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

Strikeouts are those items which did not get done, for one reason or another.

Household

1. Move.
2. Get another bedside table.
3. Get a new dining room table.
4. Get more plants for inside the apartment.
5. Replace the food processor.
6. Get a new carrier for the cats.
7. See about getting a cat tree for the beasties.
8. Cull my belongings before I move, not after.
9. Get a television.
10. Donate/sell extra stuffed animals.
11. Sell the Kirby vacuum cleaner.
12. Organize & put my CDs away.
13. Replace bookshelves.
14. Find and get a better storage option for my DVDs.
15. Take the cats in for their annual physical/shots.
16. Get rid of old computer equipment.
17. Give GLAA their materials back.
18. Sell my old Palm.
19. Repair or dispose of my old bedside lamp.
20. Get new dining room chairs.
21. Organize my book collection.
22. Get an ice cream maker.
23. Get new sheets.
24. Replace old towels.

Exercise

25. Run the Cherry Blossom ten-miler in under 2 hours.
26. Run a 5k in under half an hour.
27. Run a 10k in under an hour.
28. Race two triathlons.
29. Complete a fall marathon.
30. Practice more Yoga.
31. Bike more when running errands.
32. Work on my core strength.
33. Try Pilates.
34. Get a wetsuit.
35. Get a professional massage after races.
36. Get comfortable riding in the aero position on my bike.
37. Decide whether I’m doing an Ironman race next year & if so, sign up for it.
38. Weights, weights, weights.
39. Get more exercise clothes.
40. Get speed and cadence sensors for the new bike.

Health

41. Cook at home more.
42. Get back to a flat stomach.
43. Get to bed earlier.
44. Eat less processed food.
45. Attend another body electric seminar.
46. Eat less, more frequently.
47. Refrain from drinking to excess.
48. Get below 155lbs…
49. …and stay there.
50. Develop and follow a stretching program.
51. Get a body fat scale.
52. Get a physical.
53. Lay off the spicy foods.
54. Try meditating.
55. Minimize my consumption of sodas.
56. Get an eye exam.
57. Get new glasses.
58. Cook more tempeh.
59. Price out tooth whitening with my dentist.
60. Find a good recipe for home made miso soup.
61. Use my cookbooks more.

Social

62. Have friends over for dinner.
63. Go to the Eagle.
64. Get out of the apartment more.
65. Go dancing.
66. Host some Bad Movies parties (2 or more).
67. Do more massage exchanges (6 this year).
68. Go visit friends in another time zone.
69. Dinner party.
70. Host a soup night potluck.
71. Send some more snail mail cards to friends & family.
72. Go see my new niece when she pops out.
73. Remember my brother’s birthday.
74. Go see my family over Xmas.
75. Take someone to CBE in the fall.

Money

76. Set up a filing system for financial records.
77. Squirrel away more money in savings.
78. Set a plan to save funds up for a down payment.
79. Make a plan & start the process to buy property.
80. Confirm with the credit agencies that my credit reports are now mine and only mine.
81. Close another credit card account.
82. Get a paper shredder.

Web/Computer

83. Post reviews of all the lube I’ve been buying.
84. Post reviews of my cookbooks.
85. Get a backup drive for the Mac.
86. Beat Kirby’s Canvas Curse.
87. Play a game with my niece on the DS.
88. Write more on my web site(s).

Work

89. Get some plants for the office.
90. Join the professional bar for my BGA.
91. Update my resume.
92. Figure out some lunches to bring in from home.
93. Find a source of Scharffenberger chocolate for work.

Misc.

94. Renew my passport.
95. Take a knife skills class.
96. Thank you notes.
97. Get a new toiletry kit bag.
98. Get more dress pants.
99. Finish watching The House of Flying Daggers.
100. Watch the other Chinese movies I bought on DVD.
101. Commission an original piece of art.
102. Get another piece or two of Nasty Pig clothes.
103. Get myself the ring I’ve been eyeing.
104. Make three recipes from Vice Cream.
105. Get new styli for the Treo.
106. Get more luggage.
51 out of 106. Not bad.

