Laying down on the couch, sleep didn't come easily as I stared for what felt like hours at the ceiling. What the data was telling me was improbable, so somehow I was doing something wrong with the code. As the sun came up and made its way through the back windows, I drifted off fitfully. The same thoughts carried in and plagued my sleep as I constantly turned the calculations and data over in my head like a dream. At some point my mind finally succumbed to exhaustion and gave me peace.
I woke a little after lunch, exhausted and troubled. I swapped my business casual attire from the day before into shorts and running shoes. Got the coffee going and downed a quick glass of orange juice from the fridge, grabbed the key to my place and my cell phone, headphones, and headed out the back door down to the beach. In late April, you can feel the days of summer in the air, and Lake Michigan begins to turn its steel gray color of winter to hints of blue tones.
The weather was warm, the sun felt good as I walked down to the water. Families had started to come down to the beach again, and high school girls were out while their boyfriends played baseball. Either direction down the beach you could see the college students cramming for exams and young mothers pining after their children while their husbands hit the golf course. All in all, it was a great day to start the weekend.
I set out heading north up the shore line. From my place I could start at the St. Joe Pier and run for miles along the coast line without drawing too much attention and it was my way of distancing myself from the technology. I waved at a couple of the regulars and fell into a comfortable rhythm, not trying to win any races, but working up a sweat. As I ran my confidence grew in my coding from the night before, but I was going to need help in proving my conclusions.
As I made the turn at Rocky Gap Park, a call rang in through the chorus of "Hearth Shaped Box"