Home away from Home

Every winter when I never see my home because it gets dark so early and I'm off racing every weekend I start to dream about summertime when I will get to all those home projects and just be around to enjoy Northfield. Of course every summer comes and I have just as much stuff, if not more, going on than the winter, so most of those projects don't get done. This week was busy for sure. I wasn't home before 9:30 any night this week, so my time seeing my house in the daylight is still somewhat limited.

Monday my co-worker Dean and I hopped on a plane for a day trip to Chicago. We went to American Standard Circuits to take a look at some process equipment made by a company we are considering buying equipment from for our facility. We got a good look at the equipment, ran a sample, and talked with the chemical supplier and the equipment manufacturer about the machine and how it has been working for the 6 years it has been in operation. Then we flew back Monday night. I have only been on a few work trips, and never one where I've flown there and back in the same day, so that was a kind of fun experience.

Tuesday the equipment supplier was in Minnesota, so we got to sit down and compare notes about the machine we had seen the day before. That meeting went a bit long, so I rushed home and met my friend Erik, who was visiting from Boise. We went over to Carleton and played a round of frisbee golf, my first one of the year. Much to my surprise I actually edged Erik out. He is an amazing athlete, so for me to beat him at anything sports related is a rare occurrence. Jeff was in town running a workout, so we went to cheer for him and then went to Nate and Nichole's for pizza and games.

By Wednesday I realized I probably wouldn't have an evening at home this week, and my lawn was getting completely out of control, so I headed home over lunch and got some of the mowing done. Then after work Nate and I headed up for our first Vakava rollerskiing day. My abs were still a bit sore from the weekend, and Nate's triceps were still toast, maybe a sign we're starting to get old.

Thursday I again snuck home over lunch to finish the lawn mowing. Then after work I headed up to meet my friend Emily for some paddling. It was my first time in a canoe for the year, and it was an absolutely perfect day for it. We portaged from where she lives down to the Mississippi and paddled for about an hour and a half. Emily paddles a lot and is becoming very good, so she gave me a few technique pointers. In general I felt better about my skill level starting out this year than I have in springs past.

When the weekend arrived I finally got a chance to be home for a bit. I got out paddling a couple more times but didn't do much else. It was nice to get some house projects done finally and just have some time to relax.