Paradigm Shift

To make it to training on time I knew that I needed to get back to my old 'good' habit of getting up and out of bed at or before 530am and then on the road for my run at or near 630am. In addition, we had to make arrangements with neighbor Chrissy to keep an eye on Bella at the school bus stop since I'd need to leave the house at roughly the same time we generally head out to catch the bus each morning.

To that end, I was up and out of bed by 515am. Perhaps more surprising then waking early, was that I felt really good too - fully rested. That was a relief. Downstairs, I glanced out back then started the coffee maker manually since it was programmed to kick on at 530am. By then, I figured, I'd be done exercising and ready for coffee. Completed calisthenics next - sit-ups, windmills and push-ups. It was 533am when I headed to my PC with coffee in hand. Ahhh.

I checked the weather forecast first thing. It was 33 degrees under cloudy skies. Wasn't expected to get any warmer though. In fact, the temps were expected to drop little by little throughout the day, dropping into the 20s by night fall, then with much colder weather on the way. I played online until 615am when I abruptly stopped to deliver Mindy's coffee. Downstairs again for meditation, stretching and ultimately my run. Headed out the door near 625am.

Felt good to get out at my old time for once. Ran the full 4.1 miles. Went well. Back home by 715am. Mindy was in the kitchen preparing my breakfast. I headed immediately back out to start the Pilot. While out starting Mindy's Pilot, I used her scraper to clear most of the snow off the Accord, which until then had been buried since last Friday.
After starting and clearing the cars, I leashed up the pug and headed out for a walk. Back inside near 725am. I hurried through the breakfast Mindy prepared. Suddenly, I didn't have a lot of time. After all, I wanted to be out the door by 755am. I hustled through a shower next.

Dressed and downstairs, I thawed my car at 745am. Between then and departure time i threw together some healthy snacks to take along: carrots, almonds, banana, apple. Bella and I headed out a 755am just as if we were headed to the bus stop. The difference, of course, being me jumping the warm and waiting Accord and leaving for training. Beeped at Chrissy as I passed, who was already at the bus stop with the girls.

Made good time heading across Trabue and Cambridge through Arlington. Made it to my destination on Kinnear Rd by 810am.And while I am very familiar with Kinnear Rd, the building in question must be new or newly renovated. It's called TECH Ohio, which appears to a business incubator or sorts. Cool building inside and out. Anyway, I was there for Global Knowledge provided technical training. Found the classroom easy enough. The instructor and three others were already there and situated. I informally introduced myself then got situated with the learning package, equipment and surroundings. Right away I unpacked the large packet of books for study. Wow, a lot of material.

I also took notice of the provided refreshments and snacks. Cool! Save for my carrots, they were providing everything else: pastries, trail mix, chips, fruit, water, soda, & coffee. As stated in the course outline, started promptly at 830am. The instructor, Paul H, introduced himself and quickly ran through the agenda. Heavy Bostonian accent though he's been in Ohio, I think he said for 20 years. Turned out that there were only five of us - small group. We did individual introductions about an hour or so into class. By far, I had the most industry tenure, experience and education. But then again, all but one looked far younger than me. The course is the first of two leading to the a CCNA certification. I am familiar with most of the material and actually held the same certification some 12 years ago. But they've adopted lots of new stuff as the technology's advanced.

It took me a few hours to get into the learning mode, well, actually a couple days. :) Lunch was supposed to be an hour and five minutes. With Xmas fast approaching, I thought it wise to make a Lennox Target run to pick-up a few things. I hadn't been to that Target in perhaps 10 years. I found what I went there for and then some. Got a sleeping bag for niece Mia, a new lamp shade for Bella, and a couple other things, too. At the present I can't recall what they were. I was back at training after being gone about 45 minutes.

The afternoon's training session went well. Had to fight off a case of sleepies around 3pm. Though the instructor offered that we could stick around and work on labs, no one took him up on the offer. Little wonder. Everyone was a little bleary eyes after 8 hours of training. We all left for home just after 430pm. I called Mindy to let her know that I was on my way home. Word had it that a snow storm was on its way for Tuesday. Much colder temps too. It hovered around freezing all day Monday. Felt colder though.

Mindy made cheeseburgers for dinner. Jacob's basketball practice was postponed until Tuesday night due to the middle school gym being used for a Xmas assembly. That was music to both of our ears. It meant we didn't have to leave the house at all that night. Dinner was good. Originally, I thought I might study ( review everything we went over in class that day) but ended up scraping that idea after feeling too tired. I was eager for an early bedtime. Mindy and the kids, meanwhile, were hopeful that school might be canceled on Tuesday due to the coming snow storm. We headed to bed around 9pm. By then it was 24 degrees but still not a single flurry