Opening Day 2012

See, I told you there was a Santa!

 

 

 

Most of the Friday snow about gone.

Glenn & Dad go to breakfast. Thought about joining them but didn’t want to rush through my run. Ran 3 miles.

Mindy left for the grocery early to get Honey Baked hams: one for Xmas day at her mom’s and another for our HV trip.

After my run I learned that MRM declared Sunday opening day!

Sent text to Mindy asking if we should/could go. Thought we might go later that evening.

Me, Mindy, Glenn & Dad head to the Casino around 1pm.

Notice ding/dent in Lindsey’s new Civic. Turn around to scope it out closer. Dammit!

Spent no more than an hour at the Casino. All of us lost money – me $20, but still ahead.

Midafternoon at home. Tommy brings mom over around 3pm. Houseful (mom, dad, Tommy, Wally, Lindsey, Landon, Rocky, Glenn & I). Mindy & I share our plan to go skiing that evening. Glenn decides to stay back and visit with mom & dad.

Mindy & I leave for MRM around 515pm arriving just after 6pm – easy drive. Giddy!

Front row parking. Not very crowded, but a lot of youngsters on boards

Did 4 runs then took a break for beer and food. Did 5 more runs after a brief break for a total of 9. Left for home at 830pm. Glenn only one up at home. Said mom just headed for bed and dad left at 7pm.
Mindy put two beef roasts in crock-pots to cook overnight.

Had a couple beers before bed.

Dinner & the Palace

 

 

 

I felt pretty good and was up by 8am. It was Saturday, which more often than not is a day free of sit-ups and push-ups. Of course I still stretched and ran, which I took care of somewhere near 9am. I ran three miles and felt good doing it. The roads and walks were extremely slick with black ice. For the first time all season, I had to alter my gate to avoid slipping.

Dad stopped over shortly after Glenn got up. I think it was around 10am. And then our kids came home around 11am. We'd have them for only about 5 hours before heading back to their dad's place. He said he needed some time to address some Xmas errands. Dad Bella had one thing on her mind, playing with her friends. She and Makayla hooked up shortly thereafter. All the kids headed out back to play in the snow with their saucer's. I headed out to get ours from the shed and ended up staying out for a while having a snow ball battle with the girls and Jacob. It was really fun.

While we played in the snow, Glenn and dad left for a get-together at brother Bob's. It was near noon when I took a shower and left to run after a few Xmas errands, including picking up more photos and alcohol for our neighbors. I asked Jacob to go with me but he declined. I drove the Pilot and made stops at Giant Eagle, the Chocolate Cafe, and Gentile's. I wasn't gone for more than 90 minutes.

Was back home around 2pm. Spent the afternoon writing in my blog. Glenn was back home around 3pm and went straight for a nap. We planned to leave for dinner and Mannheim around 530pm. Mindy and I readied around 430pm. We let Glenn sleep until darn near 5pm. Dad didn't show up until just before 530pm. I decided earlier that afternoon that we would do China Dynasty at the Shops of Lane Ave. for dinner. Mindy's been craving Chinese, and that seemed like a good geographic fit for given our concert venue of the Palace Theatre. I didn't tell the others where we were having dinner until we were in route.

I hadn't been to the Lane Avenue China Dynasty for many, many years. In fact, prior to Googling it, I wasn't sure that it was still there. It's located in the rear of the inside mall. Most, including Mindy, didn't even know that part of the mall existed. It was cold. Felt like mid 20s. Good thing the walk was short. The restaurant features a 4' Buddah at the entrance. I asked dad, Mindy & Glenn to pose next to it for a picture. Not many patrons. I'm thinking we were one of only three or four groups.

Service was attentive but slow. Given the light crowd, I was expecting them to be all over us. Dad was largely unfamiliar with the entrees and asked for guidance. He ended up going with a chicken and mushrooms dish. Mindy and I opted for War Su Gai, while Glenn went with beef and broccoli. The servings were large. Mindy easily could've shared one. We took more than half home in fish boxes. We asked for to-go sauce containers, too.

It was almost 7pm when we left for the Palace Theatre getting on 315 at Lane Avenue. Wasn't sure where to exit. Ended up getting off at Goodale Blvd. and taking he scenic way into downtown. By then it was 720pm, and there was heavy traffic around the Palace turning onto Front St from Broad St heading east. Most cars were parking in the garage just to the north. To avoid some of the traffic, we opted to skip the garage and found a nearby meter instead. That proved a wise choice, especially given that we would have a quick escape after the show's completion, not to mention it being free of charge. In exchange we had to walk an extra block and one half. No biggie. The only downside was the cold.

I passed out the tickets once inside. Dad & Glenn were sitting together next section over from the two of us and two rows back. We stopped for drinks before heading to our seats. I opted for a Jack & Coke, Mindy's treat. Mindy had wine. We found our seats right on the aisle around 740p, not long before the show's start. Our seats were ideal. In fact, the only better view would've been front row mezzanine.

This time Mannheim passed out a program that included a song list for each half of the show. I'm pretty sure that's a first. At least two of the band members were carryover from two years prior, maybe more. Mannheim has at least two iterations of itself touring at the same time. Mindy recognized the drummer, Tom Sharp, right away. In addition to a Mannheim member, Tom has a solo career as well as playing with Dennis DeYoung. I recognized the Asian solo violinist. He was awesome two years ago, and just as awesome this time around. Very much enjoyed the first half. For my money, nothing sets the mood for Xmas like Mannheim.

Mindy headed to the restroom at the intermission. I asked that she get me another Jack & Coke. She made no promises, fearing that there might be a long line. While she took a break, I walked over to chat with dad. Dad said he very much enjoyed the first half of the show.

I headed out for a pee break of my own. I spotted Mindy in the drink line and intercepted her on my way back out. We walked back to our seats together. The 2nd half the show was good, too, especially the last 20 minutes or so, including an encore. Outstanding performance of Silent Night. Show wrapped up around 10pm. Took a few minutes to filter out into the cold. Once outside we made a beeline for our parked car. We headed south on High St and then left on Main picking up 4th St and ultimately stopping at Columbus Commons to check out the park which was all decked out for Xmas.

It was cold, though. I wondered if Mindy and Dad would be up for walking around. Both were agreeable. We walked around the 1/3 mile loop taking in all the lights. Back to the car and then finally home. Dad came inside for a few minutes, but then headed on home to his place. Glenn and I enjoyed a couple beers and TV. Stayed up until almost 1am.

Winter's On!

 

 

 

Talk about slackin'! This time I wasn't out of bed until 6am, and even then I was still wasn't fully ready to get up. However, the sleepies quickly abated soon after 50 sit-ups, 40 windmills, and 50 push-ups. And the coffee really hit the spot. I didn't wake Mindy until about 620am. She asked if there was any appreciable snow fall overnight after heading to bed the night before hoping for a dumping, which in turn would cancel school. There were flurries flying, but nothing on the ground. Too bad, dear!

Over the next 30 minutes I did PC, meditation and stretching. I left for a run around 650am but not before saying goodbye to Mindy who was still getting ready in our bedroom. The snow flurries, meanwhile, increased in strength, and even began to cover the ground. It was really windy, too, with gusts around 40 mph. Took my breath away when running directly into the wind. It was around 30 degrees, but felt much, much colder due to wind chill.

I ran four miles and felt good doing so. At times the front of me was covered in snow. Fun! Mindy was gone by the time I got back home. She left eggs two fried eggs in the microwave and another scrambled in the pan. I didn't eat my breakfast until after walking the pug. I then readied for work at a leisurely pace. Headed up for a shower around 8am.

Turned on the bedroom TV through my shower. The local forecast, while wintry, now called for no more than an inch of snow accumulation, whereas just the night before they were calling for as much as 2-4". I took my time making final preparations. I took only some almonds and a banana for my lunch. I warmed the Accord for a good ten minutes before leaving. Nice & toasty as I headed out. The neighbor hollered across the street "it's here!". I returned, "Wahoo!" I, of course, assumed her was referring to the weather.

I started out of the subdivision noticing that the traffic was at a standstill on Wilson Rd. both directions. What? As I got the exit, I could see that it was stopped heading north as far as the eye could see. I opted for the right hand turn lane onto Trabue. That was free. I planned to take the back way into work - Trabue, Old Dublin, etc. But as soon as I turned onto Trabue, I saw that it was backed up as far as the eye could see, too. What?
I had no interest spending an hour or more in traffic. Made absolutely zero sense. Instead, I turned back into our subdivision at the first opportunity and headed back home. I could work from home just as easily as my office. The only thing I would miss would be presenting our boss with our gift.

Eiknarf looked at me with confusion in her eyes as I unpacked my work gear after just packing it up minutes prior. Do you suppose she has the capacity to reason that I am nuts?

