Happy Friday...

Last night, I told the lovely Carol that I would not make any effort to wake up Early today, as we had done earlier in the week (Monday it was spinning class at the "Y", and Thursday we returned there for swimming and weights). At some point she disconnected the "darth vader" machine and we slept somewhat like the couple on the right until about 6:30 or so, when we woke up and shared a few kisses. I checked up on a couple of things related to work (I made a small code submission last night), then headed for the kitchen. As I made up my oatmeal, I had this odd mental image of boasting about how rich I am. "I put brown sugar and milk on my oatmeal EVERY DAY!" I noticed that one of my socks had a ½" hole in the heel; I pitched it. Now some of you may be scandalized, since these socks are probably less than five years old, but I guess I'm a rich and irresponsible American. And I drive a new car -- it's not even 25 years old! Well, I do have some silly thoughts sometimes.

The lovely Carol was busy preparing for our church's women's retreat (which I'll survive somehow). I fed the dog and did some more work-related stuff on the computer while finishing my oatmeal. I wrote a short note describing an anomaly in our systems, and emailed it off. A quick look at the clock showed that I had time to empty the dishwasher.

I drove to the train station, and had enough time to drop the mail into a big blue box in Menlo Park before the train came. Transit all ran on time, and I got to the office a little after 9:00. There were no fire-trucks so I guess the toasters were behaving themselves; I opened the door and the aroma of bagels drew me in.

My buddy Greg called a little after lunch. Did I want to go for a walk? I certainly did! The sun was out, and we walked around the block -- I guess it's about a mile. When we got back, Kathy met us at the top of the staircase. "If we served bagels on Thursday morning, I wonder how many people wouldn't come in on Friday?" What a sneaky thought!

Someone came by looking for my office-mate; I pointed him toward where I thought Chris would be, then went to the break room for some coffee. Whoa, what happened to the sun? The next storm was headed in! Great timing Greg!

Encouraged by my boss, I took off at 4:30. Boy was it wet outside! Public transit was on time and I walked to the bank in the rain, depositing a check well before closing time. Walked back to the station and drove my 1986 Toyota (without the sticky accelerator problem) to the library to try to find Kugel's book. What do you know -- it was on the shelf! As I walked toward the checkout desk, I saw a copy of Miller's SEARCHING FOR GOD KNOWS WHAT on the free cart. Yippee!

But the blessings weren't over yet! I got home (it was still raining) and there on the porch was a box. Plumbing parts? YES! So I'll be able to stop the kitchen faucet from flopping around. The lovely Carol will be happy about that.

It made me think that I am indeed rich. Oh, yet another thing! The check I deposited? It's some unplanned income, of which we'll give away 10% or so. Some of that will likely go to Haiti. Some alumni association might get $20 or $50. The lovely Carol also had some charity in mind -- the good news is that we have enough in our "giving budget" to go more than one place. Yippee!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!