Thunder of Wade

After work on Friday I hit the pool and did 60 laps.  Felt pretty strong afterwards and when I got home I took myself for about a 4 mile walk.   The heat started to wear on me and ever with a break in there for dinner in air conditioning, I was still worn out.  I was almost home and started to cut across and exit ramp from the highway –  and though the way was clear, I was still going against the light.

No sooner had I stepped into the street when a police car fired up his sirens and lights and started to pull into the intersection.

“Great”, I thought, “I’m going to get a ticket for jaywalking. I cannot freaking believe this”

Instead, though, the police car pulled through the intersection and the next one before turning off this lights and sirens.

So, no ticket.  Just a really impatient police officer running a red light.

I spent much of the morning on Saturday doing some housecleaning to get ready for my former neighbors visiting on Sunday afternoon.  I was just about done mopping when I got a text saying that they had accidently double-booked and would need to reschedule for another day.  I was fine with that – though I am getting a little weary of keeping my place so clean.  I need a little disorder, I think.

That afternoon I was up at the mall looking for a tea strainer.  My mint is drying nicely in my basement and I’ve been looking for a strainer for a few days now.  Went into a Williams Sonoma figuring that if anyone had one, it would this place.  A somewhat zealous clerk approached me and asked if she could help and when I told her what I was looking for she took me right over to the section. She handed me the tea strainer and asked if I had been to Teavana – I told her,

“No, I’m making my own tea,”

She got a puzzled look on her face and I continued, “I’m growing mint in my backyard,”

Based on her reaction, you would have thought that I was the most clever person that had ever lived.  It was a little disconcerting.    I managed to convince  her that I didn’t need the larger size for all the astonishing tea I was making and managed to escape with my purchase.

Yesterday, I went to a birthday party for one of my neighbors.  It was outside in the full sun and we all got pretty well cooked.  The food was excellent and the company was fun.   One of the people I was talking to was from France, though he and his family have lived in the US for a number of years.  They speak French in their house and English otherwise, though they would all shift languages seemlessly.  He and I talked a little about Origami and I gave him some references.

It was late when I left and I may coined a new phrase when I announced:
“Time for me to go.  It’s already 10 minutes after yesterday,”

Today I’m headed to a small pool party and dinner.  Should be fun.

Not looking forward to this week though – it’s my buddy Casey’s last week with us before he takes a new job.

So, time to do a little folding, a little reading, and a little relaxing.  Gotta make the most of the weekend before it slips away.

I had a great 4th of July.  Got invited to take a boat trip on the Portage lakes with some friends and we had a really good time.    The day started at about 10:30 when we met up and headed to the lake.  The rented boat wasn’t ready for us yet, so we went into the bar and had some drinks  – I entertained the group with some paper folding.  We got the word that the boat was ready so drinks were finished and we loaded up.  Most of lakes and channels are “no-wake” zones so it was slow going, but we had our sandwiches and enjoyed the sunshine and the breeze.

We were quite a ways out when we had to turn back to pick up a late arrival.  Once he was on board we headed out again to a spot where we could stop and swim for a bit.  A few of us jumped out of the boat and enjoyed the water. And since the visibility in the water was about 0 feet, I almost immediately took off my trunks.  At one point, while I was treading water, one of my friends saw the trunks in my hand and grinned.  In a few moments, his trunks also surfaced in his hand.  I don’t think anyone else joined us, or if they did, they were even more subtle than we were.   It was very freeing and I was a little disappointed that we didn’t stay there longer.  So, trunks back on, we all climbed back into the boat.  Which was easier said than done – it was a pontoon boat with no ladder.  A few of us managed – barely – to pull ourselves back on the boat, but most needed someone to pull them up.

We cruised around the lakes for a while longer, then stopped again.  I doffed my trunks and tried to swim down to the anchor, but it was too cold down there.  The second swimming trip was cut short since we had to get back, but it was still fun.  We pulled into the dock right on time and got all the gear unloaded.

Later that evening I went to IHOP and some amazing pancakes.    Didn’t watch any fireworks this 4th, but still enjoyed the day off.