Once I was fully logged on I sent a note to my boss sharing my dilemma. I felt a bit sheepish, having worked from home just the day before. Still, I believed it the most sensible thing to do given the traffic and weather. I checked the FOX28 traffic report and learned the reason for the back-ups. Several accidents on 270 & Wilson Rd due to black ice. That only reaffirmed my decision to work from home.

I added to a to-do list I started the day before, making sure I had my bases covered heading into a stretch of 11 days in a row off work. Most of the action items were administrative in nature. Only one customer report needing work. Something told me to check Glenn's flight status. But before I could do it, I had to find the flight itinerary he sent a couple months back.

Once I had the flight numbers, I went to United's website. His flight from Portland to Newark had already landed. Good! I then checked the status of his Newark to CMH flight. Uh-oh! It showed cancelled. I gave Glenn a call, hoping he'd have his cell phone on. He did. Said the last half hour into Newark was pure hell, barfing-type turbulence. The airline canceled the CMH leg because the plane scheduled to fly was too small to fly into such winds, which were up to 50 mph. Had him on standby for a noon flight, and if that didn't pan out, they had him booked on a 420pm flight into Dayton. I asked that he keep us posted so we could coordinate his pick-up as necessary.

I called dad, who was planning to pick Glenn up at the airport around 1030am, to give him the flight status. I then carried on with my work agenda stopping periodically to check out the weather. The snow kept falling and the wind kept blowing. At times the snowfall was borderline heavy. Big flakes too. Soon we had some appreciable accumulation on the ground. Called Glenn back around 1140am asking if he had any word on his standby status. No, not yet. But he called back 10 minutes later to share that he in fact did make the cut. Would be home around 145pm. Called Dad again to let him know when Glenn would need picked up. Said he'd bring him by my place.

Around 1230pm and with things quiet on the work front, I made a Targhetto run. I hoped to pick up a few last minute items on our Xmas list, which included some Buckeye stuff for Rocky, more scotch tape, and some sports pants for Jacob, to be used as his 2nd base layer for snow skiing. By then traffic was fine, but the weather still a little treacherous. I was careful. I get to Targhetto maybe once a year. My last visit was early October 2011. It's kept nice but it's not the more modern Target format, and the crowd always looks a bit rougher. I found everything on my list save for the faux Buckeye uniform.

I headed back home. Followed Glenn's flight status from Newark into CMH. Arrived right on time. Kept busy through the afternoon. Sent out-of-office messages to my clients and then completed timesheets for the current and following work weeks. I still needed to create out of office messages on both my desk and blackberry phones too, but couldn't really do that until the work day's end.

Dad & Glenn showed up around 245pm. Still snowing. By then it was looking like a Xmas card outside. Who woulda thunk it? Two days prior it was looking like green/rain for Xmas. After exchanging greetings and pleasantries, we hung out in the kitchen. A knock at the door pulled me away. It was UPS dropping off the final Amazon order I placed Tuesday night - Olivia's doll. Great!

Got so caught up in conversation that I temporarily forgot that I was working. Excused myself from the kitchen, leaving dad &Glenn to converse while I tended to my work related responsibilities. 4 o'clock came and went. I had every reason to expect Mindy home around then but that didn't happen. Instead, she wasn't home until almost 5pm. By then, dad had left for home, and Glenn headed upstairs for a nap. Said he was still nauseous and sleepy from his flight in. When Mindy finally got home, I was in the middle of creating out of office phone messages. Had to give her the quiet sign. Shhh!

Mindy had a ton of stuff to carry in, mostly gifts from fellow teachers and students - a laundry basket full. She went through them one by one as we chatted about the day as well as our holiday weekend preparations. It would be go,go, go from that point forward, starting with a Wright family holiday dinner at El Vaquero. However, who all would be attending was still a bit sketchy. The plan was to meet there at 630pm.

Glenn was up from his nap around 530pm. After Mindy gave Glenn a welcome home hug, I poured the two of them a cup of stale coffee. Mindy then headed to the basement to wrap presents for about 30 minutes. We readied for dinner out around 6pm and left 15 minutes later. Our plan was to make stops at both Barley's and CBC after dinner at the Vaq. so we could bestow gifts upon our favorite servers/bartenders. Due to the wintry weather, we drove the Pilot.

Still snowing, we pulled in the Vaq right about 630pm. We could see aunt Char and others already inside at a table. Cousin Brian, his wife Kim, and their young daughter Avery were there too. Haven't seen those two since an informal impromptu birthday party for dad and Char in December '05 or '06. After hugs and greetings, brother Tommy arrived. And then a few minutes brother Bob, April, Tammy, and Hannah arrived.

Some enjoyed margaritas and some just water or soft drinks. Mindy & I stuck to only water. We planned on brief stops at both Barley's and CBC after dinner. Went through several baskets of chips and salsa. Too many, really, but i love that stuff. Come time to order dinner, I went with a California burrito, something I hadn't tried before. It was supposed to be a steak burrito along with other ingredients. There might have been a bite or two of steak present, but hardly enough to warrant its inclusion on the menu. I didn't care for it at all. I might've eaten a 1/3. The evening wasn't about the food. Instead, it was about the family, and it was good to catch up and visit with all those we don't see very often. With the exception of dad and Tommy, we see the others quite sparingly. I'm guessing we were there for about 90 minutes.

Glenn, Mindy and I headed just down the road for Barley's. Tommy followed. Invited a few others to join us too, but they opted for home. Barley's wasn't too crowded. Our primary intent was to drop gifts for April, Katy, and Justin, three of our favorite Barley servers. We each had just one beer, me a Centennial. After a brief visit we left for CBC. Mindy shared that April took care of our beers. She was leaving for Australia that next morning, and hoping to come home engaged.

Mindy opted to ride with Tommy. Took the scenic route to CBC, much like Mindy and I did on Wednesday. CBC wasn't very busy at all. I am sure it had everything to do with the weather and holiday weekend. At first I thought Kate & Vince were kidding when they shared that they were out of Bodhi. That certainly couldn't happen at Xmas! Sadly, though, it was true. I was bummed. Couldn't help but label it very poor planning on behalf of the brewery. I knew many, many others would be disappointed too. Kevin shared that Jamie would be in on Monday, Xmas eve, for a few hours filling growlers and serving appetizers. Expected to have some then. We hoped so, since we planned to take a couple jugs of the liquid gold along with us to HV.

Instead of Bodhi, I enjoyed a Winter Warmer. We gave Kate & Vince their gifts. They in turn shared some yummy brownies someone gifted them earlier. I had a second beer, a regular IPA. We stayed until about 1115pm. Glenn picked up the check, I added a little extra cash bump to the tip. We parted ways with Tommy then headed for home.

Hope

Yes, Virginia, there is a

 Santa Claus

Armed, Rain, & Wrap

I slept in again until about 550am. With only a couple work days remaining this calendar year, one would guess I'd be a bit more motivated. However, that just wasn't the case. Perhaps the two Bodhi's the night before were to blame. Not sure. Regardless, I felt tired and sluggish. Of course that didn't stop me from digging into calisthenics. Whipped out sit-ups, windmills, and curls in short order. Glanced out back. It was cloudy, but so far no rain.
I was a little stressed thinking about all I had/needed to accomplish through the day. The most anticipated event on my day's agenda was the installation of our security system, but that wasn't scheduled until 5pm. That alone wasn't much of a stressor, but the fact that I'd have to leave work an hour early caused me a bit of concern. One top of that, I had a number of Xmas tasks I wanted to get done, too. Working from home would relieve a lot of that stress. Doing so would allow me to work right up to the minute the security system installer arrived. I could also take care of some Xmas wrapping too. So that soon became my plan.

Like most work from home days, I started much earlier. I was at it well before 7am, sending follow-up emails on some carryover issues. I also sent an email to one of my clients letting them know that I wouldn't be on campus that day after all, but instead working from home. I soon let Mindy in on my plan as well. That saved her some time too. She didn't need to make me breakfast. She left for work near her usual time.

After a thorough stretch & meditation, I headed off for my run. It must've been just after 8am. I opted to run only three miles but enjoyed every minute. It didn't register until the final stretch of my run that I was supposed to join an 830am call. Oops! I got back from my run around 835am, a joined the call a few minutes later. No biggie.

I had a number of items on my to-do list, many in an effort to close out 2012, which included a handful of administrative tasks, like drafting my 2012 performance review, writing out-of-office messages to send to each of my clients, and a host of other things. Of course, I still had to take care of my routine tasks, too.

I stayed busy until about 11am, when I took a break and went to the basement to gather up gift wrapping materials as well as Mindy's Xmas gifts. I set up right next to my PCs, but on the floor, that way I could reengage in work at the drop of the hat if necessary. The wrapping went smoothly. Like a lot of things, once I get going I become faster, more efficient. They looked really nice, but I wasn't finished. I still had to apply bows & ribbon - a tiny creative outlet if you will.

