Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

Nice weekend, spent it with the parents, in anticipation of the week we’re spending together starting tomorrow. We played tourist, visiting various Smithsonian museums and watched ‘Rolling Thunder,’ the motorcycle parade in memory of the fallen, zip down Consitution Avenue when travelling between museums. Was quite fun, but quite draining. One forgets how much energy it can take to deal with holiday crowds and large museums, as well as lots of walking/standing that doesn’t occur in everyday life.

The race is in five days. Five days in which I’ll have little to no access to the ‘net in order to post. Will update as soon as I’m able, and I’m sure I’ll be writing while out.

Hadn’t swam in a while, but did so at the pool here at the cult co-op this afternoon/evening. At first I was feeling a tad out of breath, which led to some bit of panic over my chances in the race. Thankfully after a bit I calmed down, and I came to that zen-like calm that can come over one while swimming. The swim’s not going to be the easiest, but I suspect I’ll get through it okay. The wetsuit will help, the extra buouancy means less effort spent staying up and more spent going forward. Of course, the water temperature will be a factor as well, but I suspect I’ll be relativelty well insulated with the suit, cap and socks. Only time will tell.

I’m doing a quick spot of laundry this evening, and have my stuff laid out for the race all over my bed. I’ll pack most of it tonight, and get up early tomorrow to finish it up and await my parents’ arrival for our impending trip. Looking forward to the time off, it’s most needed.

Yup, still crazy.

Still can’t quite believe I signed up for the marathon. Should be a nice experience, and I’m looking forward to doing it, but wasn’t quite sure I was up to it. I think I am, now.

Work has been absolute hell this week. Can’t and won’t go into details, but it’s been stressful enough to trigger a cold sore and set off my eczema. Grrr. I’m so glad I’m going to be out of there for the next week and a half.

Working through final prep for the race. Picked up a bunch of Shot Bloks, and a new pair of club-branded bike socks from the local bike shop. List is made, trying to make sure I have everything planned out and ready.

In the meantime, one more day at work, then off for the duration. Debating whether I should leave my phone off just so I’m truly unreachable while on the road. The joy of being the specialist is that you’ve a lot of job security. The pain is that they have to call you, no matter what.

Confirmation
Dear [Moose],
YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY REGISTERED FOR THE 31st MARINE CORPS MARATHON. For your convenience we have included the waiver to which you consented.

(THIS NUMBER IS NECESSARY TO PRINT THE CONFIRMATION E-CARD AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 2006 AT WWW.MARINEMARATHON.COM. THIS E-CONFIRMATION CARD IS REQUIRED FOR PACKET PICK UP HELD AT THE DC ARMORY, WASHINGTON DC)
If you have to update your record, please contact the Marine Corps Marathon office.

Yesterday evening just the thighs were sore, today it’s pretty much the entire lower body. Long run Saturday (7.2 miles), followed by a 2 hour bike ride Sunday (32.5 miles). Yeah, so nice and sore here today. Will stretch out shortly, but am enjoying sitting around in a bathrobe with my cereal and the web first.

Relatively quiet weekend. I did check out the local S&M club on Saturday where I learned that: a) I don’t like to receive heavy nipple play; and b) I despise being smacked on the ass.

After the usual lesson on a fetish (in this case, water sports), I had two play sessions, one as a bottom, one as top. In the first I was tied to another bottom, supporting each other as the top circled us, playing with nips (hands, clothespins, clamps and something else that felt pretty sharp, but which I did not see due to the blindfold), some light flogging (which was not unpleasant), smacking (which was unpleasant for me). The entire time he was hitting my ass all I could think was that I had a two hour bike ride to do the next day and that if he went too much further the ride was not going to be pleasant. Ah well, live and learn. In the second I worked a bottom’s nips and punched him some at his request.

In neither scene did any of us come. That was similar to my experience at the local fisting club, though there it was easier to make the bottom come, since I literally had a hand on the trigger.

