Late Monday Night

Less than an hour before midnight and I'm still sitting here in front of the computer. On the radio is a steady stream of oldies and behind me my grandfather's 60 year old Hunter Zephair oscillates quietly blowing waves of warm summer air that rustle the disheveled papers on my desk. The relentless sounds of cars and trucks on the busy street below filter easily through the old window in front of me. The cat is sound asleep atop a portfolio on the desk behind me. A few minutes ago I finished updating the LCCS rankings and uploaded fresh pages to the webserver. All night I've been hoping to get an email I need from one of the faculty so I can finish up a big grant proposal that I need to get out before I leave for Denver on Wednesday. It hasn't arrived, of course.

The day started out with an easy spin up on the levee. I was a pleasantly surprised that my legs didn't feel sore after last weekend's extra mileage. This Monday's ride was just Joe, Gabe and me, joined later by Donald. We spent most of the ride riding side-by-side at an easy pace. The shoulder or collarbone (I can hardly tell them apart any more) seemed particularly achy and I wondered if it was because of the tree-trimming or the out-of-saddle climbing from the weekend. Perhaps, though, it is simply now sensitive to the impending rain. Indeed, we rode under the threat of rain today, and I was lucky to have missed it on my commute to work, especially since I had to make an extra stop at the uptown campus research office to sign off on a form. It eventually rained quite hard, but by then I was safely in the office sipping coffee and watching the rain fall on the rooftop. Speaking of which, it is looking like our office will be moving uptown to "University Square" which used to be a shopping center called "Uptown Square." Tulane bought part of it a number of years ago and it currently houses a primary care clinic and miscellaneous offices. On the plus side, it's across the street from the levee and bike path, and it's only a couple of miles from home. On the down side, it's kind of isolated and I'll miss having a cafeteria handy. I doubt this move will happen before October, though. We had great plans for this site before Katrina, but now they're all on indefinite hold.

So tomorrow will no doubt turn into a fire drill by afternoon as I try to wrap up a few projects that aren't really ready to be wrapped up. I'll get as much done as I can, but whatever happens I'll still be skipping town early Wednesday for a trip I really have little interest in making. Well, that's not quite true. I like the driving part. It's the wedding at the other end that I don't have much interest in, and the fact that I'll probably be off the bike for four or five days just makes it worse.