Stashed the wrapped gifts away then edited some photos for printing, but this time sent them to Target's photo processing to give them a try. They're 33% cheaper than Cord. I was/am curious to see the quality difference, if any. Can't be much worse than my recent experiences with Cord.

Got back to work after an hour or so. All in all, another pretty easy day. Started raining around lunch time, and at times really hard. My thoughts, once again, were another opportunity for big snow missed. Speaking of the weather, according to the local headlines, all this rain was supposed to turn to snow sometime Thursday night. Calling for as much as 4" by the time it's said and done. Supposed to turn colder over the next several days too, but still not below freezing during the daytime hours until sometime mid next week. In turn, HV was forecasted to get even more snow.

Mindy called mid-afternoon to ask how I felt about her mom coming over that evening and helping her wrap Xmas presents. She was a bit taken back that her mom would put out such an offer - unlike her. Sure, dear. Whatever you want. Aside from dealing with the installation of the security system, I didn't have any other plans. Meanwhile, the heavy rain continued through the late afternoon.

Working from home afforded me an opportunity to witness just how bad marketing calls have become. Our new home phone must've rang 15 times during the day, and all but one some sort of unsolicited marketing call. Of course I stopped answering after the first 2 or 3. Going to have to figure out the do not call list thing.

Jeff from Alarm Force called around 440pm to let me know that he was about 20 minutes away. Arrived right on time - 5pm. It was still pouring rain. Mindy wasn't home from work yet. Not only was she stopping to pick-up her mom, but she was doing a little shopping, too. Jeff was very efficient, and obviously knew what he was doing. Home security had come far since our home was constructed. No longer are most security systems reliant on hard wiring. Instead, everything is wireless. I wouldn't call our new system state-of-the-art hi-tech, but it should be effective. Mindy & Gloria showed up around 540pm. By then, Jeff was wrapping up the installation of the hardware. Still had to program everything and then review it with us. I was a little overwhelmed with it all, trying to determine what was and wasn't important to remember & know. Mindy and Gloria started their gift wrapping session almost immediately.

I had to pull Mindy away so Jeff could review the security system operation with the two of us. I figured having both of listen was better than only me, then me trying to teach her later. I wanted to avoid 'the blind leading the blind' scenario. :) Seemed fairly straight forward. I wanted to fully understand the enable/disable process. We learned through our system review that we might be better off adding a fourth door sensor on a slight delay, that way Jacob can come in from school through the garage door and still have time to disable the system. In its present state, it sounded as though he would activate the alarm every time. We went ahead and added the extra sensor.

We settled up with Jeff, and he left for his next job, an easy one, around 615pm. I hung out in the kitchen with Mindy & her mom all the while the two of them wrapped gifts. Mindy was hell bent on making sure the kids had an equal number of gifts, a notion that seems ridiculous. Is that what Xmas is all about? Sadly, yes! Meanwhile, the rain continued to pound. But now it was accompanied by high winds.

I'm guessing it was near 730pm when Mindy and Gloria finished wrapping. Not long after that, Mindy ran Gloria home. While she was away, I tidied up where Jeff moved things for the security system install. I poured a Jack & water too, then snuggled up in my reading chair with the security system guide in an effort to fully understand it's operation. Mindy was gone for about 30 minutes. Just before her return, the rain turned to ice balls. I was instantly aware, as it pounded against the skylights in the family room. That phase didn't last but minute or two. And when Mindy got home a few minutes later she shared that it was starting to snow, albeit only lightly.

We hung out for a while in the quiet, chatting about the many things we needed to get accomplished as well as the many events upcoming. It's going to be go, go, go over the next 5 days. Mindy headed to bed well ahead of me. I stayed up until about 1030pm. Apprehensively, I armed the security system before heading up to bed. No problems.

Call me Glenn O. one more time ...

Happy 77th, Dad

It was our first morning without the kids. I slept in until about 540am. Once downstairs I quickly moved it into high gear, whipping out sit-ups, windmills, and push-ups. I actually had ten minutes or more to play and drink coffee before heading up to wake Mindy. I checked the local 10-day forecast and wasn't amused. Looks like a high of 50 degrees on Xmas day, and most night's struggling to slip below freezing. Doesn't look like MRM will open any sooner than next year.

I was hesitant to look at the Ellicottville 10-day, though just two days prior it looked pretty favorable. Finally, just before heading upstairs to wake Mindy I gave it a once over. Still looking good. Cold enough for snow making from Saturday on. That gave a small sense of relief. After waking Mindy I played around online for perhaps another 10 minutes before moving on to meditation and stretching. Both went well.

Before heading out on a run I headed upstairs to say goodbye to Mindy. It was near 655am when I dashed off for my run. Leaving the house at that hour, I run into an entirely different group of folks doing their routine, whether that's a run, walk, or simply waiting for the school bus with their kids. I ran the full 4.1 miles. It was trash day. I heard ours being dumped well before I headed out the door. I happened upon the trash truck two or three times during my run.

Mindy was gone when I got back home. Eiknarf was waiting, looking out one of the sidelights of the front door. How cute! I leashed her up and headed out for a walk. We were out for exactly 8 minutes. Mindy left a pan full of cheesy scrambled eggs covered on the stove. I dished up some for both myself and the pug. There was plenty left over for yet another serving. I eventually dumped them into a container and stowed them in the fridge.

I was off to the shower just ahead of 8am, which left me plenty of time given that I wouldn't be getting Bella on the school bus. I was downstairs again by 820am. I threw together a quick lunch consisting of baby carrots, cheese, nuts, and yogurt. Haven't taken yogurt in my lunch for a couple months now. I paid a couple bills online, and then made sure that the first Civic payment processed as designed. Yep, it did. I left for work around 840am. I had about a 1/4 tank of gas after going about 250 miles in the last week. I decided to fill-up then since gas prices were lower than they've been all year - $2.92 at the Circle K. Accord took 12.5 gallons. I got just a smidge over 20mpg last tank full. Mileage seems to have slipped recently. No clue why.

Made good time crossing town via 670 and then north on 270. Arrived at our customer's campus at 905am. Was settled in short order. Forgot to stow my packed lunch until much later. We had our regular 10am call, which went about as well as one could hope. I spent the rest of my morning sorting out the details of a complicated outage impacting my customer.

Got an email from Glenn asking if the HV trip was still ago. Accompanying his email was a screen shot of the Champagne run with mostly green grass showing. It didn't look promising, though the forecast was calling for cold and snow. In my response, I assured him that I would be quick to cancel should there be no quality snow for skiing. After responding to his email I tried calling HV directly to ask about the cancelation policy should that become necessary. I got ring no answer the 1st time and then waited on hold for five minutes on the 2nd attempt. Figured I would try later. The website gave me the impression that I might have to eat my reservation unless someone else jumps on my reserved room after a cancel.

Around 1pm I left for lunch and headed to the Kohl's just up the road. I thought I might buy myself that winter that I looked at over a month ago. I tried HV again while in transit. This time I got right through. The lady I spoke with was very nice and assured me that should we need to cancel due to no snow that we would get a full refund or vouchers, my choice. Cool! She went on to ask when exactly we were supposed to arrive. When I shared the afternoon of the 26th, she immediately shared that they're expecting to have almost 100% of their trails opened and that a big snow storm was barreling their way and expected to dump quite a bit of snow Thursday & Friday nights. She went on to share that they'll be making snow nonstop as of Saturday since the weather is supposed to dive into the freezer both day & night. She closed by assuring me that we don't have anything to worry about. That's exactly what my worried little mind needed to hear. Not only was she friendly, but full of wonderful news, too!!

Kohl's was even more crowded than I expected. Not only were they crowded, but the main walking aisles were clogged with makeshift merchandise displays, obviously aimed at compulsive shoppers. It's doesn't resonate well with me. Think gluttony! It took a while, but i eventually found the winter hat aisle. I had to laugh because there was no rhyme or reason to the inventory - a total wreck. Gloves, scarves, hats, all mixed together in excess. I managed to find the same style hat I tried on and liked a month or so ago, and was going to buy it until I saw the checkout line. Oh heck no! They were employing what I call the "Best Buy" concept - one long, single line where the next customer waits to be called to the next available register. I agree that it's likely the fairest and the fastest but it had to be 50 shoppers deep. I didn't want the hat that bad. I put it back and left.

Rather than head anywhere else, I simply headed back to work. Surprisingly, I got my same prime parking spot. I spent most of the afternoon finalizing my research into that outage and then drafting a thorough explanation for my customer. Talked with Mindy soon after she left school. She reminded me about taking the Pilot in for brake work at 330pm. I may not have shared this earlier in the week, but she had them look at the brakes Monday during an oil change and they determined that the shaking we feel was due to slightly warped front brakes. Said there remains some useful life in the pads, but the only way to fix the problem is to replace the pad and turn the rotors. With 50K+ miles, we were more than happy to have the work done, especially before he winter driving season. She planned to wait while they completed the work. Said it would take about 90 minutes.