I alternate between really bored and really excited about projects at work. There are two long-term things on the desk that I absolutely dread working on because they’re just terribly dull, complicated, and seemingly never-ending. Then there are some more fun projects that I keep trying to get to, that are equally important as the other two dull ones, but which never seem to be able to come to the top of the stack, despite ongoing talks with various folks about the status thereof. I need to just knuckle down and kill off the dreaded tasks, but they always manage to sap my will to live.

And they wonder why I don’t want to be a manager.

Did finally manage to motivate myself to hit the grocery store and pick up a few foodstuffs on the way home. Had meant to yesterday, but came directly home, had something simple from the cupboard, and crashed semi-early after doing a couple of things around the house. Slept really, really well, and really, really late (for me), but needed the catch-up from the weekend and the return to work.

Haven’t touched the uberlist yet for this upcoming year. I’ve thought about it some, but not put thought to file just yet. Soon. Oh, and I’m debating a change in my normal new year’s day routine. Normally I go on a run, commemorating my return to running from 2000 after having mono. Just me, no electronic devices, no watch, nada. Just a run. But this year my club is having a ride that morning at 10, and I think I want to go do that. I joined the club so I’d have folks to train with, and part of moving down to Southwest was to get over to Hains Point and practice with them, but I’ve not really taken advantage of the proximity like I had intended to, so I’m thinking it’s time to get out and practice with them. Still could run, but I suspect a slightly more social beginning to the year should be in order.

I swear, they need to licence people to wear cologne or perfume. So few people wear it properly (i.e., subtly). Came into my office this morning and rode up in the elevator with a guy who’s going to be leaving his favorite signature scent all over the building today. It certainly lingered in the elevator long after he’d left. Probably got it for Christmas or something.

I can’t tell if it was a sign of how long it had been since I had last been out doing serious wine shopping or if I’m just a wino, but with J’s help I just picked up three cases of wine from Pearson’s (one mixed, two complete). Probably a little of both. But now I’m set for months. Or at least I hope it’ll last months.

I found it quite nice to be able to shop for spirits on a Sunday. Normally shops that sell both wine/beer and harder liquor have to close on Sunday in DC because of our antiquated Blue Laws. The place was hoppin’, about as busy as I normally see it when I’ve gone in the evening during the week or on a regular Saturday. The clerk allowed as how they’d been that busy all day. Anyway, because Xmas day and New Year’s Day are on Mondays, DC’s liquor laws allow liquor shops to stay open the Sunday before. There’s no real reason they can’t be open 7 days a week normally (aside from outdated hopes for moral suasion), but one lives with the law one has, not the law one wishes one had. Nonetheless, it felt like a bit of a stick in the eye to those ridiculous laws to buy alcohol until my heart was content.

Since we’re not getting snow any time soon here in DC (it’s getting up to almost 60 today), I decided to add snow to my web page. Yay for simple java script files. Enjoy!

(the instructions and file to add it to your own can be found here)

Had a horrible dream last night in which I was diagnosed with lung cancer. When given the diagnosis I blurted out, “But I’ve never smoked!” and then I remember that essentially I had smoked for the first 15 years of my life, since Mom smoked up until 1987. Then we segued into having to tell my parents about the cancer without trying to blame Mom for smoking. Whee.

Boring as all heck here at work. I’ve been trying to avoid too much web surfing, but have enjoyed sending semi-snarky emails to co-workers (while keeping in mind that most of them are FOIA-able, so keeping them down to an R rating). Cynical statement of the day (while discussing trophy spouses):

I prefer cats. Yes, they make me sneeze, and they fuss occasionally, but they snuggle well, you can toss them out of bed if you need to, and they’re oh-so-grateful to be fed. And they’re perpetually cute if you pick the right breed.

