A Day Off For The Ages

I had a bunch of errands back up on me, so decided (especially after seeing that the forecast for the first sunny 60 degree day of the year!) to take a full day off work and see what I could do. It was successful beyond my expectations!

I'd written out the list of all the tasks that needed to be done, and organized them so as to minimize driving distance and time overall. By 9 p.m. the plan was set.

Typically if I have no responsibility, my sleep schedule goes all out of whack, so I figured that I'd be up late the night before and get a late start the next morning, which I generally love about vacations and weekends. I was partially right, but also wrong in what turned out to be a productive way. After about an hour of sleep I started awake around midnight and couldn't doze off again.

As per the usual routine, I headed down to the basement to take my mind off the whirlpool of random thoughts that cycle rapidly through my head in these situations. I ended up doing a fair amount of fantasy baseball preseason research, and upgrading the internet antivirus software in my computer by solving a problem that had vexed me for a few days (turns out that the license number had been e-mailed to my "spam" folder, a revelation I discovered just one day before my coverage expired and the e-gremlins would have broken through and invaded my hard drive).

When I was awake at 3:00, it occurred to me that on Wednesday mornings the basketball crowd runs at 5:00 at the health club. So I headed over there and got my daily exercise knocked off immediately, also surprising myself by swishing a few threes and getting stronger as the two hours went on. A leisurely shower and a huge mug of water later, I was ready to face the day and way ahead of schedule.

Stopped by the office long enough to drop off the taxes (gotta love the mail center employee service provided, where they weigh the mail for you and determine the right postage). Cancelled the group health coverage now that we have individual coverage. Found the phone number of the Illinois Dept. of Health, and the hours of operation for my bank and the Secretary of State's office and my eye doctor. Even got a touch of work done by answering a few e-mails and submitting some employee pay recommendations.

Drove over to Lube Pros (get your mind out of the gutter, it's an oil change place). While sitting in the lobby during the work, which stretched unexpectedly long due to a parts delivery snafu, I called the Department of Public Health to learn the steps I need to take to renew our pool license. Then called the Secretary of State's office to request the paperwork needed to get renewal. Called DPH back and confirmed that our license would indeed be renewed right on time. Called the eye doctor to order a few extra contact lenses. Called the bank and found out what I'd need to bring in order to open a Health Savings Account as part of our medical insurance plan. Read a chapter in one of my library books.

The Lube Pros mechanic got me a new air filter also, and recommended another visit to repair a seal. Got that calendared.

Drove to the bank and signed a bunch of papers to open the HSA. Need to get Dena's signature on a couple papers. Transferred an opening balance from our checking account to seed the HSA.

En route to buy new basketball shoes at the mall, called Dena. Wanna do lunch at Medici's later today? Sweet! Called Mom to see how she's doing. Got my new Nikes, being very careful to check the width as well to avoid blistering. Just so happened that there was a sale today, plus the very helpful cashier got me signed up for a Kohl's card which earned me more discount (and no fee). That reduced a $55 pair of shoes to $35, a pleasant surprise!

Off to the Secretary of State's office to renew my driver's license. Aced the vision test. The place is empty. The new photo looks shockingly good to me, especially considering that I'm on no sleep and didn't comb my hair after the gym shower. Out of there in 15 minutes.

Drove home. It's only 11:00, which is about when I had expected to WAKE UP in my original plan! No way would I have bet that I'd knock off nine planned errands, a few unplanned ones, chatted with my family and had time for some fun by then.

All that was left was to soak in the warm sunny weather and breezes, lunch with Dena, nap a little, take in a visit to Fox & Hounds, and praise the life I've been given!