I also learned that unless I’m restrained, I don’t like to just lie there (or stand there, as the case ay be). I need to be a bit more active than that. In the first scene I was at least able to run my hands over the other bottom, but I think if I’d just had to stand there with nothing to do I’d have been more bored than anything else. At least if one is bound one can strain against the ropes and do something. I suspect I’m more on the S side of the S&M equation, though I enjoy both sides of the B&D equation. Dunno. The only other time I’ve done much in the way of S&M was when a dom top was lightly punching my chest, which I did enjoy, but in the context of the larger scene. I actually stopped the top in the first scene from Saturday at one point when he was hitting my ass because it was just not comfortable, and not something I was into at all.

Oh, and in an odd moment, someone came by when we were blindfolded and put a cold water bottle on my butt. Felt like ice, and I was thinking that (ice) actually might have been fun, but it disappeared far too quickly. Not sure if they had the top’s permission to do it or not.

Watched one guy work over a bottom with a long dowel rod (I can’t think of any other way to describe it). I could see learning that particular skill.

I’ll attend again, I think the class structure at the beginning of the evening is good and I do need additional instruction in how to do certain things, but as I learn more about my own likes and dislikes I’ll become more selective about what I do.

I made my last big purchase, post-move, today. Finally went and bought a wetsuit.

Was intending to buy a different one, a two piece system, but when the company’s out of them, and there’s no time to order and wait, you get what you can. As it is, I’m happy with the purchase I made, it fit well, was comfortable, and should last quite a while. I look forward to using it.

Nice weekend thus far. Club event this morning, bbq afterwards. Came home, changed up, ran this afternoon. Wasn’t my best run, but no calf pain, thankfully. Afterwards I ran out to get the wetsuit. Tried on several, this was the most comfortable by a hair, but the easiest to get out of overall, which ultimately was the deciding factor.

It’s a gorgeous day in DC, was perfect for running, and for the first brick workout for our new triathletes. Was good to have such nice weather for this important workout for them, but then again, this spring has been absolutely lovely for pretty much everything exercise wise. They’re been very lucky this year.

But with this purchse, my major purchases are now done. Table, chairs, the apartment itself, and now the wetsuit. There are some things I’d still like to get, but no necessities, those are done. Which is just fine with me.

I shouldn’t be surprised at it, but I still seem not to grasp quite how much the state of my digestive system can effect my entire mood. The past few days it had been gradually getting worse, the result of allergies run amok. Yesterday was just the culmination of it, combined with a calf that continued to hate me, and a work day that was beyond insane, and I was just in A Mood. So I came hom, stuffed myself silly (my body’s normal reaction to upset stomach – eat, Eat, EAT!, I suspect in an effort to drive out the ickiness), popped a sudafed and proceeded to have a little pity party.

What finally snapped me out of it was being ignored in a chat room while being whiney, and then Richard calling to confirm that not only was the USPS still not forwarding my mail, but that I’d gotten a jury summons yesterday (my fourth in seven years living in DC). I think the jury summons was the last absurd little detail, which finally got me laughing (and by then the sudafed had kicked in and my stomach was settling). Slept well, and today was much better. Just as crazy at work, but without the stomach woes, so the whole attitude was much, much better.

Tonight I managed to clear off a bunch of junk (over a year’s worth of flyers from when the place was empty), finally talk to TiVo (who had never charged me for the lifetime service and had charged me again for a monthly – they’ve now fixed that), tried to hunt up a receipt I need to mail in (unsuccessful), and paid a couple irregular bills.

Had bought flowers on Friday and they’re still looking nice. A simple touch that is very pleasant to look at, and nice to have around. Will have to consider doing that more often. Of course, I need to get plants in here period. Brought none with and haven’t bought any. But first I need to figure out the layout of the living room, and for that I need to drag in outside help.

Finally got a chance to taste/use the little Cliff Shot Bloks I’d picked up at the Cherry Blossom expo, and I’m hooked. It was so much easier on the bike to fish one of those puppies out and have something to actually chew on, rather than having to tear open a container of goo one handed and then worry about where to put the little container when you’re done. Definitely going to be the calories of choice for the bike portion of my upcoming race (since I don’t seem to do well with sports drinks when exercising). Used them on a nice 2o-ish mile ride this morning.

