Busy, Busy, Busy

I will blog about my most excellent bible study class, but I have to get my halloween post out lest I lose the seasonal applicability. What a hoot, this is the first time in several years I get to celebrate the thing properly. We've always had something going on or had to take the kids somewhere so if the trick or treaters weren't at our house by 6PM they would miss out. I had visions of toilet paper, or tricks even worse than the ones I had the misfortune to play as a kid, waiting for me when we got home. So far we've been lucky and no damage has been done to our house.

This year my wife didn't have to work so she took the kids and I got to stay home which is my definite preference. Let me first explain we have extremely busy lives, and I mean extreme. We have our calendar booked with so many things and we continue to add more, like we're going for some insane Guinness record. We really don't know most days if we're coming or going. Thankfully, my wife and I are both really good organizers. Mostly due to necessity. Our methods of organization do differ dramatically. If you remember the book, "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus," that kind of explains the situation. But everything always seems to work out, she usually remembers things I don't and every once in awhile I remember something she didn't. (I love it when that happens)

This weekend was a case in point. We recently purchased a NordicTrack A2350 with Universal Dock for iPod(r). That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the Meissners are officially on a health kick. This is our 2nd treadmill purchase. The first one having crashed and burned years ago. It was a hernia operation dragging that thing to the dump let me tell you. I swore that was the last fool piece of exercise equipment I would ever buy. I know I'm not supposed to swear, but forgive me, I just got done hauling that thing to the dump.

In my 21+ years of marital bliss we have purchased exceedingly more expensive and gimmicky exercise machines. The former treadmill behemoth was the last proverbial straw. I only wish it would have weighed as much as a piece of straw. You know how exercise machines work, you use them heavily for a couple weeks, then they sit and collect dust. They are awful expensive dust collectors. Every once in awhile the fitness bug bites and you start using it again only to stop once the bug bite heals.

We used the last one off and on, granted for many years, then it started to wear out. What made me the most angry was that the treadmill didn't wear out, it was the fancy electronic garbage that failed. Something that can't be fixed cheaply, nor is it something that is truly needed. The electronic bells and whistles don't get used that often and really are just more chances for something to break. I would like to say again this new one is the last piece of exercise equipment I will buy, but that is probably an exercise (pun not intended) in futility.

Back to my story, Friday morning I had to take the van (not my usual vehicle) because I had to pick up the treadmill. I went to the store to get the machine. The guy tried to scare me into the maintenance contract but I wasn't falling for that again. I've been fleeced over by those way too many times. He was persistent, so I had to give him the hairy eyeball and say I was not interested and please process my transaction, thank you.

The next hurdle was finding out my store credit card expired due to lack of use. Go figure, we're trying very hard to stop buying what we can't pay for. So then I had to go through the exercise (pun intended this time) of finding my driver's license and signing a bunch of carbon copies to get the transaction through. Then, weighed down with all my paper (receipt, rebate receipt and info, credit card forms, etc...) I proceeded to the merchandise loading gate.

I'm a computer geek and I love self-service computer terminals. This one is very good, the scanner works well, the computer voice almost sounds like a real person, and my wait time was a lightning fast 23 seconds. I still can't believe they were able to wheel that thing out so quickly. They had to have been forewarned.

If you haven't had experience with treadmills, they really do weigh an enormous amount. The two of us could barely slide that thing into the van. But we "GOT'ER DONE!" and I was off to take it home, very worried how I was going to unload the cargo into the garage. I needn't have worried. Unloading is much easier than loading. I got a little cranky when I noticed the "this end up" arrow was upside down in my van. The loading guy should have known better. So then I had to maneuver the thing so it was right side up in my garage. By some extremely weird coincidence, the fact I had to rotate the box made it very easy to unload. Almost of it's own volition, it very gracefully slid out of the van onto the floor, right-side up. Perhaps the loading guy had that choreographed when we put it in the van.

Then, I had to race back to work and try and get a days labor done in a couple hours so I could leave early to get to my bible study class in Jamestown. My wife really doesn't like my vehicle so we had to swap. It's crazy how productive we suddenly become with a little motivation. I think I not only did a days work but almost half another day as well. Somehow I made it on time to the swap location at the Rockin' McDonald's parking lot. I packed everything the night before so it was waiting for me in the trunk of my car, but I still had a bunch of items to swap anyway and my wife had a few things as well.

We said our goodbyes, "bye honey, miss you already!", and she was off to pick up the kids from school and take them to Grandma's so she could go back to work for her 2nd shift. I went through drive-thru and got 2 McDoubles(extra pickles) and a large Mello-Yellow. I loaded up with gas and headed East.

I had a great, but exhausting class and raced back home tonight, all hallows eve. I didn't plan on talking so much about the treadmill but it comes in to play during my halloween shenanigans, so you'll have to wait for a part 2. Don't worry I will not keep you waiting long. Halloween is almost over after all. Don't get spooked!