Exciting morning...

After dropping Chris at work (8:52 am), I was driving along listening to the news. Several schools in St. Charles County have been closed for the day due to a massive manhunt around Hwy K, Bryan Road, Feise Road.

I drive along wondering why close the schools...dude is suspected of shooting a kid through the wall of a house in Granite City, yes, but that doesn't mean he's specifically preying on kids. Then I forget the whole thing since I don't go to school in St. Charles County and neither does my daughter.

I get off I-70 at Hwy K and drive along down to Feise Road, turn right (west). Huh. There is a backup of cars trying to go east and a large number of police cars. Wonder if there was a big accident. But that first car, the yellow van, has all its doors open, and then the cops walk away from it and she drives off. The cops move on to the next car. Light dawns. I'm not at my brightest first thing in the morning when I haven't had any coffee yet. Well, they're not stopping anyone going west, so I carry on.

Just before Bryan Road I find the roadblock for the westbound traffic. No backup to speak of, however, so my turn comes up right away. Officer asks me to pop the trunk. I push the remote button repeatedly, to no avail, and soon give up in favor of giving him the key. But the key won't come out of the ignition. Officer says, "Ma'am, put the car in park." I say, "Sorry, I'm flustered," extricate the key and hand it to him. He verifies that there are no murderers in my trunk, thanks me for my time, and I'm quickly on my way again.

When I get to work at 9:35ish, the normally-unlocked back door is locked. While I'm rummaging in my purse for my id badge/door key, my buddy Mark opens it for me and says, "Doors are all locked due to the manhunt." Aha, that's the point of closing the schools...it's a place the guy could've gotten into and hidden.

Get to my desk, and find that several co-workers who live in the immediate area have had far worse trouble getting here. John even ditched his car somewhere on Bryan and decided to walk the rest of the way--probably three or five miles. Matt's house is visible on the live feed from the police helicopter.

(Update, 10:35: just received an email announcing that the suspect had been captured.)

(Update 2, 10:39: John just got here, to a large prairie-dogging audience.)

Doofus day -- but a fit one

Yesterday evening, I wanted to go to the fitness room and exercise. It'd been about two weeks since I'd worked out there, although I have gone on several mile-long walks with Rosa and/or Tammie in the meantime.

I changed into my gym clothes, jumped on the treadmill, and--excuse me while I am proud of myself and pleased with my becoming more fit--ran one mile and walked two more. Then I was stinky and sweaty, so I went to take a shower. I got all my clothes off and discovered...I didn't have a towel. D'oh number 1. It was in the back of the car. But at that point, I decided to go ahead with the shower. I used a combination of my (clean) yoga pants and a stack of paper towels to (mostly) dry myself. I will state for the record that neither of these is at all efficient for drying one's body after a shower.

After that, it was too late to go to Knit Knight, so I went ahead to the restaurant for Post-String Dinner. A new place this time, Bruno's at Hampton and Watson. Told them we'd be six or eight, was seated at a table, and ordered a soda. After I talked to Keeley and learned that she'd lost Chris, I realized he had gone home to get Tammie, who was carless. Which since I was early I should have thought of. D'oh number 2.

A while after dinner Tammie and I went for another walk in the neighborhood, about 2.25 miles. That means I walked and/or ran FIVE miles yesterday. Go me!!! I'm feeling it today, though. I ache all over.