issues.

It didn’t take long at all to get to the gym taking 270. By then there wasn’t any rush hour traffic to contend with. Got to see the last 10 minutes of practice. Kelly wasn’t there so the practice wasn’t nearly as organized. Bella was busy practicing her back hand springs with the rolling pad (my best description of the implement).

Talked with Kelly’s dad, John, who was there to pick-up G.D. Laurel. Said they missed us at Barley’s on Saturday evening. Bella was a little slow to get into her street shoes, but we were on the road by 740pm. She asked how the burgers were. She said they didn’t look that good before she left, and went even further to share that her momma rarely cooks good when she’s ill.  Arrived home by 750pm. And by the time we got there Mindy was already in bed. I helped Bella get something to eat. She didn’t want that burger. Instead, she asked for nachos and cheese, but the only nachos we had had long since expired – June 2012 to be exact. They tasted like it too. Yuck!!!! She ended up opting for a peanut sandwich, which she made herself.

I headed up to change into my PJs. Mindy was in bed with her laptop on a bed tray. I headed downstairs to retrieve my camera. I returned without warning to get a shot of that. It was then that I realized my camera flash wasn’t working correctly. It actually started acting up over the weekend at the cabin. Then, however, I chalked it up to a minor malfunction after it started working again. This time it wouldn’t work no matter what I did. Back downstairs, I spent lot of time fooling around with it. I tried removing the battery, the memory card, and even recharged the battery and reset all the custom settings just in case I had somehow set it not to flash by accident. Tried everything but with no success. And since I use flash in almost all exposures, I wondered if it was simply spent, fried, done. At the time I wasn’t 100% sure how long I’ve been using the camera or for that matter, how many photos I’ve shot with it.

Before heading to bed, I Googled and read a few tips about S95 flash failure on Canon forums. Most offered what I had already done – the battery and reset. Great! Just for kicks, I checked Amazon to see what the newest model was going for, which is the 3rd new model after my own – the S120. It just came out and is running $449. Yikes! Always something. I also thought I might check the cost of having it repaired but not until the following day. I headed up to bed at 930pm.

Given how long she’d been in bed, I was a little surprised to find Mindy still awake and playing on her phone. I asked if she/we could turn off the light. Shortly thereafter, Mindy fell asleep. Me, it was the exact opposite. Instead of falling asleep, I got a second wind and was more awake than ever. Then, a few minutes later when Mindy woke with a coughing spell, I knew that there wasn't any way that I was going to fall asleep anytime soon. I rolled out of bed and headed back downstairs to read for a while.

In the living room, I got comfy with a blanket in one of the recliners where then I read from my Kindle. Read about 12 pages before feeling sleepy enough to head back up to bed. By then it was nearing 11pm. Even then it took another 10 minutes to finally fall asleep.