I had called my former neighbors last week and left them a message asking if they wanted to come over and see my place on Sunday.  I didn’t hear back from them until Sunday afternoon saying they couldn’t come – by that point, I had been a cleaning machine.  Right up until my cleaning machine – i.e. vacuum cleaner – broke.  Well, broke again.  The handle release broke once before and I had made a partial fix.  This time, parts flew across the room.  It was over 10 years old and badly in need of replacement.  And it smelled funny.

So, I salvaged some of the more interesting parts for future Halloween costumes and went out and bought a new vacuum and a mop.  The vaccum claims to be better than a Dyson at half the price.  Well, it was far less than half price  – don’t know about being better than a Dyson since I haven’t tried it yet – I had pretty much finished my cleaning when the old one broke.

The neighbors said they could maybe visit this weekend so I skipped the mopping until it gets a little closer to their visit. The place is looking really good – I’m pretty happy in my house now.  Though, in some ways, it STILL doesn’t feel like mine.  Weird.

I made my first harvest from my garden over the weekend.  Well, I cut some invasive mint that was growing next to the garage and hung it in the basement.  Think I might be able to make some tea at some point.  So, that counts, right?

Got some sad news at work.  My co-worker and one of my best friends is leaving the university.  He’s got a much better job, for more money, doing what he loves, with a much better commute.   So, I’m happy for him that he’s moving forward, but sad that he’s leaving our crew.  He’s got about a week and half before he’s gone and we’re taking him out for Chipotle for his farewell dinner.   I’ll keep in touch with him by email and text, but it won’t be the same.

I’m going on a day trip on a boat with some friends around one of the local lakes tomorrow for the 4th.  Should fun – looking forward to some sun and some swimming.  Swimming in the pool and doing laps is fine, but in a lake I’m more like an otter. 🙂

After work yesterday, I hopped in my car and headed down to see Jeff’s aunt.  I had a sort of vague notion of where her place was since I hadn’t been there for a while and ended up driving around almost randomly until I found the right street and enough landmarks.  Which is unlike me – I’m usually ready with a map in hand before heading out, but I was over-confident in my ability to find the place.  Turned out she wasn’t ready yet and I waited for a bit before we headed out to Olive Garden for dinner.

We chatted through dinner and had a nice time.  It was a little sad that Jeff wasn’t there as well, but I think it did us both some good.  After dinner I headed home and played some games for a bit and tried to call my former neighbors to invite them for a visit this weekend – but had to leave voice-mail.  I also got voice-mail from Jeff’s brother (he had called while I was driving home) – but he said he was going out with friends and I didn’t call back.

It was warm in my house since I didn’t have the AC on, but I didn’t think it would get in the way of my sleeping.  Here’s what did:

1. A some point in the night, I got the feeling that a heavy weight  – like, person heavy – was placed on one side of the bed, then lifted over me and set down on the other side, then lifted off the bed.   Like someone had sat down on the bed and then climbed over me.  And since I was sleeping alone and don’t have any pets, I catapulted out of sleep and was wide awake and freaked out in about 1.4 pico-seconds.

I got myself calmed down and drifted back into the closest I was going to get to sleep for the night when:

2. The phone rang – at 1:00 in the morning.  The phone was in the pocket of my pants and I scrambled out of bed to get it – knowing full well I wouldn’t get there in time and worried that it was something important.  My sister is way pregnant and I was worried that she might have gone into labor or something.  The phone stopped ringing as soon as I got to it and  I saw that it was Jeff’s brother.    He left a message asking me to call him.    I declined to call him back right then and instead dragged myself to the bathroom to pee and then back to bed.   (this morning I found he had also sent a text message to me at quarter to one and posted something on facebook at 2 am.  Nice gestures, but perhaps ill timed.)

3. The rest of the night was spent tossing and turning, partly awake and the rest vaguely nightmare filled sleep.

This morning when the alarm went off, I nearly wept.  I’m not used to this – I’m really really good at sleeping and was unprepared for last night.  Got up, got dressed, and headed into work.  Today is going to be a long day and I am bound and determined that tonight I am getting a good nights sleep.  Air conditioner on, ear plugs in, eye-mask on, and phone turned off.  And woe bit it to anyone who interferes in that – pretty sure I’m going to be all wrath-y if that happens.

Today would have been Jeff’s 42nd birthday.

