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

I decided for a variety of reasons to switch from my Apple watch as my daily watch to a Garmin watch instead. I’ve long used Garmin for sports-specific efforts, or step tracking, but not as a daily watch. One of the things the Garmin does in the morning when I first wake up is give me a readout on level of effort, recovery, etc., and it includes a suggested workout for the day. This morning it told me it was happy with my level of sleep (news to me, since I was up and down with a certain female cat who couldn’t decide where on me she wanted to sleep), and recommended a 45 minute base building run. I audibly snort-laughed when I read it. Thankfully the husband was already awake. I turned that into a 45 minute walk on the treadmill, instead, which felt good. Also had my first successful test of listening to an audio book while walking; the previous attempt I was later told by the husband was a dreadful audio book so he wasn’t surprised it didn’t work. I have never been completely sold on them, but decided to give it a go when a news email from someone I followed mentioned the book series (The Codex Alera by Jim Butcher), which I have read several times now, and that they had enjoyed the audio books on long drives. One chapter down.

Got a ton of books for Xmas, so trying to sort & prioritize those. Also have a massive backlog of comic books, dating back to the training at the beginning of this month (I would estimate a couple dozen in queue).

Walked on the treadmill this morning. Waiting for a big Amazon order to show up “by 10pm”. The husband is downstairs trying out one of his Xmas gifts from me, an adult, exercise version of the 90s “skip it” toy. It sounds like he’s having fun, and is out of breath from it.

I’ll hop onto the work computer tomorrow to monitor stuff and clear out my inbox (so many reminders and news items await), but leave the out-of-office on so people don’t bother me. Glad I figured out how the ‘delay sending’ thing works in Outlook so I can have stuff go through on Thursday if I write anything up tomorrow.

I’m definitely my mother’s child – found a third batch of misplaced stocking stuffers this morning (she regularly forgets where she stashed Xmas gifts, and would find them weeks or months later). Really need to do a better job finding a consistent place to put those. These will get handed off when we see them next month for a family event.

We went out for the last haircuts of the year this morning, then hit the mother ship of our local comic store for stocking stuffers. On the way there the road was blocked so we decided to hit a Barnes & Noble and let the blockage situation work itself out. We were forcibly reminded of why we don’t hit physical stores the weekend before Xmas. It actually wasn’t that bad, and I’m glad they were busy as I hope that helps keep them afloat, but it reminds me of how devout church goers must feel when the CEOs (Christmas-Easter-Onlys) show up at the holidays. It also reminded me of working at a mall in graduate school, when they made us park off-site and shuttled us over, which I was initially annoyed at, but then grateful for when we could get out of the satellite parking a lot faster, even with the bus, than one could leave the garage.

Stocking stuff picked up. Finished the brim on an elf hat for the husband and started on the body. The green yarn pull ball for the body is behaving a lot better than the brim; the white brim yarn kept catching and was just a nightmare to pull out until I finally managed to pull the bit that was catching out of the middle and undo it.

The in-laws arrive tomorrow afternoon, so the husband was baking up a storm. Ginger cupcakes with gingerbread men and vanilla frosting. Sandwich cookies (chocolate with vanilla frosting inside). And I think he has more planed, but that’s all that got done over the last two days. Good stuff, but I’m finding that I have less of an appetite for a ton of sweets. I’m trying to steer him toward snacking size cakes when it’s just us (aka a single layer in an 8×8 pan) so we don’t have, say, an entire 9″ two-layer cake with frosting staring us down.

Two last things to wrap, and one last thing that’s to arrive Monday, then done.

Spent the early afternoon culling books from my office. Mostly old triathlon books that I am not going to use again, and who could find a better life elsewhere. Rearranged some of the remaining books, and left some space for more which are sure to come. This shelf serves as my Zoom background when working from home, and always gets compliments, so I like to shake it up from time to time. Plus I really do need more space to fit some of the stuff (books and legos) I got for the holidays.

The husband is up in NYC for a day trip, seeing musical performances numbers 99 and 100 (he’s currently in number 99) for him for this year. He realized he was really close to 100 about a month ago and I urged him to go ahead and aim to hit it before year’s end just for the bragging rights of his “year of theater”. And it gave me a good space to clean without him getting bored and wanting me to drag him out of the house to go do something. 😉

This upcoming year is going to be a challenge. There’s the knee, and the ongoing medication adjustments from the TIA (BP was almost in the normal range this morning, which was nice to see). There were some shenanigans with pay for our top ranks at work, including me, because our former GC was a bit fast and loose with his legal work, so I will take a slight haircut on base pay for the year. Not paralyzing, but definitely annoying. And whatever else life tosses my way. Nothing unsurmountable (so far), just mostly annoying. Though I would like the knee to get back to normal sooner rather than later, since moving is important to me and I would like to do it like a normal person again, and not a semi-invalid.