I worked until 5pm then headed for home. We made plans to have dinner at CBC. I called Mindy once I was safely merged onto 270NW. She was sitting, waiting on the Pilot. Said Jason, the service writer, gave her a 15% off coupon to use. They've been more than fair to us at Hugh White Honda. Said they were just finishing up the front brake job. Hoped to get home about the same time as me. At the time, I was just coming up on 315 but hitting a slow down. With rush hour traffic, it could take 20 minutes, or an hour. Just can't be sure. Turned out. I was fortunate. The slowdown evaporated almost as quickly as it formed. Made decent time the rest of the way home, arriving just after 530pm. Mindy wasn't yet home.

The house looked and smelt clean. Nephew Joe was there cleaning earlier. It really needed it. But perhaps the best part was that it would stay that way for more than a minute since we wouldn't have the kids for several days. Mindy got home about 10-15 minutes later. We discussed our evening plans. I suggested we drop off the Imber's Xmas gift on our way to CBC since they'd were leaving town Friday evening for Xmas in Wadsworth. We put the finishing touches on their gift basket then brushed up for an evening out.

It was raining a little when we left the house, but it's been doing so almost every day for the last week or more. Arrived at the Imber's around 630-645pm. The house was dark and no answer at the door. We stowed the gift basket on their front porch then sent a text sharing as much. We headed on to CBC via Goodale Blvd to High St to Mound St to Short St. Nice drive down High St. Lovely! The Columbus Commons is all lit up for Xmas. Talked about taking a walk through the park before the Mannheim show Saturday night.

Arrived at CBC around 710pm. Lot was near capacity but we still got a decent spot. There were plenty of stools available at the bar, too. Vince and Kate were working. We both ordered Bodhi's, but not before Mindy sampled their Winter Warmer. Vince soon served us some bread and risotto balls. yum-yum! Joe celled Mindy and quickly shared that he was coming to join us. Cool! I was anxious to hear all about their NYC trip.

Joe showed up about 20 minutes later. Joe and I talked at length about both the NYC trip as well as gun control. I am not foolish enough to think that I have the best solution. In fact, I have no idea what to do about it. I very much enjoy hearing the opinion of others. Sounds like NYC was a good time. But then again, how could it not be? Joe had me laughing about a couple situations. Family!!! Can't live with 'em, and can't live with 'em. :)

We eventually ordered food. Joe and I both ordered wings with extra sauce, though I ordered mine extra well-done. Mindy ordered the crab cakes dinner entree. Opted for a 2nd Bodhi. Man, is it good! Asked about their holiday hours. I guessed they'd be closed Sun-Tuesday. Happily, though, they'll be opened Monday, Xmas eve for lunch hours only, serving appetizers and filling growlers. We'll likely stop in to have a couple growlers filled.

My wings were decent. More than once, Kate and Vince offered up a 3rd Bodhi, but each time I refused each for having a greater yes burning deep inside, namely work early Thursday, not to mention the fact that I was driving. I drank ice water for the remainder of the night.

We talked at length about my reclusive, disconnected behavior, more common when all the kids come over. I'm self-aware, and recognize the pattern, but at the same time unfamiliar with its roots. And when it strikes it feels almost debilitating. I also know it angers and frustrates Mindy, but it's really hard to alter once I'm in that state of mind.

Dad called back around 915pm and Mindy took the call. She wished him happy b-day and shared that we had a ticket to see Mannheim for him. He agreed to go. We left for home around 10pm. Said goodbye to Joe in the lot. Traffic came to standstill as we approached the Hague and Wilson Rd exits on I-70W. Not sure what happened but people were driving crazy. We opted to exit on Hague avoiding further delays and took the back way north to our subdivision. Eiknarf was over the top happy to see us. Mindy quickly headed off for bed. I played on the computer for a few minutes working on a Xmas gift. I didn't get completed but did get a good start. It was 1045pm when I crawled into bed. I laid there for a while, and even drifted off to sleep for a few minutes until something woke me. I was sure that I wasn't going to fall back asleep anytime soon so I got back up.

I don't believe Mindy knew I left the bed. I headed downstairs where I spent another 30 minutes finalizing a homemade gift card. Nice! Headed back to bed somewhere close to midnight.

Civil Revolution

I slept in until 540am, waking just before Mindy’s alarm sounded. Given my druthers I would’ve slept a bit longer, but exercise and work beckoned. Downstairs I was quickly engaged in exercise, whipping out sit-ups, windmills, and curls.

I headed to my PC with coffee, at first thinking I might have enough time to sort photos for Xmas photo albums. But there were 264 photos and despite uploading them in specific folders (IE albums) they were mixed all together. I headed upstairs to wake Mindy near 610am. I gave a knock on Jacob’s bedroom wall as I descended the steps. I heard him up and about a minute or two later. I did take the time after waking Mindy to make piles by memory, but eventually decided that I’d be taking them to work to complete in my spare time. 

Walked away from my PC around 635am. And then by the time I was done with meditation and stretching it was closing in on 7am. Once again, I headed upstairs to say goodbye to Mindy before my run. There wasn’t any way she’d be around upon my return. I startled her with my entrance. Sorry!

It was after 705am when I got out the door for my run. Feeling like a slacker, I was determined to do the full 4.1 miles. It was chilly enough that I wore full winter gear. I’m thinking that it was 39 degrees. I was comfortable throughout and the full circuit. Upon hearing me come back in, Bella brought the pug to the door.

Eiknarf and I did our usual walk across the street, staying out for about 8 minutes. Inside, I asked Bella to make sure the dog was fed and then warmed my already prepared and waiting eggs. It was too late for a shower ahead of bus stop time so I used the time to further sort the photos into their respective piles. I also headed to the basement looking for the photo albums I bought last week. Couldn’t find the bag anywhere. Those that know me, have to understand that it was driving me absolutely crazy not being able to locate them. It was bus stop time. I headed up and out with Bella.

Met Chrissy and Makayla at the bus stop. Today was Makayla’s Xmas gift day. I remembered to tell Bella that I loved her before she bused away. The recent events in CT. reminded me never to take a moment for granted.

Headed back home to shower. Was ready to go by 850am. I put about a dozen Xmas cards in the outgoing mail. Now that I had Xmas photos, I wished I would’ve included one in each card. But short of opening the envelopes that wasn’t possible. Move forward!!!

I headed into work arriving near 910am taking my photos and empty photo albums to my office with me. It was another low key day, and one that I very much appreciated. Sandwiched in and amongst work related tasks, I was able to stuff the photo albums with the appropriate pics. Went faster than I anticipated.

Decided to make yet another Target run at lunch. There I picked up a twin-sized Coleman air mattress, planning to take it with us to HV for someone (Glenn, Bella, or Jacob) to sleep on. We ordered one from Amazon but it never arrived. Got an email earlier this morning stating that it was returned and that they issued a credit to my credit card. It was actually cheaper at Target. After Target, I headed to Giant Eagle on Bethel and Sawmill hoping I might find some White Rajah. I placed a call to daughter Ashley while in route. No answer. She returned my call a few minutes, or just as I was pulling into a parking spot.

I wanted some more ideas for Olivia. Sadly, we’re stumped. Everything on her list had already been purchased by others. Ashley gave me a few ideas, but also asked that I not fret over it. Sees little value in buying toys to be buying toys. Suggested that all of us consider giving gifts that last, like money moving forward. I like the way she thinks, and told her as much. A quick check of Giant Eagles vast beer selection netted no Rajah.  I left there empty handed. Back to work.
The afternoon was like the morning, easy. Things are slowing down for the big holiday. Barring some unusual event, it should get even slower – easier as the work week progresses.

Talked with Mindy late afternoon sorting through who was doing what, including running Bella to and from gymnastics. The original plan was for her to drop and me to pick-up, but I made arrangements to pick-up a Xmas gift at 730pm. I explained that it would be far better for me to do the drop. Mindy agreed, and actually felt it would make her plans smoother, allowing her & Jacob to finish some Xmas shopping for Jimaken before getting Bella. Perfect!

I left work for home around 450pm. The early jump made all the difference. Rush hour traffic didn’t have a chance to back-up. Mindy said that we were all on our own for dinner. She reheated some of Saturday’s spaghetti for Bella. She needs to eat before gymnastics. Bella and I headed for the gym at 540pm. Mindy said that she and Jacob would almost certainly be gone by the time I was back at home.

On Bella’s recommendation, we took the back way to the gym (Fisher to Phillipi to Georgesville). That was a smart move. I-70 was at a complete standstill entering 270. Arrived home at 610pm. As expected, Mindy and Jacob were already gone. I spent an hour or so writing in my blog before leaving to pick-up that Xmas present.

