From the Desk 7/8/2008

This morning it was difficult to drag myself out of bed. I realize that it had only been 5 hours prior to waking up that i had laid down to go to sleep. I sleepily got ready for work and almost forgot to take some clothes to change into for hiking after work today. I drove into work and had a bagel that School Box provided for the office staff this morning. To accompany my bagel I had a cup of coffee, something normally out of the ordinary but seeming to become more common. I struggled to make it to lunch time without falling asleep. I joined Carmen, Stacy, Anna, and Tausha in the break room for lunch today. I felt like I would fall asleep just chewing on my Smart Ones 3-cheese ziti I had brought, but I managed to keep my head upright for the time being.

After lunch the tired feeling only multiplied and I had to continuously work on something that involved walking back and forth from my desk to the copy room to avoid falling over asleep. I managed to remain awake and somewhat productive until 4:45. I then checked with Christina to see if she still wanted to go hiking after work. She said yes so I ran to my car, grabbed my clothes, and changed to be ready for my hike. We left the store just after 5:00 and though I was tired, I was looking forward to being active and seeing Christina. We decided to do the loop at Burnt Hickory Rd. as it was very hot outside and that particular trail is mostly in the shade.

We began hiking the trail and about 30 minutes into the loop it began to get dark from the ominous clouds overhead. Not long after that, it began to sprinkle lightly. Neither of us seemed to mind the rain as it was cooling us off and we knew that we needed all the rain we could get. It soon turned from a sprinkle of rain to a down pour an we sought shelter under the leaves of a large Oak tree along the side of the path. We waited there for a minute or two and then continued on the trail, not caring if we got soaked or not. The rain let up as we made our way to the last part of the loop and when we emerged from the woods onto the trail back to the car it stopped raining completely. It was a fun hike even if it did rain (there's something about rain that can be "romantic" sometimes....or perhaps I'm just crazy, you decide). I dropped Christina off at her car at the Box just as it was beginning to really storm. The rain was coming down very hard by this point and the lightning accompanying this part of the storm was both frequent and very close. I made it home safely navigating through lots of puddles and uncertain drivers. I made a sprint from my car to the apartment in a futile attempt to remain only partially drenched. Clearly it was a useless expense of energy. I ate a quick dinner and then promptly went to work on the reception video I wished to finish by tomorrow night. I managed to get about 60% done with the entire project which was more than I expected. I took a break in front of the TV to take my mind off the video work ahead. It worked too well as I woke up at 8:45 to the sounds of my cell phone playing a Dave Matthews Band song signaling that Christina was calling. I missed the call, not being able to be conscious enough to reach my phone in time. I called her back and she invited me over to watch some episodes of Boy Meets World with her. I talked to mom on the phone while on my way to her apartment, updating her about the weekend's festivities. When I got to Christina's apartments the guest gate, where you type in a code to gain entrance through the gate into the complex, wasn't working properly. Finally a kind resident who passed through the gate walked back and swiped his card to let in the line of cars that were attempting to visit residents. I finally arrived at Christina's apartment and we watch 6 episodes of season 5 from my Boy Meets World DVD set. I realized what time it was and reluctantly told Christina that we would have to finish watching the rest of that disc another time. I drove home, through more rain and storms, and went almost immediately to bed as I was definitely feeling the drain from not getting much sleep last night. I went to sleep to the sounds of the movie "Clue" and the gentle pounding of rain on my bedroom window.

Meditation of the day: Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”