It’s been on my mind the past few days and I’d been trying to figure out what to do.  Should I deliberately dwell on it – and try and work through some remaining issues?  Or keep myself busy and distracted?  The first seemed self-indulgent and depressing, the second seemed shallow.  The internal debate got me worked up and I kinda broke down again.  Took myself for a walk, got settled down a bit, and decided to come up with a third option somewhere in the middle.  That being, keep busy and focus on good things about Jeff.

So, to that end:

1. I finally made contact with the financial company where Jeff had his 401k.  After slogging through several 800 numbers, the worst hold music ever, and a cranky and confusing staff person – I finally reached a pleasant and helpful person who guided me through the process and is sending some paperwork for me to complete.

2. I called Jeff’s aunt and invited her to dinner tonight.  Figured it would be a nice thing to do and good for both of us.

3. After dinner, I plan on calling one of Jeff’s sisters to see how she’s doing.  Haven’t talked to her in a bit and a friendly voice might be a good distraction for her.

I’m also thinking about having my former neighbors over for a visit this weekend.

Feels like… maybe some closure.  Small steps to move on.

I went and saw Avenue Q with some friends on Friday.  Not a huge fan of musicals – I prefer my entertainment with far more explosions – but it was pretty good. It was sort of like an adult version of sesame street – but the performers of the puppets were fully visible.    And the puppets didn’t have legs.  So, sometimes you needed to focus on the puppets and their facial expressions, and sometimes on the performers as they moved.  And some of the people didn’t have puppets, so they were their characters.  It was a little jarring.  The songs were pretty good and I really liked the Bad Idea Bears.

In other news… last year I was contacted by one of my FRM’s kids.  He’s grown up now – sort of – and had gotten himself into a bit of trouble.  He asked if I would loan him some money and I agreed to do so – though not without drafting conditions for a loan and having a witness sign.  The terms were for 1 year, interest free – paid all at once or installments. And I threatened to tell his grandmother if he didn’t pay me back – and we both acknowledged at the time that it was unwise to cross her.

I hadn’t heard anything from him and since the deadline is approaching I was getting ready to contact him.  He sent me a message apologizing for not getting in touch with me and that he was working on getting the money paid back – but his message was coached in a way that made it sound like he was going to be asking for an extension, without actually coming out and asking me for an extension.

I gave this some thought for a few days, then replied and thanked him for the update – and gave him a somewhat stern reminder about the terms.  I’m not very good at confrontation, but an interest free loan for a year is a dang good deal and I was little cranky.  He sent me a note back confirming that he’ll pay me back by the deadline.   Sooner would have been better but I did give him a year.

Finally, I skipped my swim yesterday and went home right after work.    The sun was shining and the backyard was inviting – so, I took lounge chair and a towel and headed back to a secluded area behind my garage – and then I stripped down to my birthday suit and got some sun.    It was so peaceful.  I ate an apple, read a book and listened to some music.  But it was late afternoon and I started to lose the sun.  So, I was only out for an hour or so before I had to go back inside.    That should be a warning though – if you show up unannounced at my house, you should knock before entering the backyard.

I did a couple of good deeds recently.  Minor stuff, but I think it had a small impact.

1. I bought my neighbor’s dogs a wading pool.  They have think coats and I thought they might enjoy a cool down during the hot summer days.  They are still getting used to it, but one of them got in without prompting today and seemed to enjoy it.  In any case, at least they will have a supply of drinking water in the backyard.

2. One of the entrances to campus has a sharp corner and some shrubs that have over-grown.  It’s technically on the property of the electric sub-station, but they aren’t doing anything about it.  So, on Friday, I took my hedge clippers to work and after I had parked my car I walked over and restored visibility.   Another minor thing, but it may make that intersection just a little bit less dangerous.

3. Finally, I was walking past a co-worker’s office and noticed that he was clearly having a bad day.  Head propped up on his hand, intent scowl on his face – the works.   And on a Friday, no less.  So, I went to the vending machine and bought him some fruit snacks (or fooit naks, as my niece would say), then went back to his office.  “Looks like you need some fruit snacks,” I said, handed him the package, and went on my way when he smiled and thanked me.  Hey, who doesn’t need some fruit snacks every so often?

