Time for plan C

Yesterday was a million things packed into one day. Today it kind of crumpled apart.

Last night was, of course, election night, so we had the morning off. Steve and I took the bus up to Sierra Village, then did a long ride down the ditch. There is something about that place in the fall. The leaves are all a collage of colors, some still hanging stubbornly to the trees, some in a rainbow on the ground. The water in the culvert (a.k.a. the ditch) that the path runs along makes for a peaceful soundtrack. At the end, it comes out on a long, paved roller coaster ride down to town with a panoramic view.

There are a couple sections we have to walk our bikes on their back tires across the culverts on thin planks. Some extend for at least an eighth of a mile. There is one Steve calls "the canopy walk" - for good reason.

So after 30 miles, I headed into work for a 10-hour shift. There is something about covering elections. It's long. It's a lot of waiting. Of course the results never come in on time. Then we have the awkward job of calling people and waking them up to tell them they've won or lost. And then there's the rush of deadline when your bed is calling from home. But there it's exciting about finding out the outcome of these races first after all the campaigning. It's one of the rare times we keep the TV on the whole time, and we get free pizza.

Then there was today. Already I was tired, drawing my energy from a latte and a banana. So I was browsing through the paper checking the stories about the other races when I realized something was missing: my story. The page designer had just forgot to put it in. How does that happen?

So much for staying up till midnight the night before and waking candidates up in the name of the "deadline." Oh well, we all make mistakes.

Then I had plan B — the second source to replace the first one who backed out for my seniors in isolation project — cancel as well. My solution: I came home and slept for three hours.

Well there is always tomorrow.

Lesson learned: There are going to be some curious school board members today.