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Entry the Four Hundred and Eighty Second1 November 2002 Anniversary 02/11/1 8:34 a.m. Putting up posters this evening, having flyers printed tomorrow, ANC meeting on Monday. It's all coming together, and coming together well. ... 02/11/1 6:01 p.m. Small posters printed, nametags printed, waiting for my haircut now after the snafu of yesterday (they goofed my appointment, thought it was yesterday, and I didn't get the message until well after the appointment because of the missing cell phone charger). Seeing a new person 'cause Meyanne is out sick. Thank heavens I have an easy haircut (despite the double cal'lick, double crown). It's my one year anniversary with Richard today, and I'm taking him out to hang campaign posters, not exactly the most romantic thing I've ever done. :-P Will have to make it up to him post-election. We're picking up a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) food box either before or after dinner up in Mt. Pleasant. Looking forward to it, but not entirely sure how much we're getting and whether we'll make it through all of it. Will be a learning experience! The challenge of cooking with a set bunch of veggies should be fun. Archives |
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Entry the Four Hundred and Eighty Third9 November 2002 Election Results I really should have posted this earlier, but I won on Tuesday. I am now Commissioner-elect Moose. ;-) So, for me personally at least, there was a little good news on Tuesday. The rest of the country is a mess, and I do hope they kick Terry out as head of the DNC since he was useless the past two years except to raise money. Standing out at the polls all day was an interesting experience. I had done so once before in high school for a petition drive, but hadn't done that in over a decade, so was neat to do it. It got cold after lunch and began to rain around 3 or so, so I was out there in the rain for the last five hours of the poll's opening. And let me tell you, until you spend five hours in the rain doing anything, much less trying to stump for yourself, you will never really appreciate the value of dry socks. That was the first thing I did after I got home - throw off my shoes and socks, put on dry socks, and just pad around in those for a few moment, luxuriating in the feeling. I called Richard a couple of times during the day, giving him updates and checking on plans for the evening. We went out to Meskerem (Ethiopian cuisine - yummy!) for food, then off to my Councilman's victory party. The results hadn't been posted for my precinct by the time we left the victory party at quarter 'til 11, in fact they weren't posted until about 12:20 a.m. The margin was pretty good, Moose at 110 votes (54.19%), the other guy at 69 votes (33.99%) and a write in candidate at 24 votes (11.82%). I "called it" the next day, since I knew there were seventy-odd votes out there that weren't accounted for. I suppose they just didn't vote for ANC at all, which is a shame. I blanketed my single member district with flyers Sunday evening, including getting flyers out to all the registered voters in my building (I was up until 2 a.m. on Sunday doing that little task). The write-in candidate was a gentleman from the other side of my SMD who somehow didn't see any of the campaign posters I or my opponent put up, and didn't see the flyer I left on his door, so he thought he was going to be it on the ballot. Monday night, the same night I saw the write-in guy and introduced myself to him, there was an ANC meeting and my opponent actually got up and said that he was for economic development in the neighborhood, and if that meant more traffic, then he was for more traffic. *shakes head and sighs* If he had bothered showing up to ANC meetings any time this past year he'd have known what a big issue traffic calming was for us, and would have known how badly that would be received. Oh well, he knows now, I'm sure. By far the coolest feeling has been when I was riding up the bus line to get home on Thursday and I looked out over my neighborhood and just felt like I really truly belonged here, and that that feeling had been vindicated in the election. So, now I'm setting things up, making lists of what concerns we have to address, and checking out other things (I priced business cards to give to constituents, and correspondence cards for thank you notes this afternoon at the stationer recommended by one of the at-large members of the City Council). It's going to be an interesting two years, and I look forward to the challenge of balancing my official duties, my life with Richard, and my personal development. I'm ready for it, and glad to see it come. Archives |
