Visiting the FRB Again

I had not been at the FRB in quite a while, not that I had a reason to be. I did need to dig up that TPx contract though and I was sure it was in my desk lower left drawer. And I had not been able to get anyone to fish it out from there for me.  And so I decided to go myself today. I would have gone first thing in the morning had I not had a meeting mid-morning regarding the implementation of COVID vaccinations in our clinic sooner rather than later. And sooner really means early February. A couple of weeks. And so we're sort of on scramble mode yet again to make sure that we're ready for this. And so by the time I got done with THAT meeting it was already close to noon. I just thought I'd go there after lunch. And mind you it was not lost on me that I had already accomplished quite a bit this Friday. No tank day for me. Driving down there at 1 pm on a Friday is already not like it used to be. Oh there's still traffic to be sure. But not the bumper-to-bumper kind. I got there in about 25 minutes and was inside the FRB parking lot before 1:30 PM. Talk about a huge case of deja vu. I had not parked in that lot since March 2020.   Still it felt like I was just driving back from taking a long lunch. I imagined that we had just taken a tank Friday since it was such a beautiful day out and had one of our adventure lunches. And in fact, Faith was there at the office as she usually is every other Friday. What struck me immediately was how empty the place was. Not just our suite. The entire FRB didn't have that many people other than the guards. I hadn't seen these guys since March too. All in all, it was like I was on a looting run. And that's because I couldn't find the contract. Turned out my memory betrayed me. It wasn't where I thought it would be. But it was in C360 when I checked. I didn't have to come down here after all. And so while I was here, might as well take a stapler, a 128 G USB drive, and oh.. is that my old Lakers T-shirt in one of my drawers? Sure was. I left it there during days I would run or use the gym. That ain't happening anymore so I just packed it up to take home.  And so just like that I went right on home, satisfied that I did my retro trip to the past today.

And so with that I readied for my Friday nite activity, which tonight consisted of dinner with Lisa and Johnnie and then me watching Johnnie for a bit so Lisa could practice. I was happy to do that of course since I had really nothing better to do although I did have TWO brand new movies freshly downloaded and on tap to watch sometime this weekend. I also reminded myself that this, in fact, was a 3 day weekend since we do have the MLK holiday day off on Monday. So next week is a short week to boot.  And so this afternoon, prep meant grilling up a pound of tri-tip steak for dinner tonight at Lisa's. She asked me to bring protein. What better protein than this?! And then later on when I did get there, it would appear that Lisa wanted me to prepare dinner anyway. Why doesn't she just ask me these things? Then it isn't such a surprise. I prefer it even. And even better when she simply went to practice and left me alone in the kitchen! That meant that the Armenian rice would turn out just right, the green beans and onions would too because I am now free to do those things that I do when I'm alone in the kitchen unhampered by Lisa's watching eyes. And of course, the steak was already terrific. All I had to do really was heat up Johnnie's chicken noodle soup and we're good to go. Of course it wouldn't be enough... not if Lisa didn't feed him lunch earlier smh. Still, since I fixed it, this would turn out to be one of the best meals I've had here. And then right afterwards, Lisa retired to the piano room and Johnnie and I could do our dad-son horseplay. Which really is all we did the rest of the evening. I had already logged in 10,000+ miles by this time and so getting another 1000 was already a cinch.  Lisa got done practicing by 8:30 PM and then proceeded to invite me for breakfast tomorrow morning so I could pick Johnnie up and leave her alone for her lesson. That would be PERFECT! That would mean I get to see Johnnie unscheduled for Friday AND Saturday. And so I went on home and I still had plenty of time to watch a movie. I selected NEWS OF THE WORLD with Tom Hanks. And you know, something about that movie tugged at me. Something about an orphaned girl, left by herself in the world and then finding a good man with his heart in the right place to be her protector and later be her guardian and they ended up becoming a family. Why would that not tug at you? And so Friday trip down the FRB memory LANE is in the books. And the 3-day weekend is here.