There are times that I get a bit stressed out about content for this blog. There are only so many times that you can talk about “honey blossoms and ripe cherries” or “barnyard with hints of tobacco.” I was working on a post about a tasting that I attended a while ago and was determined to get it up today. I had most of it done, and it just needed a bit of polishing (or a total re-write–I had not yet figured that out).
No problem.
Then Thursday happened.
Yesterday was a lot of things, including the start of the NCAA Basketball Tournament and the first day of Spring–both events that I normally support or even celebrate. If only those were the two “events” of the day.
I should have known that it was not going to be a good day from the get-go. Sebastian (as in “Sundays are for Sebastian”) woke up with a fever and a stomach ache. My wife feared appendicitis (it wasn’t). After determining that my wife was going to stay home with him, I hopped on my bike and headed to work.
I generally ride through several neighborhoods instead of taking the main roads so normally, the ride to work is rather uneventful. Not today. I narrowly avoided disaster at least twice when people pulled out in front of me. I guess they could not see the 6’4″ guy with a bright red coat and am obnoxious flashing light. When I got cut off the third time, I decided to extend a particular digit to show my appreciation. It turned out to be someone I know at work.
I know what you’re thinking.
Awkward.
Yup.
I finally made it to my office, physically unscathed, and made it through my first meeting. Before I knew it, 12:00 came around and I was faced with a dilemma: my favorite college basketball team was playing and I debated watching it online. I decided against it and instead, I opted for Total Media Blackout (TMB)–I would record the game (which I could program from my phone–how cool is that?) and not visit any websites that might reveal the score, then watch it when I got home.
Perfect.
I am on the board of an organization and my next meeting with two of the people from the organization who were interested in doing some research. I opted to meet them in a restaurant right across the street from my office.
No problem.
I walk in and immediately realize that it is essentially a sports bar (I had never been there before). On just about every screen was the end of the game that I was recording. The sound of the broadcast was coming over the loud-speaker. I tried to ignore it, but the other patrons in the place were roaring with every shot. Including the final one, which was made by the other team, winning them the game.
Perfect.
I figured my day had reached its nadir so on the way home I decided that I would open up a nice bottle of Cabernet that I had been sitting on for a while to have with our Tri-tip steak.
I had a Spinning class to teach and my wife was taking the boys to swimming class, so we were going to be eating a bit late. I was going to get home first, and I would get dinner going and have it ready for my wife and the boys when they returned home.
No problem.
I started slicing up the Brussels Sprouts and then went down to get the wine–a 1999 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve–and open it up (and yes, have a little taste as I cooked). As I approached the wine rack containing the bottle, my sock quickly became saturated. I looked for broken glass, but soon realized the liquid was not wine, but water. There was the sound of water running and water quickly pooling on the floor.
Perfect.
I spent the next hour or so trying to locate the source of the leak, eventually turning off the water main. When I turned it back on, the initial leak stopped, only to be replaced by another leak–this one dripping directly on one of my wine racks.
It just keeps getting better.
My wife and the boys had come home to no dinner, so I ran upstairs to get it started, and quickly got the sprouts on the stove and the steak on the grill. It was now 8:30–a half an hour past the boys’ bedtime and still no dinner.
So what do I do?
Yup.
Grabbed a bottle of wine. Not the Groth, but a somewhat more pedestrian 2006 Beaulieu Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine was actually quite good with loads of dark berry fruit, a bit of mocha, and surprising depth.
We eventually sat down to dinner at just before nine. I cut into the steak.
Raw.
Back to the grill. Not once, but twice.
The boys eventually got to bed around 9:45.
Perfect.
Here’s to Friday.
the drunken cyclist 
I’ll drink to that 🙂
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Cheers!
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Glad you made it through the day! But too bad about your favorite team!
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Tell me about it–although it does free up some time since I have lost a bunch of interest in the tournament now!
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Well, you made through to Friday…you’re a great writer!
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Thanks! Happy weekend!
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With a Thursday like that, Friday has to be better, right? I vote yes. If it helps, my team is. #1 seed and I’m not at all confident about the game tonight. 😳
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Arizona?
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Yes, and they’ve lost a couple of games they shouldn’t have. I’m nervous.
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Crazy tournament so far!
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Sucks…
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At a loss for words? It can’t be! 😆
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I mean, what can I say to a day like that? Also, usually it’s Nina that’s not at a loss for words, not me…;) Hope your basement won’t be too much of a hassle to fix.
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It turned out to be not so bad….
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I will drink to that as well:) Thanks for liking our post have you seen any lambs in your neck of the woods sporting these wonderful Macs?
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Cheers! I am not sure about the second half of your comment, but the only lambs we see in Philly are in the zoo….
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Thanks so much for this story. Great info. W.D.Moore
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Ummmm….
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Wow- that’s a heck of a day- though when you mentioned giving your (unbeknownst to you) co-worker the middle digit, it made me think of your SAFS post a few Sundays back 🙂 I’m not a big basketball fan, but I see there have been a lot of upsets already. Duke just went out (snicker 🙂 I love me an underdog- unless it’s my team playing.
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Yeah, when Sebastian flashed me the middle finger, I immediately thought he got it from me and my wife was going to kill me…..
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did you find your water leak and were you able to solve it ?
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We did find the leak, and it turned out to be two separate issues: one was completely my dopey fault and the other will hopefully be easily fixed.
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Quote by Euripides: if you take wine away, love will die, and every other source of human joy will follow…:)
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That is a fantastic quote!
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😉
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What an awful day! Hopefully that’s all your bad luck out of the way for a while!
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We can only hope!
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Some days it feels like a battle just to put one step in front of the other, but you made it through so congrats! I hope Friday was less eventful 🙂
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Yes, Friday was relatively tame, thanks!
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Ugh… What a day. Mine was exhausting as well, but all was quiet on the home front. That sucks to be getting hit from all angles!
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Yeah, it was one of those days that looking back, I should have just stayed in bed and pulled the covers over my head!
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Couldn’t help smiling throughout your post, a tad bit familiar for most…”when it rains it pours” but thank God nothing lasts forever 🙂
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You got that right!
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A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day if I ever heard one.
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The sad thing is: I ‘ve had worse!
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Hard luck, brother! The wine will keep…
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Thanks–it has so far at least!
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