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Entry the Four Hundred and Eighty Fourth17 November 2002 Passing Am coming down with a head cold. I can feel it in my sinuses, though it's not fully manifested yet. Have popped C and Zinc, have had plenty of water. Did run today with the new shoes (prior to full-fledged foreknowledge of the ickiness), in the rain, and have the humidifier on now. Also sipping some ginger tea to calm ye olde tummy (the mild drip from the nose is starting to affect it). Was supposed to go to Illinois again this week, but if I'm feeling down, ain't no way in hell. I can consult over the phone with them and keep the germs here in DC. Not to mention have my own bed in which to sleep. My boss won't be upset that I'm staying; she wasn't thrilled with losing me the week before Thanksgiving anyway. Bills done this evening, and dumped in the mail. The minutiae of life are such fun. Spoke with a friend who predicted a two-three week duration for this cold, based on what he has currently. Hope not, and will do all I can to fight it off as soon as possible. Was feeling the need to revive countfour.org and rescue it from blogger hell. They've lost some file I need on their server, so it's not updatable now. I suspect I just need to get Doug over to work on Greymatter with me and get that working on my web site. Would be more reliable than the current crap, and not depend on an outside server to upload to it. We'll see. I want a new design as well, I think. Different colors. Not much else happening. Trying to do some work on the outside project (need to get those cards paid off!), and get that done and over with. If I stay home this week I'll try to use the extra time to get some stuff knocked off there. That'd be a good use of "extra" time I wasn't thinking I'd have. Archives |
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Entry the Four Hundred and Eighty Fifth18 November 2002 Policy Guidance 02/11/18 6:09 p.m. The cold is still here, but I'm still breathing without chemicals. Made the work day fun. 'Nuff said there. Got a call from someone in the attorney shop in another component of the Big Government Agency. It seems a telecomm is once again using my name in vain with regards to records payment. Joy. The result, however, will be that our two components will now be talking about this issue and, I hope, getting a larger group together to set one agency-wide policy. And if that's to be the case, I want center stage (that and I want to overrule an earlier policy determination where I lost, truth be told). To be able to convene a group and set policy not just for my organization, but for the entire BGA is just too cool. Not to mention triumphing over a bad earlier decision that got shoved down our throats by over-eager field personnel (yeah, I know, makes me sound like the ultimate evil Washington insider, but so what). I'm notoriously tight with taxpayer funds and I'd like to stick to that theme. We should not be paying for these records, and it galls me when we do. Plus I want the chance to do something more than just the usual. ... Good leftovers and a major craving for sweets this evening (assuaged by some root beer), followed by typing in the recipes I want to make for Thanksgiving this year (Amaranth-studded Cornbread; Cranberry Relish with Apples and Pears; Sweet Dumpling Squash with Chestnut Stuffing and Lima Bean Gravy; Sauteed Haricots Verts with Horseradish; Fennel, Orange and Pomegranate Salad). The cats are looking bored, will have to take care of that shortly (thank you, laser pointer!). Otherwise, am still breathing pretty well. Humidifier is now running to help that along, and bed soon (9:22 p.m.). Archives |
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Entry the Four Hundred and Eighty Sixth20 November 2002 Prescriptions Too the day off to rest and deal with the latest cold. It's seemed to me that I've had more colds than normal this year, and I think I've traced it back to not being on my claritin full time like I've been for the past few years. You see, when I first came to DC and started working, I lost my voice four times in the first three months because of head colds. Freaked me out, sent me to the doctor, who put me on a nasal spray (nasonex, or one of those steroid sprays; I've rotated through several) and claritin for 10 days until the cold cleared up. It seemed to help, so I went on them both full time that year, and the number of colds dropped off, as did the losing of the voice. We hypothesized that the allergies were bothering me just enough that the drips were turning into colds a little more often than we'd like. This year, however, my insurance has sucked donkey dick. The medicine deductible is astronomical, which has meant I've not been taking my claritin full time (and yes, I've tried allegra, and I've tried zyrtek, but neither one worked as well as the claritin did). And as a result I think I've had more colds this year. So I went on and did a little research this evening online, to see if