Arrived at the venue just before 730pm and took care of the gift right away. I decided to stick around and have a beer. Wasn’t there that long, however. I’m guessing no more than 25 minutes. I was surprised to see that Mindy was already back from Xmas shopping and picking up Bella. Turns out, they had just walked in the door too. She had Bella go to the basement and help her wrap Jimaken’s gift – some elf shorts. The kids, by the way, we were leaving that night between 9-10pm, or as soon as Jimaken got out of class. He’s keeping them through Xmas eve though he asked if we could keep them for a few hours over the weekend so he can finalize some Xmas shopping.

I was hungry, still having not eaten any dinner. I opted to warm my leftover Cuban from Sunday night. I took the time to reheat it on the pizza stone making for a much better experience. Yum-yum! I poured a Brew Kettle Xmas ale to help wash it down. I tuned the TV to the Buckeye basketball game against Winthrop. Early on, they were giving the Buckeyes all they could handle. The Buckeyes pulled away in the 2nd half.

Jimaken picked up the kids around 920pm. Just like that Mindy and I were alone. We watched the rest of the Buckeye game and then tuned to Mankind, the history of us all, watching an episode about the end of the Revolutionary War thru the Amarican Civil War. Interestingly enough, the Civil War was the deadliest war in our history, losing some 600K lives. According to the History Channel, that’s more than both World Wars combined. I fell asleep watching TV. Mindy was off to bed during my slumber. I woke around 1045pm and headed for bed. Mindy was still awake and found her way to lie my chest.

Cutting the Cord

Like a lot of mornings of late, I over slept by several minutes, not getting out of bed until almost 550am. And by the time I was downstairs preparing to exercise, it was already closing in on 6am. I breezed through sit-ups, windmills, and push-ups eager to get to the coffee phase of my morning. Ahh! Because it was already after 6am, I headed upstairs to wake Mindy before enjoying any coffee of my own. At 620am I was finally able to kick back and play for a while.

I decided then that I wasn’t going to rush to get out for my run. Instead, I took the time to log on to my Cord Camera account and upload the many photos I wanted to print. That took some doing as I wasn’t entirely sure how to upload my created albums. I figured it out with relative ease. The uploader works far better, faster than it used to. I guess the credit should be split between both Time Warner and Cord. Uploaded 264 photos in about 15 minutes, and that included creating 4 distinct folders on Cord’s online tool. According to Cord’s website, the photos should be available for pick-up same day. Was very pleased to have that task out of the way. I headed to the family room for meditation and stretching. It was about 635am.

Between the two, I spent about 15 minutes. Jacob was downstairs having his breakfast while I stretched. He was dressed in shorts. It was around 50 degrees again with some very light rain. It was already 7am. I headed upstairs to bid Mindy farewell before my run.

As much as I hated to, I trimmed my run to just three miles for the fourth day in a row. Even then, Mindy was already gone by the time I got back home. I was happy to see that the Rumpkee recycling picked up the extra recycling we left sitting by the can even though the written policy states that they won’t.

Bella was on the ball. She came to the door with the pug and leash as soon as I was back at home after my run. Eiknarf took care of business in a hurry. We hustled back home for some eggs. My two fried eggs were waiting in the microwave. I nuked for 12 seconds to get them hot. At the same time, Bella saw to it that the pug was fed and watered.

It was already 755am by the time I finished breakfast. I decided to hold off on the shower until after bus stop time and instead, used the time to unload the dishwasher. 810am came around in a hurry. As planned, Bella carried out her bag of gifts along with her back-pack. Amongst the gifts was one for Mrs. Vanorder, the bus driver. She’s been doing this route since Jacob’s 1st grade school year, perhaps longer. By the way, tomorrow, Tuesday, December 18th is the kids’ last day of before Xmas break. Man that came around fast!

Once Bella & Makayla were safely on the bus, Chrissy shared some details of her work Xmas party. Sounds like Kenny had a little too much fun. Eiknarf and I headed for home. I took a shower as soon as we were back inside. Threw together some veggies, cheese, nuts and fruit for lunch, made sure I had my Cord receipt, then left for work near 9am.

Arrived at work a little later than I would’ve liked, but I this time of year one needs to take advantage of every opportunity to prep for Xmas. It really makes no sense. Can’t tell you how many people I’ve heard complain recently of being overly stressed/taxed all in the name of Xmas. Isn’t this a time for joy, family, friends, and fun?

Work was actually as calm as it’s been in recent memory, but then again, that’s pretty typical for this time of year barring some catastrophic event. Believe me, I welcome the break with open arms! Talked with my boss. He told me all about his weekend hiking at Battelle Memorial Park along the Little Darby. Wandered down an uncharted path eventually ending up, unbeknownst to them until later, in open hunting fields. Yikes!!

Called the Lane Ave. Cord Camera around 1030am to make sure they got my online order and to see if it might be ready. Got some clown named Rollie. He was a trip. Gave me the run around telling me that their processing machine was down but that they’d definitely have my order done by 5pm. Uh, OK.

Come lunch time, I ran a Xmas related errand, making yet another visit to Target, then later a stop at Kohl's clear on the other side of Hilliard. During my time drive to and from, it poured buckets of rain. Sadly, all this rain is getting wasted. If only it were below freezing, we’d have a good foot of snow on the ground. Felt a sense of relief to get so many Xmas tasks done during lunch. Just a blink of an eye ago, it seemed we had all sorts of time to get these things done, but then all of the sudden, the time is now! Yikes!

Arrived back at the office near 2pm for more work related fun. Just like the morning, it was an easy afternoon. I called Cord again at 445pm to see if my pics were ready for pick-up. Talked with Rollie again. Same song and dance only this time telling me that their processing machine was still down. I had a number of questions, including why they didn't simply process my order out of another Cord store close by. Lord knows there are many. With no good answers, I asked to speak to a manager. The next guy up wasn't a manager, but instead the tech on site to repair the processing machine. He was brighter, more sensible than Rollie seemed, but still had little in the way of when I might get my same-day photos. I insisted on talking to a manager.

Soon Phil was on the phone. He said he was in fact the store manager and went on to share their misfortune. Assured me that they'd have their machine up and working soon and likely have my order printed up yet that evening. Worst case being that they wouldn't be available for pick-up Tuesday at opening (10am). What I don't like is that they advertise 1 hour photo finishing but that is NOT guaranteed and also without repercussions. He promised to call me at home that evening when ready. For the hassle, I felt they should do the processing for half price. In all likelihood, I'll be going elsewhere next time. No longer does it seem that Cord has the dominance and expertise they once enjoyed.

Left for home near 5pm. Called Mindy in route to home. Said she was looking forward to a quiet evening at home with just me and the kids. Got home around 530pm. Forgot to mention that we had a pork roast cooking in the crock-pot all afternoon. Smelt terrific. Mindy dished up dinner while I unpacked and rinsed my lunch containers. While dishing up dinner, Mindy mentioned that while she was looking forward to a quiet evening at home, she had told teacher pal Keri that she would come care for young son, Sawyer, while she and Kevin sat at Children's hospital with their 3 year old Garrett, who apparently sliced his big toe pretty good at daycare. She was waiting on a call back from Keri.

Dinner was delicious. Rarely is a pork roast not good. I had a small, 2nd helping of pork. just as we were finishing dinner, Keri called taking Mindy up on her offer to come get Sawyer at Children's. Apparently the wait was going to be really long. As I understood it, as much as a 4-5 hour wait. Yikes! Jacob elected to ride with Mindy to go meet Kevin at Children's Hospital and pick-up Sawyer.

They hadn't been gone five minutes when my phone rang, It was Phil from Cord telling me that my photos were ready. Bella wanted to stay home while I ran to Cord on Lane Ave. I called Mindy to measure her opinion. She said she'd rather Bella go with. Agreed. Sorry, Bella, but you've got to ride along. She didn't fuss. I think she appreciated that I asked Mindy. I told her we'd be back home in about 30 minutes.

We headed out less than five minutes later. Took about 12 minutes to get there. Located at the intersection of Lane and North Star. They had my package of photos waiting on the counter. I wasn't in the store even a minute. I thanked Phil for keeping his word and shook his hand. Bella and I headed for home. All totaled, we were out 25 minutes.

I was very surprised to find Mindy & Jacob already back home with baby Sawyer. Of course they were fussing over him like a new puppy. Surprisingly, Jacob loves babies, always has. He was fantastic with both Landon and Olivia, too. Must get it from his momma. Innate, I guess.

Bella fussed over Sawyer some too, but nearly as much as Jacob. Even before dinner, Bella asked Mindy about her siblings back in Guatemala. Wanted to know if she was the oldest, youngest, or middle. Also asked if there was a way to get in touch with any of them. I appreciate her curiosity. Mindy was pretty straight forward, but seemed to quickly dismissed the notion of being able to find siblings. My guess is that if we tried hard enough we likely could, but then there's the corrupt/criminal element that we wouldn't want to invite into our lives that needs to be considered as well.

