Late Night Gymnastics

 

 

Three of these scary looking things were clinging to our stucco exterior today! 

Happy 55th David!

I was up early, around 4am. I just couldn’t sleep. I headed downstairs for about 35 minutes where I enjoyed a bowl of cereal. Couldn’t sleep. I took a gander outside, too. Looked like it might of sprinkled overnight but wasn’t raining at the time. There were storms moving in, but still a couple/few hours out.

I headed back to bed near 445am where I slept semi-soundly until almost 620am. By then Mindy was already up and in the shower, and the kids were downstairs having breakfast ahead of bus stop time. After checking the radar, storms were just about upon us. Crap, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t head out for a run until a clearing. As it was, there was lightning and thunder upon us along with relatively heavy rain.

Mindy and the kids left for school at the usual times. This, by the way, was Mindy’s first day of school with kids, but just a partial list – nine, I think. I ended up working from home for the next hour or so until the skies cleared a little.

I’m thinking it was around 9am when I did a meditation, stretch, and walked the pug. By the rain was minimal and the lightning and thunder out of the picture. After walking the pug, I promptly dressed and left for a run. It sprinkled through the 4.1 mile run’s entirety. I got wet but not soaked. Back home, I fired up the stove and made breakfast. I also started packing a lunch, but then remembered Mindy said she made me a salad. That made it really easy, just some nuts and yogurt and I was set.

Off to the shower near 10am and ready to head out by 1020am. By the time I left the house the stormy skies from earlier had already begun giving way to sunshine. And by the time I arrived at the customer’s site, it was mostly sunny, warm and sticky. However, according to the forecast, more bumpy weather was in the offing later in the day.

I had a couple hours to tie up loose ends before our 1pm. There was plenty to work on, including a couple hot escalations. After the three-day weekend, my head was spinning with so many irons in the fire. 1pm came around quick. Our standing meeting was mutually beneficial. Finished up just before 2pm. Spent the rest of the afternoon digging out of a small hole – a metaphor, of course.  Soon 415 rolled around, which was the start of our standing staff call. It was a short call, over by 430pm. I wrapped up a couple issues I’d been working on for most of the day and then headed for home. I called Mindy as I was exiting the parking lot. Usually I wait until I am safely merged onto I-270. She was working on dinner and busy. I let her know that I was stopping at Home Depot on my way home to pick-up a couple of things I needed to finish the post and closet wiring in the basement.

I made my way around 270 rather quickly. No traffic snarls, at least into Hilliard. I was wise enough to send myself a text with few items I needed otherwise I inevitably forget once I get there. Not sure why that it happens but it’s a common occurrence. One thing I wanted/needed is a scrap piece of plywood to extend our electrical/cable/phone panel. As it stands today, the CATV wiring looks like a birds nest in between a couple floor joists above the electric panel. I want it mounted to the wall, organized and easily serviceable. They had a 48”x39” sheet for 70% off list. I asked a sale associate how much it was. He did a quick calculation and said $6. Cool! I had him rip it in half – 24x39”. I also bought the few plastic electrical boxes I needed for the boxed in post as well as two ceramic light sockets.

In addition to picking up the electrical stuff, I also spent an inordinate amount of time looking over their PEX plumbing offerings since I am almost 100% sure that I’ll be using PEX for the basement plumbing additions. The plastic pipe and connectors are relatively inexpensive and the actual work is far less laborious. However, that said, the special crimper and cutter will run about $100. For me, however, the more attractive feature is the ease of deployment and without sacrificing quality. I must’ve spent 30 minutes looking for everything I might need.

While in that aisle, a gentleman approached that looked awfully familiar and said hey, Jim, haven’t seen you in a while. I knew the face but couldn’t place the name. Instead of pretending I simply asked. It was Ramon V., a former TWC peer. More pointedly, a tech that reported to me for a few years. He was wearing a beanie otherwise I’ll bet I would’ve come up with the name on my own. He looks good, 17-18 years removed from our last meeting. Said he gave up the CATV business and now drives a semi. I told him the one thing I remember most about him was how he loved to keep a bottle of good vodka in the freezer.  I actually tried it and found it a nifty trick. In hindsight, though, there was more that I remembered about him. For one, he was a neat nick and always very organized. I wished I’d told him that, too. We didn’t chat long. Both of us needed to move along.

Now near 6pm, I headed to checkout with my plywood, electrical outlet boxes, and new measuring tape. Saw that Mindy sent a text wondering where I was. I found that odd, having talked with her an hour earlier and sharing that I was making the HD stop. I called her on my drive home again. Said she was worried about me. Geesh. I reminded her of our conversation to which she recalled but said she expected me home much sooner. I was home two minutes later.

Dinner was ready – grilled chicken, corn-on-the-cob, and salad. Yum! Unfortunately, the corn sucked. Not her fault. Just a bad batch. Should complain to Kroger, though. Chewy and no flavor. We all agreed. No body finished theirs. The chicken and salad were just fine.

It was Bella’s first night of gymnastics since last May, and she was very excited. I offered to take her but Mindy said she needed to pay so it was easier for her to do the deed. It was implied, I guess, that I would do the 9pm pick-up. Ugh!

While they headed off to the gym (Jacob went with by the way), I headed to the basement eager to finish the zone 2 & 3 wiring of the boxed in post and then the two closet ceiling light fixtures. I did the post first, and it took a lot longer than I imagined. It took a lot longer because I hadn’t accounted for the narrow space to which I had to mount the outlet boxes. Too tight/narrow to use a hammer to nail ‘em in. Hmmm? On one side I addressed the challenge by pulling out the nails and instead using decking screws at an angle, but even that was too laborious. For the opposite end I decided to knock the framed sides out of alignment therefore exposing the 2x4” stud for nailing. Lastly, I had to create an offset for the switch to the pole sconce box. All that work took more than an hour.

I didn’t know the time but guessed it had to be close to time to go after Bella. Shortly thereafter, Mindy hollered down the basement asking if I wanted her to go after Bella. Thank you, yes! Apparently my effort to get this phase completed wasn’t lost on her. While she ran off to fetch Bella I wired in the two closet light fixtures. Those are very simple. Took no more than 10 minutes for both. I was eager to activate the circuits and test. Voila! We have success!

I had just enough time to clean-up my scrap before Mindy returned with Bella. Mindy came down to see the results and I in turn was happy to put my efforts on display. The little things …

Upstairs, Bella was very excited to share how gym went. Said she did seven back hand springs in a row without pause. Wow! Last spring she was struggling to do more than two without a pause. She was so excited, which makes me happy, too! Mindy was off to bed by 930pm. Bella and I were up a little bit longer. She off to bed about 10 minutes before me. I enjoyed a few handfuls of Cookie Crisp before heading off to bed.