I could order the stuff from Canada. I knew you could bring it in with you if you travelled up there, but wasn't sure if you could import it. A cursory check of the FDA web site showed that yes, you can import it, as long as it's for personal use (and they limit you to a 90 day supply, which is fine by me). Then I shopped a few online pharmacies to see who would ship the stuff to me. Some had US price equvalents (i.e., US$209.21 for 90 pills, or US$2.32 a pill) and most had a relatively resonable price (US$79.99 for 90 or 96 pills, which works out to about US$0.83 per pill). The Canadian price was in line with what the stuff used to cost me on my old insurance (US$25.00 for 30 pills, or US$0.83 a pill), and what it would likely cost me under the new health plan I'm looking at. But the health plan I've made my mind up to accept has a reputation of not liking name brand drugs, so I might have to fight them for the claritin. But then I found another site that offers it at US$53.70 for 90 pills, plus US$15.00 for shipping, grand total US$68.70, or roughly US$0.76 a pill. Little better deal. Have to get a prescription from my doctor for this site, but I know my current one will give me a prescription, and I suspect the new plan's doctor won't have a problem with me buying the stuff on my own dime, especially if it's cheaper. You mail in their form and the script and they ship it to you. Not bad. I can wait for the thing to come in at that price. Just means planning visits every three months to get a new script and send it in on time to let them overlap. So, time to visit the doctor again and get a prescription. My nose can't take this mess any longer. Archives |
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Entry the Four Hundred and Eighty Seventh21 November 2002 Prescriptions, redux A closer read of the FDA web site shows that in fact you're not allowed to import the stuff. In practice they allow you to bring things over the border in person, as long as it's not more than "personal use" amounts, but not to ship it in. So I did something I've never done - I went back and altered a diary entry, removing the links so as not to confuse people and perhaps lead them to get in trouble with authorities. Not proud of the mistake, nor proud of putting in print, but while I don't want to take the entry down entirely, I can at least remove those elements that would put others at risk if they followed them. Had a meeting of the pride organization of my Big Government Agency yesterday. Was nice to see folks, get some plans together for future events. Was not nice to have someone who must remember more in his cups not remember me from the times we always used to be at Omega on Thursdays together. Oh well. Am hyper this evening, so sleep will likely be elusive. Hopefully will get enough to get to work without problems tomorrow. Archives |
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Entry the Four Hundred and Eighty Eighth29 November 2002 Thanksgiving The cold is still here, but it seems to be letting up a tad. Am trying to treat myself right and stay relaxed so I'll heal. Herbal tea and lots of water have also been in the picture. Had a lovely Thanksgiving with Richard. We made a nice pate, garlic mashed potatoes, garlic sauteed broccoli, salad (he picked out a wonderful tarragon-mustard vinaigrette), fresh baked bread, and we tried a Tofurkey. The Tofurkey was not bad. I think it looked like a knit cap when we pulled it out of the box (had a texture on the outside that reminded me of knitting), but the basting went on, we stuck it in the oven, and it cooked up right nice. Overall, I think it was a good addition to the meal. I don't know that I'll buy another one, though. There are so many other things out there that I could make (roast root vegetables, for instance) that would be vegan, would show off how wonderful vegan cooking can be, and not imitate what non-vegans are eating. I feel no need to emulate animal-based food products most days ("chreese" is another story), so it feels like getting and eating a Tofurkey was in a way a failure. It's a good imitation, but it's still an imitation, and the point of all this is that I don't need what's being imitated. Hence, I don't think I'll be getting another one. I'll eat it if it's offered, but I don't think I need to get one. I'm glad the option is there, and I'm happy to see that people can have a "traditional" thanksgiving with one, but for myself, there are other options to consider. I've been debating checking on yoga or pilates lessons at my gym. I want something else in my fitness routine, I've never been happy with lifting weights, and I need something to help me remain injury free (and something I can do at home with minimal equipment). Those seem like good alternatives and I'm pretty sure they have lessons, so I'll see if that's something I could do. Archives |