While Mindy and Bella gave Sawyer a bath, I tuned into MNF and did a little reading. And it should come as no surprise that I fell asleep while doing so. I woke when Mindy, Sawyer, and Bella came back downstairs. Mindy held him close for about half an hour, never once did he make even a peep - a very content baby. She eventually slipped him into his car seat/rocker where he fell asleep. Through late evening, Mindy & Keri exchanged texts, Keri sharing where they stood in the emergency room queue. I headed for bed around 1020pm, and they still were waiting. How painful is that? I tuned into MNF from bed, catching maybe another 10 minutes before giving way to blissful sleep.

Jumping

I woke around 515am only to realize that it wasn’t a work day. Hooray! I fell right back asleep, not waking again until about 710am. I laid there for a few minutes thinking I might get some more sleep, but after a couple minutes it became clear that I was ready to get moving.

I tip-toed to the guest bedroom where the boys were sleeping planning so I could close the bedroom door. The TV was going and Landon was awake. He glanced my way as I pulled the door closed anyway but made no effort to get out of bed. I headed to the kitchen where I happily started a pot of coffee. Before I could finish, I was joined by Landon. Just like he did Saturday morning, he asked for some coffee.

I played around on the computer until the coffee finished brewing. Once finished, I poured a cup for myself and Landon, though his was mostly chocolate milk with just a shot or two of coffee. He drank it down in a hurry. I stopped him from heading back upstairs. Said he wanted to watch TV in the guest room where Rocky was sleeping. I quickly nixed that notion in favor of cartoons on the family room TV. I definitely didn’t want him waking the others.

Mindy was up a short time later. I am guessing around 830am. Once she made a cup of coffee, she joined me in the living room sitting in the recliner while I played around online. I think she quickly bored of the silence and headed to her laptop in the other room. I very much like my alone time early mornings to enjoy coffee, read headlines and play on the computer.

I readied and left for a run around 910am, but not before doing a thorough stretch on the livingroom floor. It was frightfully warm, already in the low 50s. Felt like springtime. I ran three miles like I do most other Saturdays & Sundays. Back home around 945am. By then everyone was up and Mindy was starting to make breakfast omelets. Courtney Jump called around 1030am to plan their visit for later that afternoon. Sounded like they’d be coming over around 1pm. We’ve been looking forward to seeing them. It’s been a really long time. Mindy also confirmed the time Lindsey was coming to get the boys. I was much looking forward to getting our house back in order. While Mindy toiled in the kitchen, I headed up for a shower. But when I passed our old tube TV still resting in our bedroom on the floor by our bed since TG, I decided to beckon Jacob’s help and carry it to the curb. It weighs a ton!

Our plan was to slide it down the stairs only having to control its speed without any lifting. Smart! Once by the front door we carried it the rest of the way to the curb. Jacob did fine, but looked to be struggling. Inside, I had Bella draft a sign to put on the screen that said TV works – Free! After my shower, I carried the remote control out and say atop the TV hoping someone would stop and pick it up.

Inside again, Mindy gave me the choice of cheese and bacon or another omelet with even more stuff. I went with the cheese and bacon. It was good. Earlier than expected, Lindsey showed up a few minutes later to pick-up the boys. They were gone by 11am. After breakfast, Mindy was off to the shower. While she was away, Jacob and I cleaned the downstairs. He vacuumed the tile and carpets while I swept and mopped the tile floor.

It felt good to have the house back in order along with some peace and quiet. I spent an hour or so writing in my blog and fooling around online. At some point the Jump’s called to share that they were running behind. Would be over closer to 130pm. I tuned into Sunday NFL action switching back and forth between the FOX and CBS games. The Vikings game wasn’t televised, but I saw that they scored on their opening drive against the Rams.

Before the Jump’s arrived, Mindy laid out a few simple snacks. As planned, our guests showed up around 130pm. The kids have grown quite a bit, and both are very articulate. Courtney & Jeremy both seem to be doing good, too. Even though they’re in the Boston suburbs, it sounds like they get to see most OSU games. Courtney shared that she’s back to working after taking the last four or five off to raise the little ones. I suspect it mostly for the adult interaction and perhaps even a feeling of contribution as Jeremy does pretty well in his career.

We shared exterminator stores, Mindy sharing our piss ant invasion; Jeremy & Courtney battling bats in their attic. In each case, we had to call our exterminators back for repeat treatments. I was surprised to hear that bats are protected, thus can’t simply be eradicated. Instead, they have to be trapped and removed. The key is preventing access. Their bat story morphed into a story about the bane of my existence, Canada geese.

They hung out for a couple hours. They had a busy agenda, only planning to be in town for two days (leaving Monday morning). They were meeting Jeremy’s family at Barley’s for dinner. Mindy shared that perhaps we would dine there too. We promised to try and get up to Boston for a visit soon.

The Jump’s weren’t gone 10 minutes before Mindy prepared to leave for grocery shopping. However, before she left, I suggested we do our family Xmas picture. To pique the kids’ interests, I suggested it be a fun setting, make a silly face, wear silly Xmas attire. Jacob bought in right away. Call me genius! We took about nine different shots, the first, a no emotion pose. Jacob was by far the most eccentric. We took turns wearing the Santa shorts David Waters sent us, as well as passing around many other Xmas props.

While Mindy was away at the grocery, I edited our Xmas shots. I was a little disappointed with the framing. I simply didn’t do a good job making sure we were all situated properly. Oh well. I cropped several of my faves to 4”X6” then modified color, lighting, etc – making some black & white, too. I figured to let Mindy choose the one for holiday distribution. IN the back of my mind, I knew Mindy is much the traditionalist and might not go for the humorous element. But doing so made the kids happy and participative, which is important.

In addition to editing our Xmas photos, I also kept a loose eye on the day’s NFL action. The Vikings and Adrian Peterson had a banner day against the Rams, winning 36-22. In fact, AP racked up over 200 yards rushing for the 2nd time in three weeks, and is closing in on the single season rushing record.

I sent Mindy a text asking her to pick-up stamps. She was gone a little more than an hour. Bella and I helped her carry in the groceries. It was near 5pm. Mindy confirmed that she wanted to do Barley’s for dinner. Sounded good to me too, especially given that we didn’t get out Friday or Saturday night. By the time the dog was walked and all four of us were ready it was 540pm. A we loaded into the car, I noticed that the 32” TV that Jacob and I carried to the curb earlier was gone. Yippee!

Arrived just ahead of 6pm. Mindy confirmed that the idea wasn’t to dine with the Jump’s, but rather to simply be there having dinner, too. Far bigger crowd than I expected. We had to park in the back 40, which is almost unheard of on a Sunday. We guessed Xmas parties. We had to wait for a booth in Justin’s section. While waiting, he fetched the kids soft drinks and Mindy and I a beer, me a Centennial, and Mindy a Fortune Teller.

We let Bella bring the iPhone. As one might expect, she played on it for most of our visit. The kids both ordered chicken tenders. Mindy ordered muscles, and I ordered a Cuban with bacon. Justin confirmed that they had the Southern Tier 2Xmas ale on tap, but insisted that the Twelve Dogs Xmas ale was even better. Having heard the same from others, I opted to give it a try. Not close. I didn’t care for it at all. I let Mindy give it a try too. She agreed. We asked Justin if we could exchange it, or perhaps even buy it for him. He brought us the Southern Tier 2Xmas in its place. Much better! Mindy & I shared it.

I ate only half my sandwich, taking the rest home as leftovers. The Jump’s stopped by on their way out for one last goodbye. I’m thinking it was near 730pm when we settled our tab and left for home. I drove.

At home, I quickly changed into my PJs and then showed Mindy our Xmas photos in several edits. We both liked the same photo, the only difference being she preferred the color version. I liked the B&W a little more. We ended up watching Barack live from CT from my PC.

Around 8-830pm we headed to the family room and tuned into SNF. I all but muted the volume so I could read, too. Got through 15-20 pages while football whirled in the background. The 49ers were hammering the Patriots early on, building up a 31-3 lead in cold, rainy conditions. Everybody was off to bed before halftime except for me. I watched football until mid-3rd quarter. I finally called it a night near 11pm with the Patriots trying to mount a comeback. It was 31-17 when I headed for bed.

Grand Funk

Woke once around 4am but then not again until a few minutes after 8am. Before I could slip away, Mindy asked that I bring her coffee as soon as it was ready. She had a breakfast date planned with her friend Teri.

I was in the kitchen starting coffee when I was joined by Landon and Rocky. Didn’t appear that I was going to get the quiet, alone time I crave. They asked for coffee but I refused. As soon as it was ready, I took Mindy a cup. I could soon hear her up and getting ready for her breakfast date. The boys were a handful, and certainly not interested in being quiet, but then again, what 5 & 9 year old is?

Not sure the time when Mindy left to meet Teri, but until then it hadn’t dawned on me how or when I might get away for my run. Ugh! She expected to be gone for a while. I’m thinking she left just before 10am. A few minutes, once I heard Jacob up and stirring, I let him know that I was leaving for a run and to keep an eye on the boys. He agreed. It was 43 degrees, a little too warm for what I was wearing. I was in my typical winter gear. I ran the usual three mile weekend route. The whole time, I worried about what I might find upon my return to the house.

