Guatemalan Habachi Holiday

Celebrating Bella @ 12

I woke briefly when Mindy got out of bed and then got up for good once she started the shower. That was close to 615am. Downstairs, I completed calisthenics after stepping out onto the deck for a brief feel for the day's weather. Nice! Once Bella was downstairs, I made sure to wish her happy birthday and give her a hug. She was unwanting of the hug, or at least that's the front she presented. Maybe it's just a 12 thing. I don't know.

I poured coffee then headed to my PC shortly after 630am. However, when Mindy came down we briefly convened in the kitchen to sing happy birthday while Bella blew out a candle in a donut. There wasn't a lot of time. Soon she was off to the bus stop with Jacob. At the roughly the same time, I headed out with the pug. Before Eiknarf finished her business, the bus came along and swooped up all the kids.

Back home, I sank into my desk chair and enjoyed more coffee and internet. Mindy asked for a hug and smooch before heading off to school around 715am. She wasn't out the door more than 5 minutes before I moved on to meditation and stretching. I wanted to arrive at the office as close to 9am as possible without rushing. To that end, I was out the door for my run by 745am running the full 4.1 mile track. Felt great. I completed run arriving back home at 823am, or 38 minutes, but that includes stretching the hammies from the front stoop and then pausing for air once I finish at the bottom of the driveway. Doing the run in about 36 minutes or about 8 minute, 45 second miles. These days that's my top pace, though it hasn't ever really been a race.

I fried up a few eggs enjoying them with a few cut strawberries and a slice of dry wheat toast and OJ. Yum! And like most work day morning's I threw together a lunch as well. Off to the shower around 845am.Downstairs again by 9am and out the door a few minutes later. Realizing that nice weather is waning, I opted to drive the BM'er, which required me moving the Accord to the curb. Not a big deal. Lovely drive into the office. Arrived at 915am and parked about midway out in the new parking lot.

Settled in at my desk by 925am and then right to work. Apparently my boss was working from home. I had three meetings already on my calendar and was asked to join another while on the first. Definitely a heavy meeting day. As an result of the first two meetings, we solved a couple challenging problems. I felt really good about that. I was double booked for 2pm, but one of the meetings soon became unnecessary for logistical reasons, so I contacted the organizer and we agreed to postpone it until Monday. That was around 1245pm. With a little more than an hour at my disposal, I ventured off for lunch to the Mill Run Target and Home Depot (next door to one another).

At Target I picked up several small items as gifts for Bella's birthday along with a card. At Home Depot, I bought some self-tapping sheet metal screws for some duct work, a stick on cabinet hook, and grabbed a couple free Pergo wood flooring samples. Back to the office by 150pm. I had just enough time to pee, wash my hands, and grab my packed food before the remaining 2pm call began. I packed fresh veggies (carrots, cauliflower, snap peas, tomatoes) yogurt and cheese. Yum! I was a silent listener on the call, but also very interested in the results. Went favorably but lots to consider afterwards.

Spent the rest of my afternoon dealing with a couple hot escalations. And I was very happy to get them both resolved before the end of the business day. Just after 4pm I packed my stuff up and headed home. I wanted to be home a little early to spend time with Bella on her birthday. I also planned to log back into work from home. Got home around 425pm. Mindy wasn't yet home. Bella was at the kitchen table doing her homework while Jacob was off playing with Evan. I could see that the someone had been in the clean dishwasher since the green clean alert LED was off. Bella said it was Jacob. I knew what to expect even before opening it. Yep, he chugged some chocolate milk as soon as he got home then put his cup in the dishwasher. As a result, there was residual chocolate milk on several clean dishes. Great! Mindy got home just as I was starting to unload the dishwasher and was complaining about it. Predictably, she went right to his defense. She pretty much forgives or justifies all of his household neglectful ways, and there are many. It really frustrates me because we go over them time and time again but continue getting the undesired results.

I got logged onto my laptop and did some more work, staying busy until almost 530pm. Meanwhile we had birthday dinner reservations at the Japanese steakhouse for 630pm. It would be just the four of us. At some point nephew Joe sent a text sharing that he and Rick were going to stop by to see Bella real quick. They showed up just after 6pm. Before they showed up, I headed upstairs to freshen up for dinner out. Everybody else did too.
Once Joe and Rick arrived, we did Bella's birthday presents. She got plenty of cool stuff, but nothing too big. She's been wanting her own iPhone but we've made it clear for some time that it wouldn't be for her birthday. Not sure when it'll be. By the time we finished the brief birthday celebration it was already 630p and we were already officially late for our dinner reservation. Mindy asked Joe and Rick if they wanted to join us but they'd already eaten at the new Rusty Bucket in Hilliard. I believe that Thursday was their grand opening to the public.

Didn't take too long to make our way up 270N to the Tuttle exit. Arrived at the Japanese Steak House near 645pm. No real wait. I'm guestimating that only 2/3s of the Habachi tables were full. They seated us at our own table but shared that they might seat another small group with us since there is seating at all Hibachi tables for eight. We waited for 5-10 minutes before the hostess came back and took drink and appetizer orders. We ordered enough appetizers for everybody - 2 plates of spring rolls and two plates of gyoza. Even though it was her birthday, Bella steered clear of alcohol and went with lemonade. In fact, all of us steered clear of booze and ordered soft drinks or water.

The appetizers and soup were really good. We soon put in our dinner orders: Mindy went with filet mignon, Bella the kids steak and chicken, Jacob chicken and shrimp, me simply chicken. Of course at a Japanese steak house everything is included: veggies, soup and rice. Our Hibachi chef was quite entertaining perhaps the best I've had in the five or six times I've enjoyed such a venue. I know for certain that Bella was entertained. Food was really good too.

Shortly after we placed our food orders, they seated an older couple at the end of our table then took away the remaining two chairs. We got to chatting with them before dinner was over. They were quite interesting. Recently semi-retired and from New York City. Embarking on a cross country journey and this was their first overnight stop. Eventually they'll end up in Arizona where they'll spend the next 6-8 months before heading back to New York to summer in the Adirondacks where they have a summer home. They shared that we've got to get out and river raft the Colorado River. Said it was a hoot of a good time.

While Bella was off to the restroom, Mindy let our server know that it was her birthday. After they cleaned up our table and packed our leftovers they did the birthday song the way only they do. Our server returned with her camera and took a picture returning before we left with a birthday card with our family photo included. That was nice!

We headed for home arriving near 830pm. I brushed my teeth and changed into my PJs then tuned the TV to the Vikings/ Packers game. Probably shouldn't have. They played poorly from jump. Never in the game. Bad!!!! I wasn't too disappointed. I poured a Jack & Coke while watching the first quarter. Poured another around halftime. Mindy headed to bed around 10pm. I stayed up playing my guitar and sipping my 2nd drink. Stayed up to the bitter end of the Viking game, They lost 42-10. I headed to bed near 1130pm.