Notice I did not say hard or unbearable, nor did you hear me ask for sympathy. I was just stating a fact. Today is going to be a long day...longer than the 24 hours that God intended it to have.
Sometimes I feel like Jack Bauer and the line that separates one day from another is very blurred. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are typically like that for me...it is part of my life and I have come to accept it. If it bothers me enough, I will change the circumstances that contribute to it. To borrow a phrase from the great orator F. Gump, "I am not a smart man..." but I do know when to back down (My wife will argue with me that I am a smart man...but what does she know, she is just a girl*).
My long day started yesterday morning at 5 AM when I awoke to take little man, our 12 year old mutt (part corgi, part beagle, part sneaky neighbor dog) who suffers from sever allergies, for his morning walk. I am not sure if he has trouble seeing or if he is going senile, but he has taken up the habit of attacking newspaper bundles lying on the sidewalk. While he does not actually bite them, he charges up to the bundles in an attempt to get them to run. Good luck, Fido. While this part of the story can be quite entertaining, I digress.
I finished my morning walk and carried on with the rest of my day as I normally do. The only breaks from routine come from my wife stealing my truck to have the tired rotated and spin balanced, forcing me to become "Married Man" (sing along...Married Man, Married man, drives around in a mini van...) by driving around in ... you guessed it ... her mini van.
Another break from normally dull routine come from my new TL (Team Lead) who needs help with a Power Point presentation. Now being a manager who hates PPP, I wanted to tell him to sod off, but being the Christian that I am, I quelled the desire to throw a violent fit and helped him. While I did not spend a lot of time with him, he called me 3 times in 4 hours and stopped by my office twice to get help. He has a lot to learn about being a TL. Power Point is da bomb [/sarcasm]
The last deviation from routine came when a BiC (That means 'Brother in Christ' for all you Hell bound souls...[/sarcasm]) and talked to me through my ENTIRE lunch hour. Not being one to turn away someone who needs a sympathetic ear, I allowed him to burn off mobile phone minutes (not really...We both have Cingular and we have free mobile to mobile calling) while I ate my lasagna, drank my lemonade and ate a little cherry vanilla yogurt. I even graced him with a "Uh huh" and "Yeah, right" every now and then, in between bites.
The rest of the day was pretty normal. I IM'ed a few people, worked on my work of fiction that will never see light of day (this is prolly the 7th story I have started that I will not finish although I am further along on this one that any of the others...), and chased down people regarding some outstanding trouble tickets. Normal crap.
I got home and found my wife caulking around one of the outside windows. We chatted for a while and then I went in to grab a sandwich before I headed off the the church trustee meeting. Before I got started, my wife's mobile phone rang. I did not recognise the number, so I answered, "$Wife's phone..." and it was the wife of the BiC I had talked to earlier. She wanted to, duh, talk to my wife so I went outside and gave the phone to my wife. I went back in and started making my sandwich and before I could take a bite of my Genoa, Pepperoni, and hard salami sandwich (with provolone and spicy mustard), The BiC I talked to during lunch called. 2 phone calls, two meals, same person. Sigh. I chat with him and he sounds agitated. We talk and he asks me what I am doing. This time I tell him that I am trying to eat before my trustee meeting. He apologizes and go back to eating.
My wife comes in and tells me that wife of the BiC who called me wants (read: Needs) to talk. My wife is going to meet her at a coffee shop 25 minutes away. Wife tells me she loves me and leaves. I finish my sandwich, wash it down with some diet ginseng green tea, grab my padfolio and laptop and head to church.
The trustee meeting lasts until 9:30, I get home at 9:45, and walk little man at 10: I get back from my walk at 10:20 and grab a drink. I am stilled wired so I go work on a Linux project for my laptop, thinking that it will only take 30 minutes or so and I will be in bed by 11:00. at 11:45 the "project" is not even close to being complete (I will have to make a separate entry about that) and I am getting tired. Considering I get up every morning at 5 AM to begin the exciting routine that we all have come to know and love [/sarcasm], I am going to get a maximum of 5 hours sleep. I peel off my khakis and polo shirt, brush my teeth and climb into bed.