Thankfully, my fears were largely for not. The only problem was that one of the kids had been in the garage and left the entry door opened. I asked Rocky if he had been in the garage. He denied it, instead blaming it on Landon. I just wanted him to come close it. Jacob soon told me that Rocky was out there getting a drink box, which I had no problem with whatsoever. What I did have a problem with was that he lied to me about it. I didn’t let it pass. Instead, I called him out. He finally fessed up but also told me that Landon was out there too. So as it was, both lied to me. I put both in time outs separated from one another. At the same time, Jacob headed out to play with Evan. Rocky was especially disappointed.

While in time out, I reminded both that asking to get up would only add more time, and that I would let them know when it was time to get up. However, despite my warnings, Rocky ended up asking me two or three times. I extended his time out by five minutes each time. And when I told Landon he could get up, he didn’t want to. He was enjoying relaxing in the recliner. 

I let Rocky up after about 20 minutes. He soon ran off to find Jacob and Evan. Landon eventually followed too. No sooner had the boys headed out when Bella and Makayla came in from the back door. They tracked muddy footprints all through the kitchen. I gave them hell and made Bella clean up the mud. She wasn’t happy about. Makayla apparently didn’t want to help or wait. She quickly dashed off for home.  As soon as Bella was done, she bolted for her room. After giving her a few minutes to sulk, I headed up to talk.

Mindy wasn’t home until 2-230pm. I heard Bella whispering to Mindy, telling her about the mud episode. Too funny! Not too much time passed before the boys were back for lunch. Rocky complained to Mindy about the time out I put him in. I was under siege!

I didn’t do much of anything all afternoon. I watched a little football and took a couple brief naps while the kids went in and out. After Mindy made the kids lunch, she and the girls whipped up a batch of sugar cookie dough. A couple of times she asked me what our dinner plans were. I had nothing in mind, and frankly wasn’t at all hungry. In the back of my mind, I thought about slipping away for some Xmas shopping and perhaps even a stop at Barley’s, but ended up doing neither. Instead, I made like a lazy lump of humanity, sitting around all afternoon and early evening wondering where my weekend had gone.

When I offered no options or decision on dinner, Mindy opted to make the kids spaghetti & meatballs. The only problem was, we didn’t have any meatballs. They ended up having pasta and red sauce. Not sure if it was before or after dinner when Mindy and a few of the kids baked cookies and decorated the Xmas themed gingerbread house. I think it was Bella, Makayla, and Landon. Rocky & Jacob showed no interest. At one point I woke from another nap to find Lane & AJ over too. We had another house full.

It was around 730-8pm by the time Mindy cleaned up the dinner mess and started decorating cookies with the kids. While they did that, I finally got up and made myself a snack, summer sausage, cheese, hot pepper rings on crackers. I snapped a couple photos of the cookies the kids decorated. I also enjoyed the last of three beers I put in the fridge the evening before. I put two more in the freezer for later.

The plan was to watch the Muppets Xmas DVD Mindy brought home. However, since switching around the audio cables to accommodate the new Time Warner cable box last week, the audio output from the Blu-ray player isn’t working via the Digital Audio In cable on the receiver. With little investigation, I determined that we need to order another fiber optic audio cable.

I helped Mindy by getting the boys started with baths. Mindy agreed to finish up with them. After baths and showers, instead of watching the Muppet DVD, we watched a couple Xmas programs on the Time Warner cable line-up. Jacob didn’t have any interest and headed to his room. The boys quickly fell asleep during the program leaving me, Bella, Makayla, and Mindy to watch.

We woke the boys for bed once Mindy declared it her own bedtime. Landon can be sound asleep but somehow manages to leap to his feet and head to bed almost on demand. Good thing. He weighs a ton – impossible to carry. Bella, Makayla and I stayed up long enough to watch SNL. After napping most of the afternoon away, I seemed to catch a 2nd wind. SNL opened with the NYC children’s choir singing Silent Night, presumably in honor of the horrific tragedy in CT the day before. The girls watched about 40 minutes of SNL before heading off to bed. Soon after they headed to bed, I did so as well. It was well past midnight.

Franklin & Columbus

Was up near 540am and promptly downstairs ready to begin my day. I completed calisthenics, which included push-ups. I seemed to breeze through them all with relative ease. Enjoyed coffee and internet for a few minutes then headed upstairs to wake Mindy. Back downstairs I played around online until almost 630am. Checked the weather. It was clear and cold, only 29 degrees. Didn’t expect it to be that cold. I checked MRM’s webcams to see if they were making more snow overnight. Nope! Expecting a high near 50 Friday with even warmer temps forecasted for the weekend. Ho-hum!

Still waiting on Amazon to ship our new twin-sized air mattress. Via their tracking page, it’s been sitting at the UPS terminal here in CMH since Monday. By the time I did meditation and a stretch, it was close to 7am. Headed up to bid Mindy farewell ahead of my run. She was off to wake Bella as I was heading out the door.

Decided to curb my run to only three miles in an effort to stay at least somewhat on track time-wise. Iran 4.1 miles every other day that week, so what the heck. It was a relatively easy run without any discomfort whatsoever. Mindy was just backing down the driveway as I round the final stretch for home. She waited for me to get home before moving on. Wished her well, and also reminded her to call Honda about scheduling the Pilot for an oil change and to have them check the shaking we feel when braking.

Bella was helpful in readying the pug for a walk when I headed inside. The pug and I headed out for about 10 minutes where she took care of her business as usual. Enjoyed the two eggs Mindy left in the microwave after zapping them for another 12 seconds. Bella headed upstairs to finish her ready a few minutes ahead of me. I didn’t get upstairs for a shower until 750am. I was quick, though, and back downstairs with a couple minutes to spare before bus stop time.

It was still around freezing, and while it looked to be a sunny day, it wasn’t yet high enough to shine on us. Bus arrived on time. Eiknarf and I headed for home, but not before taking a dump in our own front yard. I took a few minutes to throw together a few snacks: some nuts, a banana, and two cheese sticks. I checked a couple things online before securing the home and heading into work. Made sure that all the blinds were drawn.

I didn’t need gas, but noticed the price was as low as it’s been all year, only $3.06 per gallon. Arrived at work near 910am, several minutes later than normal. Once settled, I spent the first couple hours of my day completing two mandatory online training courses. Immediately after, I worked on a couple weekly reports that carried me up to lunchtime. I had a busy lunch hour planned. I hoped to get my hair cut and then stop at the Market District and possibly even the Krema Nut company.

I stopped at the Mill Run Saturday’s first. There were three customers queued up and only one stylist working, Connie, the manager. When I asked how long the wait she said it would be 30 minutes. She went on about it being 10 days before Xmas. She suggested I sign in and go run errands. No thanks. That wasn’t going to work for me.

I altered my plan. I knew there was a Saturday’s around the corner from the Market District. I figured I’d stop in there and see if they could get me in sooner. Sure enough, there wasn’t a wait there at all. The girl that cut my hair was 6 months pregnant. I didn’t make mention of her bulging belly until she brought it up. I learned several years ago never to assume even when it looks completely obvious. Can’t recall her name but she was fast and efficient. Cut it perhaps a tad shorter than I would’ve preferred, but hey, at least that was now out of the way.

Headed to Market District next, where I picked up several rockets of beer and a couple bottles of wine for gift baskets. I wanted to pick-up some White Rajah, too, but they didn’t have any. Said they’ve ordered it but there seems to be production issue. Headed to Krema Nuts next. Called Tommy while in transit. Asked if he wanted to join us for dinner Friday at El Vaquero. Doesn’t sound like he’ll be able to make it. Said he’s needed at the stores. According to him they’re busier than ever, which is a good thing. We also chatted about Xmas eve. Sounds like he and Wally will make it to our place. We also chatted about winter ski trip venues. Said his RCI time share points are available and need to be used or lost prior to April. Asked him to check for Utah Solitude availability.

Krema Nuts had quite the crowd on hand. It’s a small place, too. I picked up a basket full of Krema goodies (nuts & snacks). The owner was working the register and shared that Nationwide is buying up all the property surrounding them. Sounds like he’d like to sell and retire. Headed back to the office after being out about 75 minutes.

It was a low-key, easy afternoon. Spent about an hour talking with peer – sales guy, Chris, who is an avid skier, and far better than me. In his office, he showed me a couple You Tube videos of last year’s trips to Steamboat & Bachelor. My boss came by to share what he knew about the some shootings in CT. Very sad story developing. Several children and teachers. 

