Back to school

I consider myself able to do most things, not that I'm the best handyman in the world by any stretch, but certainly capable. And if nothing else, I can figure out a way to get to a solution. But being home, there are just a lot of things I can't do. I want to be able to do all the things my Mom needs, especially when she's not feeling well. But I can't do an ultrasound even if I did figure out how to use the machines in the training room well enough to set it up for myself. And when I found that the carpet in the basement was soaking wet with water dripping from the ceiling, but I'm no plumber. When he got to the house an hour or so later I helped him out a good bit and though I could probably have done what he did by cutting out panels of the ceiling (soaked drywall) which would need to be replaced anyway in order to find the leaking pipe and put a clamp on it. At some point I want to be able to take care of things that come up at home and I think I can but without a stable of tools I'll just have to wait and learn over time how to do more and more.

Before all of the excitement with water coming out of the ceiling but after a trip for an ultrasound I went in to my High School. I haven't been back in at least a year and maybe two. I hadn't seen Mr. Broderick or my track coach in a while and was in the area so I went in to say hello. Mr. Broderick helped me with plyos when I was in high school and when I left for college I would come back in and we'd play badminton together. I think I'm the only person who's ever beaten him. We haven't played in a while and probably won't because of my knee and his shoulder. Those were some of the most intense games I've ever played in probably any sport, his preciseness and my long reach and quickness was a pretty even match. It was always a lot of fun, giving each other a hard time but always knowing that we respected one another and were and are good friends at the end of the day. We caught up on what we've been doing recently but I came in towards the end of the day and he had some classes so I headed up to see Colm O'Callahan. I knocked on the door for a while before he heard me since the air conditioners in the classrooms are so loud. I hadn't seen him in longer than it'd been for Mr. Broderick and I. He told me what I'd been thinking about the new training group I joined towards the end of the summer in that it's an opportunity that you have to take. No matter what happens, as he said, I'll likely run some fast times and learn a lot in the process. It's great to have their support. I also saw Ms. Sireci who has actually worked with my Dad on her swimming, as well as Mr. Sassone the AD.

As a result of all of this happening during the day, my run didn't happen until six o'clock tonight. The weather is crazy with intense wind but I was content to run easy, sore from yesterday and not wanting to pound my legs on the pavement that is mostly what's around here. I found some dirt roads and had a nice day of it, having to resort to the light on my watch towards the end of the run just to see how long I'd been out. That was a good indication that it was about time to get back.

Ken and Julie are doing fantastically down in Princeton and I wish I were down there to watch but it just isn't going to work out with being here with Mom. Additionally, the weather is crazy both up here and down there, so even if we got down there to watch them, they might not even row. But they plan to come up and be here this weekend after they're done so I'll get to see them for sure. I had talked with Erin a few days ago and told her I'd be down there but now it's looking like I won't get to see her. It sounded like she might like to see a friendly face, but I'm sure she has made lots of friends down in that silly state of NJ.