Spent much of Saturday morning doing yardwork.  I care just enough about my yard to make a vague attempt to keep up with the Jones’.  Still, it was good to be outside and enjoy the day.  Ran some errands in the afternoon and went for some amazing pizza at Donato’s and some of the worst fountain drinks ever – then did some folding and watched True Blood on DVD.

Today, went for a hike at the Portage Lake Park.   They’ve got some nice trails and a beach I’d like to check out.  It was hot outside, but the breeze was nice.

I swam three times last week and I hope to be able to do that again.  For now, though, I plan on enjoying the rest of the hours of my weekend and relaxing.

One of my friends had picked up Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol from RedBox and hadn’t watched it yet – though it was due back yesterday evening at 9:00.   The start of the movie was delayed for pizza and as a consequence, the end credits didn’t roll until until 8:50.   (I thought the movie was fun, though somewhat predictable.  “The sandstorm is coming!  Oh, it’s too far away to be a factor. Oh no, here comes the sandstorm! [duh] )

So, we hop in the car and head out to the nearest red box.  My friend took the corners sharply and tore through the streets of Akron like someone on a mission.  An impossible mission… some might say.

As we pulled into the parking lot, one of the machines was already in use and I was instructed to do a dive roll out of the car and elbow the woman in the head if the other machine wasn’t working.  It was, and I inserted the movie in the slot with 2 minutes to spare.  As the woman got into her car she told me that she had called redbox and found out that we actually had until 9:06 to return it.  I told her it was more exciting this way.   With the movie returned, we headed out – at a much more subdued pace.

I went to visit my folks for Father’s day this past weekend and on Saturday we got up early and went to the Columbus Zoo.  We got there a little before 9:00 AM and spent about 5 hours total walking around the zoo with only a short break for lunch.  We were all pretty worn out by the time we were done – except for my niece who rode around in a wagon most of the time and appears to be nuclear powered based on the amount of energy she had.

My favorite animals were the otters and luckily there were two otter exhibits.  Little fellers always look like they are having such fun.   The flamingos were neat and the polar bear exhibit was really cool – you could go to an underwater viewing area and see the bear swim over you.    It was good weather to be at the zoo, but I don’t think I drank enough water.

When we got back to my parents place, I think everyone was ready for a nap – except for my niece who was still going a mile a minute.   I think my sister was the worst off physically – she’s very pregnant and all the walking was doing a number on her hips.

We had dinner and hung out for a bit before my sister and her family had to leave.  I stayed the night and hung out with my parents on Sunday when they got back from church.     I left for Akron that afternoon and drove through pounding rain the entire way back.  The rain doesn’t really bother me – but trying to keep track of all the crazy people on the road was the real challenge.

I got back safely and then had Chipotle for dinner – then home and video games until it was time to go to bed.  Back at work today and wishing I could stretch out the weekend just a little bit longer.

I went for my swim after work, then over to the Akron Art Museum.  I got in free with my university ID and the exhibits were pretty cool.  Afterwards, over to Spaghetti warehouse.  Now, I’m not a big fan of tomato sauce, but the last time I was able to convince the server that I wanted spaghetti, meatballs, and pesto sauce.  She was skeptical about that, but they made it and I enjoyed it.

This time, the server was even tougher to convince.  It was like I was asking for something that wasn’t food.   “Yeah, I’d like silly string, with sponges, and could you add some mulch to that?”

She shook her head, but went off to the kitchen to try and convince the cooks that this was something that a human being might want and might be able to gain some nutrition from.

A little while later, she brought over the food and said – and I quote –

“Well, it doesn’t look very good, but it’s what you wanted”

I dug right into that and cleaned up my plate – and used the bread to soak up the rest of the pesto.  It was excellent – as I knew it would be.

So much for the customer is always right, more like – “The customer is an idiot and should be protected from himself,”

I considered taking a picture for my meal for the next time I came in – but it wasn’t quite right since the meatballs has been heated in the tomato sauce this time and I didn’t want to add more confusion.

A diagram would be helpful though – maybe a single slide from a powerpoint.   Just hand them the sign and say, “like this”.    I actually did try that with a hamburger place once and got about a half of a laugh out of them.  Not sure how it would be received at the Warehouse.  My diner may not have looked good, but it did taste pretty good.  🙂