Likely going to go catch up on some comics this afternoon, and maybe hit a long-delayed cross-stitch pattern that I had lost the bits for on the shelf, but which have now been found.

The vacation was what we needed. Downtime, lots of reading (finished two books, though not the Grant biography I’ve been “reading” for three years now; I’m up to his run for President). The weather looked like it was going to be rainy the whole time, so a lot of people bailed on the town, but then we had a glorious, sunny Memorial day, so the husband and I got a beautiful day with not as many other tourists in the way.

One of the books was Born to Run 2, the sequel to 2009’s Born to Run, about barefoot running and other crazy people. The sequel bills itself as a training guide. There were a lot of stories mixed in with the training bits, which makes it a little difficult to use, but what is in there is helpful (100 ups!). So when we got back I pulled out my running shoes and got started again, albeit very slowly and very short distances (I did a mile this morning of 2 on/2 off).

Work wasn’t too bad. I’m still catching up on emails, which will probably take me another week or so as I respond to more urgent things that keep popping up. Still learning the new GC’s style, but am actively working with the Deputy GC to manage upwards there (and, frankly, to help the Deputy look good for the new GC).

One of my nieces asked about the new Diablo IV that’s out officially in 3 more days, but which is offering early play for preorders. She and I used to play Diablo III online, so I’m sure she’s looking forward to the new one as well. I know I’m going to dive in eventually, but I’m also in the midst of loving Tears of the Kingdom on the Switch. I’ll probably switch the Xbox One in my office for the PS5 in the living room, since the niece is on a PS5, and that way I can let the husband use the new, enormous TV he bought just before we left town (so far it’s mostly been used for my gaming, and while Link looks great on 85″, it’s kind of a waste of the TV).

The big surprise for the husband for the anniversary was that I got us a fancy washlet for the owners’ suite bathroom. I think I may have created a monster, but frankly, it’s been worth it. So much better than just wiping. I fear we’re going to get spoiled, which is okay, but will make leaving the house that much less attractive.

I’m supposed to be working, but mostly I’m cleaning out my home office. I have taken care of a few things, so your (US) tax dollars aren’t a complete waste today, but I really felt the need to change up my home office space, get rid of trash and generally declutter it. And hey, I’ve already found an old gift card that still has a balance on it, so go me.

Xmas was a low-key affair, just the two of us. He made a delightful ‘bold and spicy gingerbread cake’, a bundt cake that used three different forms of ginger (dried ground ginger, fresh ground ginger, and ginger ale in the glaze). It turned out really well, and it’s been a nice breakfast most mornings since. I made melting potatoes (potato rounds cooked at high temperatures, and flipped twice to get them browned on both sides), and some other odds and ends. We both made out like bandits from each other, and had some interesting choices from our families (bags of rubber duckies, anyone?).

Most of the gifts have now been moved away from the tree and to their current homes in the house, which is also part of what’s instigating the home office cleaning. Books needed to be rearranged to make room for more.

I finished 99% of the endless scarf I’ve been knitting for the husband. Just need to weave in the ends and block the sucker. I’m not normally one to do a lot of blocking, but this one needs it – it has a tendency to roll inward toward the wrong side, and I’d like it to be able to sit flat when he wears it. So given the length I’ll be laying it out on the kitchen island once our house cleaner is done tomorrow. Next up is trying some brioche, specifically this pattern, once I get in some practice with the method, using the yarn I just finished playing with for the endless scarf.

The combination of stuff is going better now. We added several new bookshelves, and are gradually moving his books over, bag by bag. Also in the process of converting an old, large bookshelf into large dressers. Yay convertible Ikea furniture. It’s gonna be cramped, but it’s doable. And it’s getting better than the last entry when I was going nuts. Still haven’t found the yoga strap, though.

Injured my back twice this week, once while biking and once while lifting a large water bottle for the office water cooler. Not the lower back, strangely, but the mid-back, lower ribs, on the outer back. Guess it’s past time for more strength training. Phhhbbbbttt! Letting it recover a bit, then will work on strengthening the area. Past that, training has been almost non-existent, again. Commuting and his work schedule are completely non-supportive of doing any training. Blech. I may still be able to do the tri in May, but the half marathon in March is out at this point. Ugh. I hate wasting the money on the race fees, not to mention the loss of health and weight gain. Another thing to look forward to when he moves in – no more driving across town twice a day, and time to exercise.