Then this afternoon I swam, did 3 500 yard repeats after a long warm up. It went well, so I’m feeling okay about the swim portion of the race. The bike will be tough, but definitely doable, and the run, if this calf doesn’t get better this week, will be torture itself, but overall I think I’ll survive it.

Managed to get up to Dupont for lunch with a friend, and back down to the Y for the swim and then home again before the rain really hit. It’s going nicely now, a good, steady, relatively light rain. Enough to keep the kids indoors, not so nasty that I have to close the balcony doors. Is a nice, quiet counterpoint to my tapping on the keyboard. Should take the nice, quiet time to do some more cleaning, but I’m feeling cleaned out after yesterday’s straightening and getting the chairs unpacked and set up.

It looked as if I had killed the Scarecrow in my living room.

My dining room chairs arrived today, and inside the boxes they were padded with this paper wrapping that included some sort of straw stuffing that, no matter how careful I was, got all over everything. Whenever you moved the padding, it fell everywhere, along with the twine that I had to cut off the outside. Even tried to clog up the vacuum cleaner when I went after it that way. But in the end, I have dining room chairs, and can finally sit somewhere other than the couch to eat.

Otherwise it was a calm day. I got rid of the last of the donatables from the old apartment, got hissed at by Boris after I clipped his claws, claimed my flours & other baking sundries, forgot to get my mail, and had a nice time seeing Richard. Took the cart to the grocery store, hauled back some sundries for making some fun things (marinara, anyone?) and some more staples. I’m gradually rebuilding a kitchen, now I just need to cook some more. Tempeh gets made tomorrow – I’ve been craving a good rice dish, and since the rice cooker was among the things reclaimed from the old place, I can make some again. Without picking up the phone, even.

Long bike ride planned for tomorrow, then off to whatever Arena stage is playing at the moment. Might have to talk Lawrence into Jenny’s for dinner, stick down here in the ‘hood.

I am hopeful that an email I received in response to my complaint to WebSense about livejournal being classified as a “personals/dating website” will help get it unblocked at the BGA. They claim to have looked over the site and put it into the category of “Message Boards and Clubs.” I’ll keep my fingers crossed, but not hold my breath.

Fighting off a head cold at the moment. No fun, but they do happen. Better than the case of stomach ickies caused by some questionable Chinese food earlier this week (spent what felt like a good part of the day in the loo the next day, though thankfully it was all coming out the right end).

Been playing the DS again, mainly animal crossing. I hope to have three new types of fruit trees up tomorrow, but we’ll see. So far I’ve had bad luck with getting trees to grow. I suspect I wasn’t watering them immediately and thus they were all wilty the next day and gone the third, but we’ll see.

Work was an absolute mess this week. One of the customer organizations within the BGA is having problems and they’ve been consuming far, far too much of my time over the last year. To the point where other customer organizations are now calling to find out where their stuff is and I keep having to stall because of the constant emergencies with the problem child. Ugh. Not where I like to be on customer service, but I suppose these things happen. Anyway, that’s absorbed most of my week, with the result that another organization is going crazy to try to get another thing off my desk that I Just Can’t Get To Yet.

I’m so glad it’s the weekend, looking forward to catching up on some much needed sleep.

Obviously working out was not meant to happen this morning. Didn’t feel like biking in the cooler temps & wetish weather, still resting my yet-again pulled calf muscle, so no run, & swam last night, so that’s a no-go, too. Couldn’t find the short bike workout DVD, so was going to go with the 50 minute one, but that one seems to have crapped out on me – won’t play on the PeeCee, won’t play on the iBook (caused me to have to reboot the iBook when it wouldn’t eject, in fact). Ugh. So, Tuesday is this week’s rest day, or at least the morning is, we’ll see about getting something to work tonight, though I think I was supposed to do dinner with a friend tonight. Ugh.