I awaken to some stirring (Read: Wife putting away clothes and fussing with dogs) in our bedroom. I check my PDA for the time and it says "4 AM". Wow. 4 hours sleep. My wife attempts to hold a conversation with me because, heck we all are up and coherent at 4 AM, right? However, unlike the masses, 4 hours sleep is a nap, not sleep so I am far from being captain conversation at this point. I fade in and out of sleep, finally waking to my wife telling me that the alarm will be going off in 5 minutes. So let's be fair and say 4.5 hours of sleep.
The alarm goes off and I shut it off, get up, and put on what I believe is a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt (It could have been anything, but that is what I believe I was wearing and that is the story I am sticking to) and go take little man for a walk. That dog has no idea how much I love him and all his senile behaviors (I am sure that when we both see each other in Heaven, he will thank me) to put up with 10 PM and 5 AM walks.
Little man does his business and I clean it up like a ersponsible, law abiding Texas resident that I am and I head back home. When I ge there, my wife has everything I need to brew my coffee set out. Now I bet you are saying to yourself, "If she really loved him, she would have his coffee ready for him when he got back." Wrong. As much as I love my wife, she cannot make my coffee the way I like it. She always puts too much cream in it, making it taste like a hot liquid dessert instead of a slightly sweet cup of wake up juice (The golden rule for making coffee for my wife is add cream until the color matches the tone of the paint on the living room ceiling). But alas, I digress.
I make my coffee and chat with my wife about her meeting the night before and my phone call with the husband. We compare notes and realize that these two would really benefit from spending a lot of time in prayer TOGETHER.
After I finish my coffee I read my bible and grab a shower. By the time I get out, my wife is back in bed. Must be nice...[grumble] oh well, she has to work as well and at least one of us should be rested. I grab my laptop and fix a bowl of granola (it is TOm' Thumbs store brand...Safeway Select I think...very tasty) and catch up on the news while I eat. Now that I am fully awake, I wash up the morning dishes (coffee mugs, cereal and dog bowls, spoons, etc) and brush my teeth. I kiss my wife on the forehead and pack my lunch and grab a gallon bottle of spring water before I head off to work.
The ride to work was uneventful except for a kid in a Honda Accord (with plastic wheel covers) who cuts me off. I give him the sad head shake and continue on. I get to the building and badge in, saying hi to the security guard (who is from Romania, complete with thick accent). He asks me what is for lunch (a normal question for him) and I tell him my wife grilled salmon the night before, so I am having leftovers. I continue towards my office and get started on my daily work routine.
While I was typing this entry, the BiC whom I talked with yesterday and whose wife Mrs. El Gee met with last night, called. We chatted and he did his share of complaining and I hit him with some biblical truth. While he did not like it, he told me he needed to hear it. He also asked me what his wife and my wife talked about and I told him, bluntly mind you, that it was none of his business. I teld him that how can his wife get over trust issues if we repeat what she talks to us about? He agreed with me and that was that. We chatted a little while longer but we both had to go. He was getting another call and I have a meeting soon.
When I get off work, I have my last One on One Discipling class with Mickey. He is bringing a pizza and coming over early, if he can swing it. Once that is done I still have to walk and feed the dogs as well as watch 2 episodes of Law and Order if they are not repeats. It things all go as planned I will get to bed at 11:00 PM and will be back up at 5:00 AM the next day, which will be about as long as today is because we have small groups from 7- 9 PM and then of course it will be time to walk the dogs and watch Jericho. Thursday I will be up earlier because of a 7 AM confcall with Sweden and Malaysia. Thursday will not be quite as long but it makes me glad when Friday finally arrives. While I cannot sleep in on Saturday (Mens Breakfast at church) I will at least not be at work.
*I am being facetious about my wife. Really.
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