Around 330pm, I dug into a recent escalation. While working through it I got a call from an old peer, Lance, who was down in the lobby and wanted to come up for a visit. I went down and got him. All totaled, we spent about an hour visiting. Took him to visit with the boss too. He left around 445pm. I spent the remainder of my work day wrapping up a weekly report and then taking care of my timesheet. Didn’t get out of the office until almost 530pm. I called Mindy before leaving for home. Said she was just learning about the CT school shootings. I guessed they didn’t tell the teachers so not to cause panic in the school earlier in the day. She reminded me that the Lindsey was bringing the boys over around 6-630pm.
I shared the text Lindsey sent me earlier that morning asking me to buy she and boys Justin Bieber concert tickets for her Xmas & birthday presents.

Arrived home around 550pm. Mindy helped me carry in the beer, wine and nuts. She suggested we order pizzas for dinner after the boys showed up. We’d loosely discussed our evening plans, which were to do fun Xmas things with the kids. Before I could even get settled, Lindsey brought the boys and her laundry over. The boys were staying with us for the weekend, giving Lindsey two days of much needed rest, which is something Lindsey asked for.

Along with the boys, Bella soon entered with all the island girls. We had 7 kids in the house along with all of Lindsey’s laundry. My mood soon soured. Our usually tranquil home was suddenly anything but. Jacob must’ve felt like me, the only difference being he wasn’t afraid to voice his displeasure. He even went as far to ask the girls to leave. Mindy quickly shut him down.

Mindy ordered pizzas and salad from Minelli’s. I agreed to go after the order and took Landon with me. All the neighbor kids were still there when we got back. I wasn’t sure we had enough to feed the entire army. Wasn’t quite my idea of a Friday evening. After pizza, salad, and pop, Mindy organized Xmas crafts for all the kids. While they did crafts, I spent time at my computer and then watching some TV. Mindy made a few disparaging comments about my lack of participation. She was right, but I just wasn’t feeling it.

All the girls ended up heading to Chrissy & Kenny’s for a sleepover leaving just the boys at our place. Rocky asked several times if he could sleep in Jacob’s room. Jacob didn’t want him to. Instead, we set he and Landon up in the guest room. Everybody but me was in bed by 10pm. I stayed up enjoying a Jack & Coke and watching a History Channel program about Christopher Columbus & Ben Franklin. I fell asleep on the sofa near 11pm and slept there until about 1am when I upped and headed for bed.

Vito Delivers

Was up near regular time and quickly downstairs engaged in morning calisthenics. It was Thursday, an easy exercise (no push-up) day. They were behind me by 555am and soon I was at my PC with coffee. It was another clear morning, the 2nd in a row. Still cold, too, only 29 degrees.

I fooled around online until time to wake Mindy at 605am. I returned for my coffee and fun before mediation. In fact, I was at my PC until almost 620am. I needed to be in New Albany for a 9am meeting. I really needed to get moving. Despite being pressed for time, i still did a thorough meditation and stretch. No sense selling myself short.

The newest pattern emerging is me getting out for my run so late that I wish Mindy well before my run. I headed up to say goodbye around 645am. I was still out the door ahead of Jacob. It was cold but I was dressed for it. I'm starting to adjust to winter's chill, getting along just fine with one winter wicking layer and my light jacket with temps in the mid 20s. I try to save adding the 2nd winter wicking layer for the single digit temps. I ran the full 4.1 miles and still made it home just before Mindy left for school. Just barely, though.
She headed out the door for her seminar soon after I leashed up the pug. I reminded her about the Time Warner service call between 4-5pm.

My eggs were runny even after I rewarmed them in the microwave for 12 seconds. I hit them again for 15 seconds more. That did the trick. Bella and I enjoyed a little time together. We checked the Mad River Mt. website, again enjoying the live web cam feed of their snow making process. Sadly, the weather's supposed to warm above freezing for the next several day and nights. All their efforts might be for not. Looking ahead, I wouldn't be surprised if next weekend's opening gets further postponed.

Off to the shower by 745am, and then back downstairs 15 minutes later dressed and ready to go. Started putting together my lunch even though I was scheduled to have lunch with a handful of coworkers. Bella and I headed out for the bus at 810am, but not before starting/warming the Accord. Chrissy & Makayla met us there. Chrissy still with shower wet hair. I insisted that it was OK to leave Makayla with me so she could head back inside and finish her ready for work. The bus showed up around 815am.

I hurried back inside to secure the home before leaving for the office. I started the dishwasher on my way out the door. Almost a repeat of the last time I needed to be across town for a 9am start time, I ran into a serious traffic jam on 670E near downtown. I could only shake my head in disgust & disbelief because it only seems to happen when I have a looming deadline. However, despite the slowdown, I made it to the meeting on time. Of course, it didn't hurt that I was able to snatch one of the coveted 20 minute parking spots near the building's main entrance. Rare for any of those to avail themselves, especially at the 9am hour.

I hustled inside where folks were still just gathering. I still had a few minutes to spare. Chatted with a couple peers before the meeting got underway, essentially a status update from our customer on their holiday season success thus far. The meeting was brief. As expected, they emphasized the need for sustained focus through the rest of the holiday sales season.

After the meeting ended, a few of my peers and I talked a little shop,. Alicia, the sales executive confirmed everyone's attendance at the luncheon she scheduled. And while I planned to work on campus all day, I graciously opted out of the lunch. I had a long list of to-dos I wanted to knock out, but also wanted to use my lunch hour for Xmas shopping.

I headed to another building on the campus where my office is located. I was granted access to the connecting tunnel some months ago, but I've yet to figure out how to access it. Instead, I drove over.
I was logged in and settled by 10am.

I spent a couple hours reviewing/analyzing a detailed technical report I had run over the last week. My goal was to put together a summary and then some actions items as follow-up to those results. Worked on that until 1245pm. I responded to a handful of emails then left for lunch and Xmas shopping. I made two stops, pretty much eating up an entire hour. A customer phoned just as I was walking back to my car. I took the call and promised to look at their issue and get back with him as soon as possible.

Arrived back on campus near 2pm. Vito, a Time Warner tech, called just I was parking my car. Asked if he might be able to come to our service call appointment early. I thanked him for the offer, but shared that neither me or Mindy would be home until around 4pm. I took the opportunity to define the problem since i wouldn't be there, which is something Mindy expressed worry over having to address in my absence. We chatted for a while, me eventually sharing that I worked for Time Warner for 15 years, but 15 years ago. Several of the guys that used to work for me run the place now. I'd like to think that's no coincidence. I taught them well. I offered to give Vito Mindy's cell phone since she'd actually be the one meeting him, but he didn't want to bother her. Said he'd show up as scheduled, between 4-5pm. As promised, I followed up on the issue another customer called me about as soon as I was back at my desk. Essentially, I had to coordinate getting our technical resources to call the customer's technical team to sort through the problem. Sometimes that can be a challenge, but this time I was able to get the parties talking in relative short order.

Stayed busy all afternoon leading up to our 415pm weekly team call. During our team call my boss presented a new operational strategy. Went far longer than most of his weekly calls. During the call, Mindy was texting, providing updates about our Time Warner service call. Vito was there for almost 90 minutes squaring away our service issues. I didn't get out of the office until 515pm. I called Mindy in route to home. Vito was still there. She handed the phone to him so we could talk. He explained what he did to correct our issue. He also passed along a couple hellos from former team members.

Traffic thickened, just as it normally does near Hilliard, but it never came to the dreaded stand still fairly common at rush hour. I arrived home near 545pm. Mindy was already gone, running Bella to gymnastics and then picking up her mom to go Xmas shopping. She sent a text asking me to plan on picking Bella up from gymnastics.

At home I spent time working on my Xmas photo project, eventually finishing up the edits for Gloria's album. It was already time to go after Bella. I headed out the door at 715pm. I made good time, arriving at the gym around 725pm. Practice was just wrapping up. I had to wait no more than five minutes. Even before we got into the car, Bella asked if we could stop at Wendy's. I didn't verbally commit either way, but figured I would.

We ended up stopping at the McDonald's nearest our home. Uncharacteristically, Bella wanted only a cheeseburger plain with pickles. That's all we ordered. I didn't bother ordering anything for myself or Jacob. Apparently Jacob felt a bit put out, and unbeknownst to me, called his mom asking that she bring him home some food from her Xmas shopping spree. She got home maybe 30 minutes later and had more McDonalds in tow. Somehow she thought I asked for a cheeseburger, but I didn't. I didn't want any of that crap! She must've misunderstood me when I told her that I picked up a cheeseburger for Bella earlier.

While Mindy & Jacob enjoyed their McD's, I poured a Jack & Coke and tuned into Thursday night NFL action, the Bengals and Eagles. The Bengals took an early 10-0 lead. Looked really good in the 1st quarter. But as good as they looked early on, they looked equally as bad in the 2nd quarter. By halftime they were trailing 13-10. Kept shooting themselves in the foot, much like they did last Sunday against Dallas when the y dropped several key passes on offense and dropped three easy interceptions that would've sealed the victory. Come halftime I was beginning to dose from the sofa so I headed to bed.