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

I’ll start this by saying I had a chip on my shoulder this morning the size of Cleveland, owing to a bad night of sleep, but I still think this morning’s commute was a weird one.

I should also add that I usually bike to work (10 minute ride!) and now that it’s cool out, I’ve broken out my bright gold cycling jacket with the reflective patches on it. Hard to miss me in something that bright, especially in full sunlight like there was this morning.

First, I get out onto the cul-de-sac, dodge a car idling in the middle of the road, ride 20 feet, and an old woman on another bike wobbles out of her driveway, heading in the same direction I was, and proceeds to ride 3/4 of the way across the lane to the left. I kind of gave her back a look and proceeded to ride gently past her on her left. She then yells at me (!!) that she ‘wouldn’t know I was there if I didn’t say something!’ I admit I yelled back, telling her to look before she rode out into the road (see “chip” above).

Second, got to the stop light at the end of the cul-de-sac, red light, so I stopped and waited for the green to go across. Couple walking down the street walks up to the corner, looks up at the cross-walk light as it turns into a red hand (i.e., “don’t cross”) and then they proceeded to walk in front of me. I went behind them and yelled, “Thanks for following the cross walk light!” (see “chip” above).

Third, I get across the intersection into another cul-de-sac, where at the end I’ll pop across a driveway and down onto the road on the other side. Get to the end of the cul-de-sac, watch a truck pull out directly in front of me, then stop right in front of the driveway I needed to ride up. Had enough room, barely, to get by without hitting his car, but once again yelled, no expletives (miraculously), but I think it was something to the effect of ‘look where you’re going!’

Morons.

Rest of the commute was blessedly quiet, but this was definitely a weird morning.

On the eve of my wedding:

“I don’t mind that you couldn’t come. I do mind that you couldn’t tell me that you couldn’t or wouldn’t come. I understand if you had previous plans that you couldn’t (or wouldn’t) cancel, but to not even be able to bother to tell me that you wouldn’t be able to come to my wedding was a real kick in the balls. I did think that we had a slightly better relationship than that, though I suppose the lack of regular interaction killed that. I wouldn’t have minded even the simple, ‘No, I’m sorry, I can’t come.’ But to just ignore me entirely, even after receiving a ‘save the date’ and an invitation in the mail and reminders over electronic media, which I know you read because the read receipt told me that you read them, was beyond rude. So, I suppose we are at an end. And I mourn that loss, even as I begin the next chapter in my life. I’ll miss you tomorrow, but it’s time to move on.”

I left a party early rather than overdrink tonight. I knew the hosts (I had thought I only knew one, but it turns out I had met the other, also at a body electric event, a few years earlier), and a few guests, but not many of them. It was starting to get crowded in the house and I could tell if I stayed much longer I was going to end up drinking too much, so rather than do that I gave the excuse of an early morning to the hosts and absented myself from the gathering. Not perhaps the most socially adept thing I’ve ever done, but it was the right thing for me tonight.

I never, ever send screaming emails (you know, emails with all capital letters), as I consider them fairly rude. However, I just sent one to a member of the BGA’s external relations staff.

And not just all caps, but part of it was bolded and underlined. I was a little miffed.

This person persisted in repeating a legal falacy which I spent a good deal of time refuting in a conference call with Hill staff a couple weeks ago. A meeting this person attended, and at which this person evidently zoned out completely.

This has amused some of my co-workers to no end.

I swear, I’m going to hang a picture of the head of the BGA in each external relations staffer’s office just to remind them who they work for – the head of the BGA, not the Hill. Regardless of how happy they want to make the Hill members and staff, at the end of the day they work for the BGA head, and they need to keep that in mind as they talk to the Hill.

Goobers.

Up early this morning to run and get to work early for a meeting (I was in the office at 8:30, which is unheard of for me). Forgot, as usual, to body glide my thighs before the run; I always seem to remember that about 5-6 minutes into a run… Anyway, was irritating, but not fatal to the run. Did discover that my usual running path is very well lit, even before the sun comes up.

Inside scoop on the budget is that we should have our full-year CR the last week or January, or by February 1st. Which is good, since the executive budget proposal comes out on February 5th.

Swam after work. Also expressed a bit of irritation with some of the leadership of my tri club. I volunteered with our new triathlete program this past year, was in fact one of the co-leaders. Had attempted to get in touch with the other co-leaders in early December, was not quite blown off, and now suddenly a couple dates have been set for things for this year already, without any attempt to involve me. I let them know I was disappointed. I’m still going to help out, and hopefully I’ll still be a co-leader this year as I really do believe in the program, but was not pleased at how that was handled.

That said, if you’re in the DC area and you want to try your hand at triathlons, drop me a note.

Nice dinner just up the street tonight with MG. He’s currently off at the grocery store picking up snack stuffs. I’m trying to cool the apartment down – it’s in the low-to-mid-60s outside, but in the middle 70s in here. Too. Freakin’. Hot. This is supposed to be January, not April, ferheavenssake. At least it’ll be nice to get out on the bike tomorrow morning.

Not quite done with the Uberlist for this year, have about a third of the way to go yet, but have ideas to go do file. This weekend I should be able to post it, I hope.

I recently upped the amount of protein I’m taking in, in order to help with my training. Picked up some Spiru-Tein soy protein powder and have been having a shake in the morning with breakfast. I do notice that I’m not as hungry mid-morning as I usually am (the joys of the lessened appetite effect that comes from eating more protein), but that’s about it thus far. The only other effect was to notice that I don’t currently own a blender (I’ve been using Richard’s), so I had to order one, as well as a toaster, to be delivered to the new place. Hopefully they’ll be there before next week’s move-in date.

Okay, time for my Pet Peeve of the Day™: If the urinal has a foot pedal for flushing it, men, you have no excuse not to push the thing down and flush the urinal once you’re done. You’re not touching the handle with your bare hand, you’re stomping it with a covered foot; there’s little to no chance you’d pick up any extra germs that way. So don’t be lazy and remember to flush. ‘kthnxbye.

I think I may have to go back and see my physical therapist and/or a coach about my running. The sore calf keeps intermittently coming back, and it’s starting to get me worried about my race in June. If I can’t run more than a 1/2 hour at a time without pain, it’s kinda hard to imagine doing a 1/2 marathon at the end of the tri without injuring myself pretty badly. So the PT gets called today to set up an appointment, I think.

So, it’s no secret that I’m a member of several web sites which cater to more prurient interests (hell, my user name is always the same, and I use clear face pictures, so it’s not like it’s hidden). Many of these sites allow you to a) see who has looked at your profile recently and/or b) see if someone has rated your profile.

Yesterday, while feeding my ego checking those self-same sites, one of the pictures stood out as looking familiar. I puzzled a bit, it wasn’t the best or, I now realize, the most recent picture of him, but then it hit me: I work with this gentleman. Not directly with him, I’ve not addressed any legal issues in his area, but we usually see each other every other week or so in one of the cafeterias in our office building, often enough that I eventually recognized him, despite the more grizzled appearance in his online profile.

Now, this isn’t the first co-worker I’ve seen on such sites, nor the first that I’ve had confirmation of some of the rather naughty things they like to enjoy in private, but it is the first where I only have a casual, passing acquaintance with the gentleman (hell, I don’t think I even know his name in this case). But I’m wondering how to handle this. With the others I’ve known, I knew them well enough to be able to tease them a little bit about it in private, but as I said, I don’t even know this guy’s name, just that he usually orders a grilled cheese sandwich and which office he works in.

So how does one, or does one at all, acknowledge the recognition?