Waiting for Hurricane Sandy to hit the DC area is a mess. Haven’t seen a thing here yet, except empty grocery stores. Am very, very glad I made the boy go shopping last night rather than waiting until today – facebook and the like have been full of pictures of empty shelves.

Dragged in the boy’s chair from his balcony, and I took a few things off my own balcony yesterday before coming over to dog-sit today while the boy was at work. Past that there’s not a lot else to do but wait and see what hits tonight and whether I’ll be going to work tomorrow. Luckily I have the option of covered parking at the boy’s place, so the car should be fine when the first wind (and related tree debris) hits. It’s highly unlikely that either of our places will lose power – the boy’s school has “backups for their backups” and my place is close enough to the capitol that all the power lines are buried.

So far I’ve read two comics that were in “the pile” (of reading material waiting for attention), futzed around in the kitchen (butternut squash soup in the crock pot), walked the dog twice as much as he normally goes out, and tried not to pay attention to the work documents that I brought home in case the office is closed tomorrow (that, at least, was successful; I’ve given the taxpayers no free work today). I wish my bike and trainer were here at the boy’s, then I could’ve at least ridden for a bit. But the waiting is the worst.

Haven’t updated in forever (duh). Been dealing with a lot of messes at work, and not felt terribly motivated to deal with most of them. It’s exhausting when you’re working your butt off, and at the same time (it feels like) the entire country is complaining about what it is you do, and your bosses (Congress and POTUS) are talking about cutting your pay & benefits, on top of already constructively cutting them by freezing your pay, but still piling on additional costs for things like health care and pensions. So, yeah, hard to feel motivated. I suspect there will be a lot more of that going around when and if they implement the plan to increase our share of our pension contributions, since that’ll mean a 5-6% (minimum) cut in take home pay. Blah.

So, yeah, frustrated at work.

Other than that, I’m gearing up for next year’s season for my newbies, and seeing how much more I need to be doing. Trying to catch up on reading (the list of materials never gets smaller!). Trying to tweak/fix my eating habits – I gained way, way too much weight over this past year, between bad eating and lack of regular, sustained training. I wish it weren’t so damned easy to eat badly in this country (and frequently so expensive to eat well, though the salad bar by weight at work has been a cheaper option than the local sandwich shop when I fill the large part of the plate with greens).

Things continue to go well with the boy. Met his family last month, made a good impression. I still spend most nights with him and his beagle up at his apartment, though not every night (do have to do laundry on occasion, after all). It’ll be interesting to see how I’m going to work this with training and my coaching stuff with the newbies. An adventure, as life should be. Made him a scarf, so he’s been deemed knit-worthy. If you want more details past that you have to check my Facebook profile.

Keeping myself busy with work and training and attempting to get sleep. Last night was the first good night of sleep I’ve had in about a week and I’m hoping to follow up on it with another good one this evening. Between a weather front that’s been passing back and forth over DC (hot, cold, hot, cold, and always wet) and just being drained at work I was a mess the past week. It seems to be evening out finally (though the oil spill is not helping…), and I keep reminding myself that the work front should be busy but in a different way once the other fiscal attorney comes on board after Memorial Day.

I’m a bit disappointed with where my biking is at the moment. I’m mostly happy with swimming and running. I took a run clinic earlier this month from the guy who wrote the book on the style of running I use and that was enormously helpful. I’ve continued to try and focus on form while I run, and just by that I’ve been a bit quicker than I was before, though I’m having to watch the heart rate. The beepy-thingey has been my constant companion (a metronome like thing that allows me to try and turn the legs over at a certain rate), much to the amusement of other people on the trail I’m sure. Swimming’s been okay, and the changeover I did to 100s, with each one a focus on a particular aspect of the stroke, has also helped. Biking, on the other hand, I feel behind on mostly due to scheduling things on the weekends. Not sure where I’d make it up, though if I keep waking up at 3 am and not being able to crash I might just do it in the morning rather than the weekend. Silly body.

Continuing to read like mad on training stuff. And I’ve started doing some reading into Buddhist notions of the self. Interesting take on things, and one which seems to resonate. Not sure where that will go, but the reading is interesting.

Trying to play through the video game Infamous on both hard mode and trying to play it as the good guy, and it ain’t easy. My old tactics while playing the evil side (blow ’em all to hell as quickly as possible) don’t work; I keep getting an “execution” bad karma hit that throws the entire mission off. Very annoying. But, challenging, and I’m keeping at it off and on. That might go to the side though, I just got a copy of Prototype to try out.

Had a date or two. Trying to decide which way a crush is going. But nothing definitive on that front at the moment. Which may be for the best; once the new triathlete stuff is done this year, training starts to ramp up a lot.