And now the rest of my office has left (early dismissal announced while I was in the middle of writing). I’m staying to give office coverage until 5, with the reward of 2.5 hours some other day, which I’m thinking may be Tuesday morning after Monday night’s party.

After biking all over creation today (well, not quite, but more than the usual for me as I had errands to run, post-gym), and swimming for an hour, I feel much, much better. Moose + Exercise = Much Better Mood. It also = much hungrier Moose, but that’s par for the course.  It helped that it was insanely warm here in DC today, around 70 F (~21 C) for the high, where the normal high is about 23 degrees cooler than that, around 47 F (~8 C) or so. So after all that it was home to wash clothes, grab some leftover soup and chill out.

Work is in that odd state of not-quite-fully-loaded-up, but not-quite-on-down-time either. We always expect it to be quieter, but somehow the inevitable last minute crises appear. At least it’s not completely dead, though then I would be able to catch up on filing and clear off my desk.

Party tomorrow evening, and seeing MG for probably the last time before he takes off for his trip back home for the holiday. Office party is also tomorrow (my particular section, as opposed to my larger attorney office, which was last week). My boss asked one of the organizers if it was going to be a dry party. We assured her it was not, so she zipped off the requisite mother-may-I letter to the building manager and got our permission (long gone are the days when feds could legally keep liquor in their offices without any check or fear or reprimand).

Not sure if I’ll get a run in tomorrow morning or not. If not, so be it. If so, yay. Would be better with, to stave off the party calories, but that’s what the rest of the week is for.

Went from a week of so-so sleep to a night of no sleep Friday and it absolutely wrecked my Saturday. Couldn’t nap to save my life, didn’t do any of the errands I’d wanted to do, and I was a snarling, irritated mess. Thankfully I was able to spend the majority of it alone, and did get better sleep last night, which meant I was able to run those errands today, but didn’t do a lot more than that.

Part of the sleep thing is that MG is a restless sleeper, and I’m not the deepest sleeper in the world, so when he’s tossing or talking, it can wake me up. I may have to try ear plugs or something. He’s told me to wake him up, but that’s not my wont. Something will have to be found, and I’m sure we will, but working it out in the meantime has left me irritated.

Did take the time to make a good batch of soup today. I’d bought the veggies earlier this week and just hadn’t gotten around to making the soup itself. And let me just say, whoevver invented curry powder has my undying gratitude. Love, love, love the stuff. Combine it with peanut butter and I’m in heaven. Folks who’ve been to my previous soup night parties will have had this, the African Bean Soup. So had good soup, put some in the fridge, and several servings in the freezer.

I’m also thinking it’s finally time to have a soup night party soon. Haven’t had a get-together in the new place yet, so sometime after the new year I’ll have one.

While home at lunch, I went by the office, asked to swap out my pedestrian fob for one of the car gate radio fobs. Had to fill out a piece of paper, but they gave it to me, no charge. Was quite nice to be able to bike onto the property this evening without stopping. Go squeeky wheel.

Rest of the afternoon was slightly crazy, work-wise, but bearable. Got my monthly haircut (she went even shorter than usual, looks good), then biked back downtown to swim for an hour. Did not have to time to make soup as I’d hoped, but the ingredients will keep until tomorrow, post-gym (with no haircut to take up the extra time). Or perhaps until the weekend when I can take an afternoon to simmer it down nicely. Hmm…

Managed to forget my wallet this morning (d’oh!), which wouldn’t be a big deal, but my monthly haircut is this evening, so I kind of needed it. So, told my team leader I was headed out for lunch today (I normally work through lunch at my desk), and biked back home. Much nicer than doing a veggie burger at work, and it’s nice to come back and check email on a real computer (as opposed to my cell phone). Hopefully the pasta will be done shortly and then it’s back up the hill to try and fix a (hopefully not too) big goof by one of our program offices with regards to their budget. Fun, fun. One of those times when I actually have to put to paper all of the ‘truths’ that folks ‘know’ about how the federal budget gets executed, which means some folks are not going to be happy…