The Day Started Off Well

Today has been a real mixed bag- I was supposed to have the day off, but one of the guys in my department had a schedule conflict. The morning went beautifully, it was the last day of the semester for my volunteer coaching gig, and we had a fun class followed by a lovely luncheon and awards ceremony. We promoted four kids to yellow belt, doing the promotion and presentation of belts in front of the assembled kids and parents. Our affectionate five year-old hand holder was one of the kids we promoted. We then tested three additional students and they passed the test, and will get their yellow belts as soon as we can arrange it.

The luncheon was great- one of our fencing coaches came up through the program and is now a bigwig in the organization... I've known her since she was a nine year-old. For some reason, the topic of the day Kovacevic Sensei poked my eyes and kneed my balls came up in conversation- I had forgotten that she had been one of the students present at my literal downfall. In retrospect, I think I find this funnier that she did, but at the time it was terrible. There's no trip like the nostalgia trip. Also, there were the conversations about counselors graduating from high school and going off to college. Needless to say, I am very proud of these young folks.

After the luncheon, I headed straight to work in jacket and tie, having packed a bag of my typical work clothes the night before. When I got to work, there were text messages aplenty- the oil furnace in one of our buildings isn't venting properly, so fumes have been leaking into the building. I opened the windows in the building to prevent a carbon monoxide buildup and placed a call to our furnace contractor. The acting manager was leaning on me the entire time I was on hold with customer service:

Oh, yeah, Ginger's back after our nor'easters. Hopefully, the weather will improve soon so we can spend some quality time outdoors. The warmer weather wall also put an end to our furnace issues. Now, I'm waiting for the repair technician to show up, anytime between now and eleven PM. I hope Ginger is patient!