Clear the old mellon.

I had a long day of travel yesterday to clear my head. I went and visited a few of my buildings and was so busy that I didn't have time to think of anything but work. Once in a while this isn't a bad thing. I got home from Baltimore around 4pm and took the hound for a long walk around the Capitol, it must have been 3 miles round trip, which I considered pretty good in the heat. I ate some take-out, took a long soak in the hot tub, and then put in a big wad of chewing tobacco (we all have our vices) while I read on my deck (book was The Night of the Gun, good story, check it out). It was all very cathartic.

At some point during the night I realized that my cell phone wasn't in my pocket like I thought it was, so I looked around and found it sitting on the counter in the kitchen with several missed calls and text messages. A few people were trying to track me down, and I had a message from Kay. The message was a bit rambling, but she apologized for taking a while to call me back and explained she is getting slammed at work. She must have used the word "um" 12 times in a 30 second span. For anyone who has ever given a public speech you know that "um" is a filler word that you use when you're nervous and aren't sure what to say. I'm not sure why she was nervous. At the end of the message she asked me to call her back or said she would try me again tonight.

I didn't return the call last night, and I will wait and see if I hear from her tonight.

I rarely mention work here because it's not usually relevant, but I am in the midst of several lease negotiations and they are the most grueling I have ever been involved in. They all include huge construction jobs that I will manage, and I am rapidly losing my marbles. To compound matters, I am also trying to buy another house in the city as an investment. This too will required a gut-renovation, take the house down to the brick and studs, and start over.

The reason I bring this up is because I am stressed and not myself lately. I'm trying to keep my head clear, but as you can see from the dream I mentioned a few posts ago, I'm obviously not doing a great job.

I have one of my best friends from high school coming in tonight for the weekend. Crack-Ho, or C-Rock, as we fondly call him, is sure to lighten up the mood in the house over the next few days. C-Rock has lost a little off his fast ball since getting married and having a kid, but I still anticipate mayhem. FYI, neither nicknames refer to drug use, they are a play on the little guinea-dago-wop's last name.